Cherie Currie

Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Cherie Ann Currie
Born	(1959-11-30) November 30, 1959 Encino, California, US
Genres	Punk rock Heavy metal Hard rock
Occupations	Musician, singer, songwriter, actress, artist
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active	1976–present
Associated acts	The Runaways, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Lita Ford
Website	Official site

Cherie Ann Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, actress, and artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a rock band from Los Angeles, in the mid-to-late 1970s. After The Runaways she became a solo artist. Then she teamed up with her identical twin sister, Marie Currie and, released an album with her. They released a duet "Since You Been Gone" which charted number 95 on US charts. Their band was called Cherie and Marie Currie. She is also well known for her role in the movie Foxes.

Early life

Currie was born to Don Currie and actress Marie Harmon.^[1] She was raised in the Encino district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. Her brother is Don Currie Jr., and her sisters are actress Sondra Currie and Cherie's twin, Marie Currie. Cherie and Marie are identical twins. Marie was the first twin born, and Cherie was the second twin born.

Career

Currie was the teenage lead vocalist for the all-female rock band The Runaways with bandmates Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West, Jackie Fox, and Vicki Blue. Bomp! magazine described her as "the lost daughter of Iggy Pop and Brigitte Bardot".^{[citation needed]}

Currie joined The Runaways in 1975, at age 15. The teen rock anthem "Cherry Bomb" was written for her at the audition. Assessments of her impact at that time differ; one reviewer has written that "the received wisdom that [the Runaways] carved out new territory for female musicians is hard to justify – it's doubtful that the predominantly male audience who flocked to see the 16-year-old [Currie] in her undies picked up any feminist subtext."^[2]

After three albums with The Runaways, (The Runaways, Queens of Noise, and Live in Japan), Currie went on to record three other albums. She recorded Beauty's Only Skin Deep as a solo artist for Polygram Records. With her twin sister Marie, she recorded Messin' with the Boys for Capitol Records and Young and Wild for Raven. The song "Since You Been Gone" off of Cherie and Marie Currie's album Messin' with the Boys charted number 95 on US charts. Cherie and Marie preformed on Sha Na Na in 1980. She then worked as an actress, starring in movies such as Foxes, Parasite, Wavelength, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Rosebud Beach Hotel, Rich Girl, and others, as well as numerous guest spots on television series (Matlock and Murder, She Wrote, among others).

In 1989 Currie wrote a memoir called Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story. In 2010 she published an updated version entitled Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, and it charted number 9 on L.A. Weekly.

IN 2012, Cherie Currie teamed up with Matt Sorum (of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver), who produced a set of recordings intended for commercial release. Guest appearances by Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Slash, and others, generated a lot of pop-music media buzz, but no compelling record deals.^[3][4] Undeterred, Currie went out on a successful tour with the new band in 2013.^[5]

There is no current release planned for the 2012 recordings. But a 2013 Christmas music project with former Runaways bandmate Lita Ford^[6] which ties into their efforts on behalf of Toys For Tots, and rising sales for new material from 1970's and 1980's recording acts, make eventual public release likely.

Personal life

Currie struggled with drug addiction for much of her younger life, which was a major factor in the abrupt ending of her career. She later wrote a memoir, Neon Angel, recounting life in the band and her traumatic experiences with drug addiction, sex abuse, and her broken family. The Runaways, a 2010 musical biographical drama film executive-produced by Joan Jett, focuses on the group's early beginnings and explores the relationship between Currie and Jett. In the film, Currie is portrayed by Dakota Fanning.

Currie was married to actor Robert Hays on May 12, 1990, and they had one son together, Jake Hays. They are now divorced.^[7] Jake Hays learned to play guitar well enough to be included in recent recording sessions, and as a member of Cherie Currie's new touring band.

In 2008, Currie contributed to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's book, Cherry Bomb.^[8][9]

Currie is now a wood-carving artist using a chainsaw to create her works. She has been doing chainsaw art since 2002 and opened her own gallery in 2005 in Chatsworth, California.^[10] Her chainsaw art has been featured on recent TV programs.^[11]

Discography

With The Runaways

Studio albums

• 1976 – The Runaways
• 1977 – Queens of Noise
• 1980 – Flaming Schoolgirls

Live albums

• 1977 – Live in Japan

Solo

Studio albums

• 1978 – Beauty's Only Skin Deep
• 1980 – Messin' with the Boys (with Marie Currie) (re-released version with 7 bonus tracks in 1997) (with Marie Currie)
• 1998 – Young and Wild (compilation, with Marie Currie)^[12]

Guest appearances

• 1993 - Atsushi Yokozeki - Project Raid
• 2002 - various artist Platinnum Girl - A Tribute To Blondie
• 2013 – Shameless - Beautiful Disaster
• 2013 - Warehouse 13 - Runaway

EPs

• 2007 - Cherry Bomb ^[13]

Singles

Album Charts

Filmography

Bibliography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cherie Currie.

• Official website
• Cherie Currie's Chainsaw Art site
• Cherie Currie on Myspace
• Cherie Currie at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Runaways website
• All Music