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Annie LennoxA Whiter Shade of PaleColdDark RoadGod Rest Ye Merry GentlemenKeep Young and BeautifulLittle BirdPattern Of My LifePavement CracksPreciousShining LightSingWalking On Broken GlassWhy
Lennox embarked on a solo career in the 1990s with her debut album Diva (1992), which produced several hit singles including "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass". She has released five solo studio albums and a compilation album, The Annie Lennox Collection (2009). She is the recipient of eight BRIT Awards. In 2004, she won both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Into the West", written for the soundtrack to the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. In addition to her career as a musician, Lennox is also a political and social activist, notable for raising money and awareness for HIV charities in Africa. She also objected to the unauthorized use of the 1999 Eurythmics song "I Saved the World Today" in an election broadcast for Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in 2009. Known as a pop culture icon for her distinctive contralto vocals and visual performances, Lennox has been named "The Greatest White Soul Singer Alive" by VH1 and one of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone.[3] She has earned the distinction of "most successful female British artist in UK music history" because of her global commercial success since the early 1980s. Including her work within Eurythmics, Lennox is one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. Lennox was born on Christmas Day, 1954, in Summerfield Maternity hospital, Aberdeen. Her father worked at the shipyard, and her mother was a cook until she became a housewife. Lennox was an only child and the family lived in a small two-bedroomed apartment in a block of flats with communal laundry facilities. Despite her family's financial status, Lennox had piano lessons at school from the age of seven years at the cost of £4.00 per term. She was interested in singing and, with plenty of time to herself, passed some of the time by singing along to the popular music of the time, including music by The Beatles. She was an unhappy teenager, partly because of a struggle over boundaries for her independence with her overprotective father.[5] She attended Aberdeen High School for Girls, now Harlaw Academy.[5][6] In 1964, her early talent was demonstrated when she came second in a talent contest at a Butlins holiday camp. She sang the song "Mairi's Wedding".[7] In the 1970s, Lennox won a place at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studied the flute and classical music for three years. She lived on a student grant and worked at part-time jobs for extra money. Lennox was unhappy during her time at the Royal Academy partly because she was lonely and shy, and she missed many history-of-music lessons.[5] Lennox's flute teacher's final report stated: "Ann
has not always been sure of where to direct her efforts, though
lately she has been more committed. She is very, very able, however." Two years later, Lennox reported to the Academy: "I have had to work as a waitress, barmaid, and shop assistant to keep me when
not in musical work." She also played and sang with a few bands, such as Windsong, during the period
of her course. In 2006, the academy made her an honorary Fellow.[8]
Lennox also was made a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of
Music and Drama that year.[9] Between 1977 and 1980, Lennox was the lead singer of The Tourists (initially known as The Catch), a moderately successful British pop band and her first collaboration with Dave Stewart. During the time they were in The Tourists, Stewart and Lennox were involved in a relationship, though this had ended by the time they formed Eurythmics. Lennox and Stewart's second collaboration, the 1980s synthpop duo Eurythmics, resulted in her most notable fame, as the duo's alto, soul-tinged lead singer. Early in Eurythmics' career, Lennox was known for her androgyny, wearing suits and once impersonating Elvis Presley. Eurythmics released a long line of singles in the 1980s, including "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", "Love Is A Stranger", "Here Comes the Rain Again", "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves", "Who's That Girl?", "Would I Lie to You?", "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)", "Missionary Man", "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart", "Thorn in My Side", "The Miracle of Love" and "Don't Ask Me Why". Though Eurythmics never officially disbanded, Lennox made a fairly clear break from Stewart in 1990. Thereafter, she began a long and equally-successful solo career. Lennox and Stewart reconvened Eurythmics in the
late 1990s with the album Peace, their first album of new material
in ten years. A subsequent concert tour was completed, with profits
going to Greenpeace and Amnesty International The duo ultimately
disbanded in 2005, having released a compilation album that year.[citation
needed] Lennox has received eight BRIT Awards, the most of any female artist.[citation needed] Four of the awards were given during her time with Eurythmics, and another was given to the duo for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1999. The 1988 single with Al Green, "Put
a Little Love in Your Heart" (a cover version of Jackie DeShannon's 1969 hit), was recorded for the soundtrack
of the movie Scrooged. Though it was produced by Dave Stewart,
it was credited to Lennox and Green. This one-off single peaked
at #2 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, #9 on the US Hot 100
and was a top 40 hit in the UK.[citation needed] Lennox performed
the song "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye", a Cole Porter song, that same year for a cameo appearance in the Derek Jarman
film Edward II. She then made an appearance with David Bowie and
the surviving members of Queen at 1992's Freddie Mercury Tribute
Concert at London's Wembley Stadium, performing "Under Pressure". Lennox began working with former Trevor Horn protegé Stephen Lipson, beginning with her 1992 solo début album, Diva. It was a commercial and critical success, charting #1 in the UK, #6 in Germany, and #23 in the US.[citation needed] Lennox's profile was boosted by Diva's singles, which included "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass".[citation needed] "Little Bird" also formed a double A-side with "Love Song for a Vampire", a soundtrack cut for Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. The B-side of her single "Precious" was a self-penned song called "Step by Step", which was later a hit for Whitney Houston for the soundtrack of the film The Preacher's Wife. "Step by Step" appeared also on the Mexican and Japanese editions of the album.[citation needed] The song "Keep Young and Beautiful" was included on the CD release as a bonus track (the original vinyl album had only ten tracks). The album entered the UK album chart at no.1 and
has since sold over 1.2 million copies in the UK alone, being certified
quadruple platinum.[10] It was also a success in the US where it
was a top 30 hit and has sold in excess of 2,700,000 copies there.[citation
needed] In 1993, the album was included in Q magazine's list of
the "50 Best Albums of 1992". Rolling Stone magazine (25 June 1992, p. 41) described the album as "...state-of-the-art soul pop..." and it is included in Rolling Stone's (13 May 1999, p. 56) "Essential Recordings of the 90's" list. The album won Best British Album at the 1993 Brit Awards.[11] Although Lennox's profile decreased for a period because of her desire to bring up her two children outside of the media's glare,[citation needed] she continued to record. Her second album, Medusa, was released in March 1995. It consisted solely of cover songs, all originally recorded by male artists including Bob Marley and The Clash. It entered the UK album chart at No. 1 and peaked in the USA at number 11, spending 60 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and selling a total of 1,900,000 to date in the United States. It has since achieved double platinum status in both the UK and the US.[10][12] The album yielded four UK singles: "No More I Love You's" (which entered the UK singles chart at No. 2, Lennox's highest ever solo peak), "A Whiter Shade of Pale", "Waiting in Vain" and "Something So Right". The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards of 1996,[13] losing to Turbulent Indigo by Joni Mitchell, however, Lennox took home the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance award for her work on the first single "No More I Love You's".[citation needed] Though Lennox declined to tour for the album, she did perform a large scale one-off concert in New York's Central Park, which was filmed and later released on home video.[14] In 1997, Lennox re-recorded the Eurythmics track "Angel" for
the Diana, Princess of Wales tribute album, and also recorded the
song "Mama" for The Avengers soundtrack album. In 1998, following the death of a mutual
friend (former Tourists member Peet Coombes), she re-established
contact with Dave Stewart.[citation needed] Following their first
performance together in eight years at a record company party,
Stewart and Lennox began writing and recording together for the
first time since 1989. This resulted in the album Peace. The title
was designed to reflect the duo's ongoing concern with global conflict
and world peace.[citation needed] The record was promoted with
a concert on the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior II, where they
played a mixture of old and new songs. "I Saved the World Today" was the lead single, reaching number eleven on the UK singles chart.[15] Another
single, released at the beginning of 2000, "17 Again", made the UK top 40, and topped the US dance chart.[citation needed] Critics
were impressed overall with the record, although some commented
that it "lacked the power" (NME) of their previous releases and "quietly acknowledged that their solo careers had failed" (Q Magazine[citation needed]), despite the fact that both of Lennox's solo efforts
reached the number one position in the UK charts, Diva going quadruple
platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US (Q magazine, themselves
placing it in their top 50 albums of 1992[citation needed]) and
Medusa going double-platinum in both countries, respectively. In 2003, Lennox released her third solo album, Bare. The album peaked at #3 in the UK and #4 in the US - her highest charting album in the US to date.[16] She embarked on her first tour as a solo artist to promote the album. The tour, simply titled Solo Tour, pre-dated the release of the album and visited both the US and Europe, with only a two-night stop in the UK at Saddler's Wells Theatre in London. The album has been certified Gold in both the UK and the US and was nominated for Best Pop Album at the 46th Grammy Awards.[17] The album was released with a DVD which included interviews and acoustic versions of songs by Lennox. The Japanese edition of the album features a version of Lennox's earlier hit "Cold" recorded live in Toronto. In 2004, Lennox won the Academy Award for Best Song for "Into the West" from the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,[18] which she co-wrote with screenwriter Fran Walsh and composer Howard Shore. The song also won a Grammy award and a Golden Globe award. She had previously recorded "Use Well the Days" for the movie, which incorporates a number of quotations from Tolkien in its lyrics. This song was not used in the film, but it appears on a bonus DVD included with the "special edition" of the movie's soundtrack CD. In mid-2004, Lennox embarked on an extensive North American tour with Sting.[citation needed] In July 2005, Lennox performed at Live 8 in Hyde Park, London, along with Madonna, Sting, and other popular musicians.[citation needed] In 2005, Lennox and Stewart collaborated on two
new songs for their Eurythmics compilation album, Ultimate Collection,
of which "I've Got a Life" was released as a single in October 2005. The promotional video for the song
features Lennox and Stewart performing in the present day, with
images of past Eurythmics videos playing on television screens
behind them.[citation needed] The single peaked at number fourteen
in the UK Singles Chart and was a number-one US Dance hit.[citation
needed] On 14 November 2005, Sony BMG repackaged and released Eurythmics'
back catalogue as 2005 Deluxe Edition Reissues.[citation needed] Ending her long association with Stephen Lipson, Lennox's fourth solo album, Songs of Mass Destruction, was recorded in Los Angeles with veteran producer Glen Ballard (known for producing Alanis Morissette's album, Jagged Little Pill). It was released on 1 October 2007, and was the last studio album of Lennox's contract with BMG.[citation needed] It peaked at #7 in the UK and #9 in the US.[citation needed] Lennox stated that she believed the album consisted of "twelve strong, powerful, really emotive songs that people can connect to". If she achieves that, she says, "I can feel proud of [it], no matter if it sells ten copies or 50 million."[19] Lennox described it as "a dark album, but the world is a dark place. It's fraught, it's turbulent. Most people's lives are underscored with dramas of all kinds: there's ups, there's downs - the flickering candle."[20] She added, "Half the people are drinking or drugging themselves to numb it. A lot of people are in pain."[20] The album's first single was "Dark Road", released on 24 September 2007. Another song on the album, "Sing", is a collaboration between Lennox and 23 prominent female artists: Anastacia, Isobel Campbell, Dido, Céline Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Fergie, Beth Gibbons, Faith Hill, Angelique Kidjo, Beverley Knight, Gladys Knight, k.d. lang, Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Beth Orton, Pink, Kelis, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Joss Stone, Sugababes, KT Tunstall, and Martha Wainwright. The song was recorded to raise money and awareness for the HIV/AIDS organization Treatment Action Campaign.[citation needed] Included among the group of vocalists are TAC activist members' own vocal group known as The Generics, whose CD of music inspired Lennox to make "Sing".[citation needed] The track was released as a download single in December 2007, featuring different mixes, and then as a limited CD-single, sold in UK branches of The Body Shop in March 2008.[citation needed] To promote Songs of Mass Destruction, Lennox embarked
on a primarily North American tour called Annie Lennox Sings, which
lasted throughout October and November 2007. The tour had 18 stops:
San Diego, New York City (two dates), Boston. The venues generally
were at medium-size theatres,[citation needed] except in New York,
where one of the dates was a United Nations fundraiser at the Midtown
restaurant Cipriani. Finishing out her contract with Sony BMG, Lennox released the compilation album The Annie Lennox Collection. Initially intended for release in September 2008, the release date was pushed back several months to allow Lennox to recuperate from a back injury.[citation needed] The compilation was eventually released in the US on 17 February 2009, and in the UK and Europe on 9 March 2009. Included on the track listing are songs from her four solo albums, one from the Bram Stoker's Dracula soundtrack, and two new songs. One of these is a cover of Ash's single, "Shining Light". The other is a cover of a song by the English band Keane, originally the B-side of their first single in 2000. Lennox renamed the song from its original title "Closer Now" to "Pattern of My Life". The track was released as the second single (download only), in the UK on 24 May 2009.[citation needed] A limited 3-disc edition of the album included a DVD compilation featuring most of Lennox's solo videos since 1992, and also featured a second CD of rarer songs including a version of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" with Alicia Keys and Lennox's Oscar winning "Into the West" from the third Lord of the Rings film. The album entered the UK album chart at #2 and remained in the top 10 for seven weeks.[citation needed] The collection debuted and peaked at #34 on the US Top 200 Billboard Album chart.[citation needed] Lennox's recording contract with Sony BMG concluded
with the release of Songs of Mass Destruction and the subsequent
retrospective album The Collection, and much was made in the press
in late 2007/early 2008 about the apparent animosity between Lennox
and the record company. Lennox stated that while on a trip to South
Africa in December 2007 to appear at the 46664 campaign in Johannesburg,
the regional company office of the label failed to return phone
calls and e-mails she made to them for three weeks, and had completely
failed to promote the Sing project as planned. Upon her return
to the UK, Lennox met with the head of Sony BMG UK, Ged Docherty,
who was "mortified" by the problems she had encountered with the South African branch. However,
the debacle (partly inflamed when Lennox's dissatisfaction with
the South African office was made public on her blog) led to press
reports falsely stating that she was being dropped by Sony BMG.
The record company themselves quickly refuted the rumour stating
that Lennox's contract with them had merely been fulfilled and
that they hoped she would consider remaining with them. The British
tabloid, Daily Mirror, subsequently printed a retraction of its
story about her being dropped by the label.[21] In August 2010, Lennox signed a new contract with Island Records in the UK and Decca Records in the US (both part of the Universal Music Group).[citation needed] Her first release was a Christmas album entitled A Christmas Cornucopia, issued on 15 November 2010. The album is a collection of Lennox's interpretations of traditional festive songs such as "Silent Night" and "The First Noel", along with one new composition, "Universal Child", which was released as a download-only single on 13 October 2010. Lennox had previously showcased the song on the American Idol Gives Back TV show in April 2010. She sang the song "Angels from the Realms of Glory" from the album for the TNT special Christmas in Washington.[22] A music video was produced for a second single from the album, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". Lennox also performed the track on the UK chat show Loose Women in December 2010, and was also interviewed.[23] According to Metacritic, A Christmas Cornucopia has gained "generally favourable reviews".[24] Ian Wade of BBC Music gave the album a very positive review, saying "this collection could find itself becoming as much a part of the holiday season as arguments with loved ones."[25] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine awarded the album 3.5/5 and said "Lennox seems more inspired on A Christmas Cornucopia than she has in years."[26] John Hunt of Qatar Today magazine gave the album 9/10 and said "in particular, the vocal work and musical arrangement of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' are impactful to the point of being intimidating."[27] It was confirmed in late-2010 that Lennox would
become an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, which she
received from Queen Elizabeth on 28 June 2011.[28][29][30][31] In 1990, Lennox recorded a version of Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" for the Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue, a benefit for AIDS awareness. A video was also produced.[32] Lennox has been a public supporter of Amnesty International and Greenpeace for many years, and she and Dave Stewart donated all of the profits from Eurythmics' 1999 Peacetour to both charities.[33] Her song "Sing" was subsequently born out of Lennox's involvement with Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), both of which are human rights groups which seek education and health care for those affected by HIV. In 2006, in response to her humanitarian work, Lennox became patron of the Master's Course in Humanitarian and Development Practice for Oxford Brookes University. A spokesperson said that the university was "delighted that as a long-term supporter of human rights and social justice campaigns Ms Lennox has agreed to act as patron for its unique MA programme."[citation needed] In October 2006, Lennox spoke at the British House of Commons about the need for children in the UK to help their counterparts in Africa.[citation needed] On 25 April 2007, Lennox performed "Bridge over Troubled Water" during the American Idol "Idol Gives Back" fundraising drive.[citation needed] In December 2007, Lennox established The SING Campaign, an organisation dedicated to raising funds and awareness for women and children affected by HIV and AIDS.[34] On 11 December 2007, she performed in the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with a variety of artists, which was broadcast to over 100 countries.[35] She led a rally against the Gaza War in London on 3 January 2009.[36] Lennox opened the 2009 Edinburgh Festival of Politics with a stinging attack on Pope Benedict XVI's approach to HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa. She said that the Pope's denunciation of condoms on his recent tour of Africa had caused "tremendous harm" and she criticised the Roman Catholic Church for causing widespread confusion on the continent. Lennox also condemned the media's obsession with "celebrity culture" for keeping the AIDS pandemic off the front page. In an attempt to counter this, during her address, she wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "HIV positive". Lennox wore similar T-shirts at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009,[37] while appearing on The Graham Norton Show on 30 November 2009 (where she performed the new song "Full Steam", a duet with singer David Gray), also during a recorded performance for American Idol during a 21 April 2010 fund-raiser, Idol Gives Back, and most recently during a performance on the live Comic Relief show on 18 March 2011. In June 2010, she was named as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for AIDS.[38] Lennox also supports the Burma Campaign UK, a non-governmental organisation that addresses the suffering in Burma and promotes democratisation.[citation needed] She was appointed Officer of the Order of the
British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services
to Oxfam.[39] Lennox has garnered a significant following within
the LGBT community. According to The Advocate, "[h]er distinctive voice and provocative stage persona have made Lennox a longtime
gay icon."[40] With Eurythmics' music videos earning regular rotation on MTV in the 1980s,
Lennox took part in the shaping of popular culture alongside other
gay icons such as Boy George, Madonna, Morrissey, and Michael Stipe.[41] Both during her work with Eurythmics and in her
solo career, Lennox has made many music promo videos. Her 1992
album Diva was accompanied by a video album that included promos
for every song except one[citation needed] (Eurythmics made a similar
collection for their 1987 album Savage). Actors Hugh Laurie and
John Malkovich appeared in the music video for "Walking on Broken Glass", while the video for "Little Bird" paid homage to the different images and personas that have appeared in some
of Lennox's previous videos. The clip features Lennox performing
on stage with several lookalikes (male and female) that represent
her personas from "Why", "Walking on Broken Glass", "Sweet Dreams", "Beethoven", "I Need a Man", "Thorn in My Side", "There Must Be an Angel", and even her stage image from the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Many
of her solo videos have a theatrical feel, often in period settings
with dramatic and comedic flourishes.[citation needed] Both of Lennox's parents died of cancer.[5] Her first marriage from 1984 to 1985 was to a German Hare Krishna devotee Radha Raman.[42] From 1988 to 2000, she was married to Israeli film and record producer Uri Fruchtmann.[43] They have two daughters, Lola (born 1990) and Tali (born 1993). A son, Daniel, was stillborn in December 1988.[44][45] Lennox describes herself as an agnostic[46] and lives in Notting Hill, London.[47] Lennox was estimated to have a fortune of £30
million in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2010.[48] In the Garden (1981) The Annie Lennox Collection (2009) Awards and nominations Lennox has received a variety of major awards during her career:[49] American Music Awards[50] 2008 – AMA Award of Merit for her work and her humanitarian efforts Academy Awards[51] 2004 – Best Original Song ("Into the West") Grammy Awards[52] 1984 – Best New Artist (Eurythmics) (nominated) Ivor Novello Awards[53] 1984 – Songwriter of the Year for Lennox and
Dave Stewart BRIT Awards[54] 1984 – Best British Female Artist Golden Globe Awards[55] 2004 – Best Original Song – Motion Picture ("Into the West") Honorary degrees and awards[56] 1986 - Associate - Royal Academy of Music London Other awards / titles / ambassadorships[58] 2002 – Billboard Century Award by Billboard
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