Annie Lennox

• Born: December 25, 1954
• Place of Birth: Aberdeen, Scotland

Scottish singer Annie Lennox is widely regarded as one of the most successful and influential musicians in popular music history. As a child, Lennox embarked on a path towards a career in classical music by studying the piano and flute, but soon concentrated on her rich contralto voice in her teen years. Lennox first achieved success with The Tourists, a British pop band that also included Dave Stewart. The two would go on to achieve international fame with their next group, Eurythmics. It was then that Lennox began experimenting with a bold androgynous look, helping to cement her reputation as an artist that can transcend both gender and genre by successfully adopting a variety of personas and sounds. Following the disbandment of Eurythmics, Lennox would also go on to enjoy a long and successful career as a solo artist.

Early Years

Ann-Lynne Griselda Lennox was born December 25, 1954, in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. Her mother, Dorothy, gave up her job as a school cook when she became pregnant, and Lennox grew up in a two-room apartment in the working-class, factory district of Aberdeen. As a child, Lennox was encouraged to study music. Her father, Tom, was a talented bagpipe player who earned his living as a shipyard worker. He bought Lennox her first instrument, a brightly-colored toy piano.

At the age of four and a half, Lennox qualified to be educated at an elite local school for girls. At age seven she began taking piano lessons from a teacher Lennox later described as being a woman given to rapping the knuckles of her defiant students. Four years later, Lennox switched to the flute. It was an inauspicious beginning; during her first flute lesson, her erratic breathing caused her to throw up. In time she mastered the instrument, and was practicing weekly with the local school orchestra.

During her childhood, Lennox often felt somewhat isolated and apart from the other children in her hometown. She was also an only child, and attended a prestigious school with girls far wealthier than she. As a result, Lennox remembers spending a good deal of her early years on her own, often writing poetry, drawing, and daydreaming. Later, as a rebellious teenager, she frequently butted heads with her strict, authoritarian father.

Early Career

Passing her audition with the Royal Academy of Music in London, Lennox left home in the northeast of Scotland at age seventeen. As time went by, Lennox came to realize that she was not outstanding on the flute, piano, or harpsichord. She eventually began to focus on the idea of becoming a singer/songwriter. In 1974, much to her parents' dismay, Lennox dropped out of the academy after three years. Though she would later call on her knowledge of classical composers, she realized that she was not meant to devote her life to a strict interpretation of their work. In addition to the classics, Lennox also reports having been deeply influenced by the music of Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell, as well as by the Scottish folk songs of her childhood.

Writing songs at her apartment, Lennox secured a job as a waiter. She was on the cusp of packing in her dreams of musical stardom to head back to a teaching job in Scotland when she was introduced to Dave Stewart in 1976. Also a struggling young musician, Stewart was experiencing a serious drug addiction. Recognizing talent (if not salvation) in each other, the two instantly hit it off, moved in together, and became musical partners.

Eurythmics

Along with another singer/songwriter, Peet Coombes, Lennox and Stewart formed a music group called Catch, later augmented with a few extra musicians and renamed The Tourists. In 1980, after a bit of success but no profits, the Tourists—and with it Lennox's and Stewart's romantic relationship—ended. Still friends and still musical partners, Lennox and Stewart formed a new group, Eurythmics, in 1980.

After forming the group, Lennox and Stewart changed managers and decided to create their own recording studio. The chemistry, timing, content, and sound proved to be just right, and the pop duo would go on to produce nine albums between 1981 and 1989, and sell over 75 million records. Their breakthrough came when they released their second album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), in 1983. Lennox stunned some and delighted others by the orange flat-top hairstyle she sported while singing, and her appearance at the 1984 Grammy Awards, where she dressed as a Las Vegas-style Elvis Presley, shocked the audience.

Having peaked in 1985, Eurythmics finally, though unofficially, disbanded in 1990. They reunited in 1999 and worked together until 2005. That same year, the group was inducted into the British Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2020, the group was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and two years later, Eurythmics entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Solo Career

During her hiatus from Eurythmics, Lennox embarked upon an equally successful solo career, including the 2009 release of The Annie Lennox Collection. During her career as a solo artist, Lennox put out a number of solo albums. Two of her albums, Diva (1992) and Medusa (1995), went platinum, selling more than one million copies. Lennox would also earn an Academy Award for Best Song in 2004 for "Into the West," which was recorded for the film Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003). Lennox then recorded the album Nostalgia in 2014 and the extended play record (EP) Lepidoptera in 2019.

Personal Life

In February 1984, while on tour in Germany, Lennox met Radha Raman, a member of the Hare Krishna movement. Lennox was attracted by his spirituality and lack of interest in the material world, and they married a few weeks after meeting. It would prove to be a short-lived union, however, and they divorced fourteen months later.

In 1987, Lennox met Uri Fruchtman, a documentary filmmaker from Israel. They were married in 1988, remaining together for twelve years. The couple had their first daughter, Lola, in 1990. Their second daughter, Tali, was born two years later. Their third child, Daniel, was stillborn in 1988. Ever since her daughters were born, parenthood has been central to Lennox's life. It wasn't until the singer was thirty-eight that she learned to drive, lessons she undertook simply for the purpose of ferrying her children to and from nursery school. In 2012, Lennox married Mitch Besser, the founder of a charity dedicated to treating AIDS in Africa.

Throughout her career, Lennox has also remained deeply committed to international issues such as AIDS, poverty, and global warming. The singer/songwriter has devoted much of her time, energy, and money to these causes, and has actively supported organizations such as Amnesty International (AI) and Greenpeace.

Bibliography

Greene, Andy. “Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart on Eurythmics Entering the Rock Hall, Reunion Dreams.” Rolling Stone, 5 May 2022, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/annie-lennox-dave-stewart-eurythmics-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-interview-1347753/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Annie Lennox." All Music, 2024, www.allmusic.com/artist/annie-lennox-mn0000585249. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Itzkoff, Dave. “Eurythmics to Reunite for Beatles Tribute.” The New York Times, 6 Jan. 2014, archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/06/eurythmics-to-reunite-for-beatles-tribute/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

"Songwriters Hall of Fame Announces 2020 Inductees." Songwriters Hall of Fame, 16 Jan. 2020, www.songhall.org/news/view/songwriters‗hall‗of‗fame‗announces‗2020‗inductees. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Stewart, Allison. “Annie Lennox Beguiled Us in the MTV Age. Now She Calms Us Down Online.” The Washington Post, 30 Jun. 2022, washingtonpost.com/music/2022/06/30/annie-lennox-profile-2022-eurythmics-instagram/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.