Lucy O'Brien

Lucy O'Brien (born September 13, 1961 in west Catford, London; grew up in Southampton, and now living in London) [Author Biography, O'Brien, Lucy - She Bop: The definitive history of women in rock, pop, and soul, London: Penguin, 1995] is an author and journalist whose work focuses on women in music.

Early musical and writing career

In 1979, whilst attending a convent school in Southampton, she formed a punk band aptly named "the Catholic Girls". [O'Brien, Lucy, "A kiss in the dreamhouse", in Aizelwood, John, Love Is The Drug, London: Penguin, 1994, pp86-91] Her parents forced her to quit the band to dedicate more time to her 'A' Level studies, resulting in the dismemberment of the group. [Prologue, O'Brien, Lucy - She Bop: The definitive history of women in rock, pop, and soul, London: Penguin, 1995] At university she played with a number of bands before giving up performing to write instead. [O'Brien, Lucy, "Prologue" in She Bop: The definitive history of women in rock, pop, and soul, London: Penguin, 1995, pxiii] She became editor of the University of Leeds magazine, "Leeds Student", and after graduating in 1983, she submitted gig articles to the music paper the "New Musical Express" (NME), which then published Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent. Her best-known contribution to the paper may be the notorious "Youth Suicide" cover article. [Inky Fingers: The NME Story, BBC2, 4/7/2005]

Forming an alliance with fellow soul and socialism heads Stuart Cosgrove and Paolo Hewitt, O'Brien became part of a leftist faction at NME which was eventually discharged by incoming editor Alan Lewis — an IPC troubleshooter instructed to de-politicise the magazine and boost sales. [Inky Fingers: The NME Story, BBC2, 4/7/2005]

During her early years at NME, O'Brien also wrote for the feminist magazine, Spare Rib, whose offices she had first visited in 1980. [O',Brien, Lucy, "A Kiss In The Dreamhouse", in Aizlewood, John, Love Is The Drug, London: Penguin, 1994, pp86-91] In 1984 she co-wrote a cover story for them about women in the music industry. She was shocked to discover just how few women had record deals or were in the charts compared to men [O'Brien, Lucy, "Introduction" in She Bop: The definitive history of women in rock, pop, and soul, London: Penguin, 1995, p2] and this discovery would inspire her later work, particularly "She Bop".

After leaving NME, O'Brien worked as Music Editor at the London listings magazine City Limits. [O'Brien, "A Kiss In The Dreamhouse", in Aizlewood, John, Love Is The Drug, London: Penguin, 1994, p96] It was here that she interviewed Dusty Springfield, an interview which led to her being contacted by the publishers Sidgwick & Jackson, and to her being offered the chance to write Springfield's biography.

Freelance writing, and books

By 1990, O'Brien had gone freelance, going on to write for "The Guardian" and "The Independent", and music magazines Q Magazine and MOJO, amongst others. Her reputation as a writer and commentator was seriously established by the publication of her first book "Dusty" — a best-selling biography of British soul legend Dusty Springfield (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1989). The book was instrumental in the rediscovery and reappraisal of Springfield's work, and was the foundation for O'Brien's reputation as an authority on female artists and soul music.

Her next music biography, "Annie Lennox" (St Martin's Press, 1993), was also published in the United States. O'Brien charted Annie Lennox's career from the early troubled days of The Tourists through to the global success of Eurythmics to Lennox's decision to take a pop sabbatical at the height of her career to work on behalf of the homeless.

In 1995, O'Brien took a broader look at female musicians in "She Bop: The Definitive History Of Women In Rock, Pop & Soul" (Pan, 1995). Using a personal, polemical, and thematic approach, the book begins with the Blues and Jazz Age, and ends with chapters on protest pop and the business side of the music business, taking in chapters on fifties girl pop, sixties girl groups, rock chicks, punk and its feminine descendents, including riot grrrl, singer/songwriters, Madonna, MTV and the power of image, artistry, androgyny and the lesbian question, Disco and the dance scene, rap and reggae, and world music along the way.

The second edition of "Dusty" appeared in 1999 and covered events up to Springfield's death, while the updated "She Bop II" was published in 2002 by Continuum Press, [http://books.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4752066-110738,00.html retrieved 04/12/2003] including more recent artists and a chapter on girl power. [http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2002/12/interview_with]

In 2007, O'Brien wrote an in-depth biography of Madonna, entitled "Madonna: Like An Icon". This was published on 28th August 2007 in the UK and later, on 6th November 2007, in the USA. [www.lucyobrien.com]

Television and Radio

O'Brien's books, notably "She Bop", have led to frequent television appearances as an authority on rock music. These include appearances on Channel 4's Top Ten... franchise, and work for BBC2's The Ozone in the late nineties (including a feature exploring the concept of girl power, and an interview with Yoko Ono.) [http://www.geocities.com/sistayes/lucyinterview.html] amongst others. O'Brien also co-produced the Channel 4 documentary "Righteous Babes", on rock and new feminism, [http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/30749/Lucy_OBrien/index.aspx?authorID=30749] and in 2002 adapted "She Bop II" as a two part documentary for BBC Radio 2.

Point of confusion

Possibly because of her involvement with the seventies U.K punk scene, O'Brien has occasionally been mistaken for Lucy Toothpaste, (aka: Lucy Whitman) who wrote the feminist punk fanzine "Jolt", and who, like O'Brien, later wrote for the feminist magazine Spare Rib [http://www.geocities.com/sistayes/lucyinterview.html]

Bibliography

Dusty, London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1989

Annie Lennox, London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1991

She Bop: The definitive history of women in rock, pop, and soul, London: Penguin, 1995

Dusty, London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1999 "(paperpack, new edition, updated)"

She Bop II: The definitive history of women in rock, pop, and soul, London/New York: Continuum, 2002

Madonna: Like An Icon, London: Harper Collins, 2007 "(paperback edition 2008)"

Essay Collections

"A kiss in the dreamhouse" in Aizelwood, John (ed), Love Is The Drug, London: Penguin, 1994

"Sisters of swing" in Cooper, Sarah (ed), Girls! Girls! Girls!, London: Cassell, 1995

"The Year Skunk Broke" in Evans, Liz (ed), Girls Will Be Boys: Women Report On Rock, London: Pandora, 1997

"The Woman Punk Made Me" in Sabin, Roger (ed), Punk Rock; So What?, London/New York: Routledge, 1999

*"O'Brien was also an interviewee in Helen Reddington's book The Lost Women Of Music: Female Musicians Of The Punk Era, which was published by Ashgate Publishing in 2007."

References

Links

* [http://www.geocities.com/sistayes/lucyinterview.html Lucy O'Brien interviewed by Sophy of Sista Yes! fanzine in the late nineties]
* [http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2002/12/interview_with Lucy O'Brien interviewed by author Cazz Blase in 2002]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4752066-110738,00.html Lucy O'Brien reflects on She Bop and She Bop II in The Guardian, 2003]
* [http://www.lucyobrien.com/ Lucy O'Brien's official website]
* [http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=twmain.txt&eqeandata=9780593055472 O'Brien's page at Transworld publishers UK]
* [http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061538896/Madonna_Like_an_Icon/index.aspx O'Brien's page at Harper Collins publishers USA]