Cherie Currie

Cherie Currie
Born	November 30, 1959 (1959-11-30) (age 51) Encino, California, U.S.
Genres	Punk rock Hard rock Rock and Roll
Occupations	Musician, 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 Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Life and career

Cherie's parents were 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 her twin, Marie Currie.

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

Currie, not yet 16, joined The Runaways in 1975. The teen rock anthem "Cherry Bomb" was written for her at the audition. Attitudes to 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. 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 TV series (Matlock and Murder She Wrote, among others).

Currie struggled with drug addiction throughout much of her younger life, which largely factored into why her career ended so abruptly. She later wrote a memoir called Neon Angel recounting life in the band and her traumatic experiences with drug addiction, sex abuse and her broken family. The Runaways movie, a 2010 musical biographical drama film (which was 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 in the 1990s and they had one son together, Jake Hays. They are now divorced.^[3]

In 2008, Currie contributed to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's book, Cherry Bomb.^[4][5]

Currently, Currie is a wood carving artist who uses a chain saw to create her works.^[6]

Currie is putting the finishing touches on a new album, produced by current Velvet Revolver drummer, ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum, due out in 2011. This will be Currie's first album since 1980. During an interview with Cherie Currie and Matt Sorum on That Metal Show, Matt revealed that ex-Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver band mates Slash and Duff McKagan as well as Smashing Pumpkins vocalist Billy Corgan, who has written and sings a duet with Currie, are also on the album. The rest of the album's line-up was also revealed on the Road Runner website.^[7]

Discography

With The Runaways

Studio albums

• 1976 – The Runaways
• 1977 – Queens of Noise

Live albums

• 1977 – Live in Japan

Solo

Studio albums

• 1978 – Beauty's Only Skin Deep
• 1980 – Messin' With The Boys (with Marie Currie)
• 1998 – Young and Wild (compilation, with Marie Currie)^[8]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1980	Foxes	Annie
1982	Parasite	Dana
1983	Twilight Zone: The Movie	Sara	Segment #3
1983	Wavelength	Iris Longacre
1984	Murder, She Wrote	Echo Cramer	TV episode: "It's a Dog's Life"
1984	The Rosebud Beach Hotel	Singing Maid Cherie
1990	Matlock	Renee Thorton	Two TV episodes: "The Informer: Part 1" and "The Informer: Part 2"
1991	Matlock	Betsy Rhodes	TV episode: "The Suspect"
	Rich Girl	Michelle
2005	Edgeplay: A film about The Runaways	Herself	Film by former Runaways bassist Victory Tischler-Blue documenting The Runaways' musical history.

References

1. ^ http://www.tribute.ca/news/index.php/neon-angel-interview-with-the-runaways-cherie-currie/2010/03/26/
2. ^ Sunday Times Culture, 25 April 2010
3. ^ Cherie Currie rocks with biopic
4. ^ Lecaro, Lina (2008-07-30). "Cherry Bomb: Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's Ultimate How-To for Budding Rock Chicks". laweekly.com. http://www.laweekly.com/2008-07-31/music/how-to-be-a-rock-chick-carrie-borzillo-vrenna-offers-first-hand-advice/. Retrieved 2011-02-18. 
5. ^ "WHO SAYS COOLNESS CAN’T BE TAUGHT?". skope mag.com. 2008-05-07. http://skopemag.com/2008/05/07/who-says-coolness-cant-be-taught. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
6. ^ http://www.chainsawchick.com/
7. ^ www.roadrunnerrecords.com
8. ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000654F

External links

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

Persondata
Name	Currie, Cherie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1959-11-30
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death