Annie Lennox, who is celebrating 50 years in showbiz, has re-released her hit single with all the money raised going to Palestinian-led organisations on the front line in Gaza
Trailblazing for 50 years, with her distinctive androgynous look and stunning voice, Annie Lennox is as cool and relevant today as she was when she burst onto the music scene in the 1970s with new wave band The Tourists.
Achieving worldwide success when she and Dave Stewart – her sometime romantic partner – then formed Eurythmics and she appeared in the 1983 music video for Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) wearing a man’s lounge suit and with orange cropped hair, she has been surprising people ever since.
A fabulously successful solo artist, she has now re-released her 1992 hit single Why? from her debut solo album Diva, in support of the charitable Together for Palestine fund.
Making some contribution to bringing peace to the Middle East is now her number one priority.
Mum to daughters Lola and Tali by her ex-husband, Israeli record producer Uri Fruchtmann, she says of the devastating conflict in Gaza: “I just want the war to end. Politicians are supposed to have dialogue and supposed to avoid conflict. We all know war is the most heinous destructive force on the planet, but I just want peace.
“When I saw the violence on October 7 two years ago it was shocking. I knew it was going to unleash the gates of hell. I believed something terrible was going to happen and we have all been watching it since. On your phone you can see day to day what is going on. I have seen the most horrendous things and I don’t want to see them again, ever.”
Every penny from Why? goes to Palestinian-led organisations at the frontline of the crisis, such as Taawon, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.
She says: “I have tried to contribute in my own way. I just want to see peace and see a ceasefire and see them stop killing men, women and children. Seeing people being displaced has hit me so hard.
“I have two daughters and their father is from Israel. Having children is the biggest change one can ever experience. I am so grateful for it. It made me a nicer person and it fulfilled me. You love them so much.”
She adds: “I will tell you why I speak up: because it is nothing to what these people have to endure.”
In London, to launch her new photographic memoir, Retrospective, documenting her incredible career – which has seen her win eight Brit awards, four Grammys, an Oscar, a Golden Globe plus multiple Ivor Novello song-writing awards – Annie, 70, says success nearly passed her by.
The tough-talking Scot, who was born in Aberdeen on Christmas Day 1954, says bosses at RCA Records could not understand what Eurythmics were all about when they formed in 1980.
She remembers: “We formed after our first band The Tourists split. We loved the name Eurythmics. As we loved being European and “rhythm” is in the name there. Nobody else got it but us.
“We really struggled but a new A&R man really loved us and said ‘Basically, there is only one band I am taking on’ and it was us. They let a lot of bands go, which was a shame, but it was good for us. If it had not had worked I thought I would have to go back to Scotland. Success takes you on these tremendous highs and it can take you down as well.”
The band’s debut single Never Gonna Cry only made it to No.63 in the charts. But just three years later, they broke through with their international bestselling single Love Is A Stranger, which peaked at No.2 in the UK.
The rest, as they say is history, as the band dominated the charts throughout the 80s with hits such as Sweet Dreams, Who’s That Girl?, Right By Your Side, Here Comes The Rain Again and Sexcrime.
Annie’s ferocious vocals were inimitable, while her crew cut orange hair immediately set a fashion trend for the start of the power dressing 80s.
But her role as a style icon was an accident.
“I had no idea the haircut would be iconic,” laughs Annie. “I guess Dave and I were on a mission.
“We had gone through so much. We had nothing to lose. I felt I had nothing to lose. It was only later that we understood what we had done. We were in the pursuit of excellence.
“We lived to make music. If you are going to pursue excellence that is what you have to do. You have to have a passion for it. The clothes gave us an identity. I guess we all have a sense of style.
“When you have the opportunity you go for it. They wanted us in Australia, Japan, Germany, Holland. France so we travelled a lot. We were always on the road.
“We were writing, recording, doing videos, performing and being exhausted after doing two hour shows, dancing, sweating and peeling off the leather at the end of the night.”
As well as travelling the world, the band found themselves in demand and soon recording with some of the biggest stars in the world, including soul queen Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder,who played harmonica on their 80s No.1 smash There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart).
But Annie remembers how Stevie kept them hanging on, saying: “He did keep us waiting in the studio. That is another story. But I sat on the floor in the studio in awe when he recorded with us. I remember his assistant put a bean bag around his head so his beads did not make any noise when we recorded.”
In awe of his talent, she adds: “It was intimidating and there you are with him, it was unbelievable.”
David Bowie inspired the same admiration, at the star studded Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium in 1992, held to honour the late Queen frontman a year after his death from AIDs.
“I sang Under Pressure with David, which he had done with Freddie. He did put his arm around me and you can see his thumb on my back in the photos. That is as close as we got, but that’s not bad is it? I was drawn to connect with him, not just stand next to him.
“I did not really know the song that well and when you take on a song you have to embody it. You have to really sing it over and over. I had to really get into that with David and the band which happened to be Queen. Singing it was a lot of pressure like ‘Under pressure…I am under pressure!’”
Despite selling over 75 million records, Annie confesses that fame still does not sit comfortably with her, saying: “Being famous is like having two heads. Like you have one on your shoulder like one is Annie and one is Annie Lennox. I want to be remembered for who I am and I am Annie.
“People do look at you. It ain’t an easy gig. I don’t mean like ‘Oh poor me’. I did not have any thoughts about fame when it first happened. It is not until you have found success that there are rules.
“I am just a normal person really. I am not starry starry or a ‘friend of the stars’. I am a shy, modest person. I like to be modest and I like the quality of modesty.”
For the foreseeable future, Annie plans to keep campaigning for change – continuing to use her unique voice and slogan T-shirts to get her message across on the world stage.
She says: “I wear T-shirts with slogans on because I don’t need fancy gowns. I don’t need any of that. I like to use my platform, you know.
“Whenever my time comes to pop my clogs and depart this earth I want to feel I did the best I could.”
Source: Mirror
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