|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Neneh Cherry |
| Neneh Cherry | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Neneh Mariann Karlsson |
| Also known as | Black Madonna |
| Born | March 10, 1964 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Genre(s) | Hip hop, trip hop, alternative hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, rapper, DJ |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Label(s) | Virgin, Tent Music |
| Associated acts | Eagle-Eye Cherry, Titiyo, Don Cherry, Massive Attack |
Neneh Cherry (born Neneh Mariann Karlsson on March 10, 1964 in Stockholm) is a two-time Grammy Award-nominated and MTV Europe Music Award-winning Swedish singer-songwriter and rapper. Cherry is also an occasional DJ and broadcaster. Cherry blended hip hop with other influences, and experienced some moderate mainstream success with several of her recordings.
Contents |
Cherry was born as Neneh Mariann Karlsson, to a Sierra Leonean father, Amahdu Jah (a drummer) and a Swedish painter/textile artist mother, Monika Karlsson, known as Moki Cherry. Her siblings include the singers Titiyo Jah and Eagle-Eye Cherry. Her step-father Don Cherry raised her since birthcitation needed so Neneh took his name on. Cherry lived the first years of her life in the small Swedish town Hässleholm. Regarding her childhood, Cherry said:
Soon Mokie met Don and the family accompanied him on his tours through Europe and North America. In the early 1970s the Cherry family nestled into a small apartment on East 9th Street in New York City. Moki still lives in New York : either in Garden City, New York or in a loft in Queens, New York just across the East River from East 60th Street 2. Moki has exhibitions in major museums and galleries in New York and Stockholm.
Cherry joined Rip Rig & Panic as a singer. She married the bank drummer Bruce Smith 3 in 1983 and their daughter Naima was also born that year 4; they divorced in 1984. In 1987 she met producer Cameron McVey at Heathrow airport. Cherry and Cameron were en route to Japan as fashion models as part of London Designer Ray Petri's Buffalo Posse. Cherry proposed and the two married in 1990. Together they have daughters Tyson (1989) and Mabel (1996) 3. Their relationship is also work-related, as McVey produced and co-wrote "Raw Like Sushi" ; together they have supported a variety of heavyweight British acts; and they are in group cirKus together.
In 2004, Cherry became a grandmother when her 19year old daughter Naima had son Louis Clyde Flynn Love 4 5.
The Cherry-McVeys have lived throughout Europe. In 1993 they moved to Spain, and lived there until 1999. In 1995, they briefly attempted to live in New York. They bought a home in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, New York. Soon after moving in, the couple was held up at gunpoint and robbed by a teenage bandit. The entire family packed up again and headed back to London's Primrose Hill 2 . They next returned to Cherry's childhood home in Hässleholm,Sweden; living in the same schoolhouse-turned-home (featured in Homebrew album artwork ) that Cherry grew up in 2 .
Today they split their time between their country house near Malmö and Stockholm and London.
Many members of her family are musicians or artists.
Cherry dropped out of school at 14 and moved to London, where she joined the punk rock band The Cherries. She was close friends/house mates with Ari Up and worked at Better Badges, which was a centre of punk culture. Cherry moved through several bands, including The Slits, New Age Steppers, Rip Rig & Panic, and Float Up CP. She also dj'd, playing early rap music on the reggae pirate Dread Broadcasting Corporation 6.
She began a solo career with "Stop the War", a protest song about the Falkland Islands. She also worked with The The and musician Cameron McVey (a.k.a. Booga Bear), who co-wrote most of her debut album Raw Like Sushi, and whom she would eventually marry. She was intimately involved in the Bristol Urban Culture scene, working as an arranger on Massive Attack's Blue Lines album and helping out in various other ways in the scene. Famously, she gave birth while Shara Nelson was recording the vocals for the album in the same housecitation needed. Robert Del Naja and Andrew Vowles of Massive Attack had in turn contributed to Raw Like Sushi.
Her cover was released as a single, and "Buffalo Stance" was an international blockbuster and she caused controversy when she performed the song - complete with gyrating choreography - on UK television show Top Of The Pops while 7-8 months' pregnant. "Buffalo Stance" eventually peaked at number 3 on the UK pop charts and number 1 on the American Dance charts, becoming one of 1988's biggest club anthems.
More singles released between 1988 and 1990 included the slower "Manchild," "Kisses on the Wind," "Heart," and "Inna City Mama." She also found success with "I've Got U Under My Skin," a dramatic reworking of the Cole Porter song, which appeared on the Red Hot + Blue AIDS fundraising album. The single reached number 25 on the UK pop charts.
Back in Sweden in 1991, Neneh began work on her second album Homebrew.
This was a more developed and crafted album - the sound of someone stretching out. Led by the single "Money Love," it was not as commercially successful as its predecessor, but received great critical acclaim.citation needed The album had some success on the dance charts with songs "Buddy X" and "Trout." "Buddy X" was an even bigger hit years later in a remix by Dreem Teem and on college radio the "Trout" duet with Michael Stipe was popular. Homebrew included the work of a Bristolian lad called Geoff Barrow ('Somedays'), who would later turn up as the studio architect of the group Portishead.
Her most recent solo album, 1996's Man, was led by the track "Woman". Woman is her take on James Brown's 1966 track "It's a Man's Man's Man's World." It featured the world wide hit single "7 Seconds" featuring Youssou N'Dour, and "Trouble Man" - a remake of the old Marvin Gaye classic. Man was recorded mainly in London and Spain. Neneh's stepfather Don Cherry had recently died in her Malaga Spain home, so many of Man's songs have recurring themes of death, longing, and moving on. "Woman"'s video garnered Neneh many British music honorscitation needed.
"Feel It" features a very vulnerable Neneh singing the tale of a young man's growing up. Feel It sounds like a follow up to the classic "man Child". The funky, agitated rock of "Kootchi" shows a return to Neneh's appealing, sass-filled sexual side. "Carry Me" gracefully tells the tale of a young girl's death from the dying girl's perspective. "Golden Ring" is a power ballad sung in a flamenco, Spanish style which exhibits the influence that living in the flamenco scene has had on Neneh's dwelling of Spain. International hit "7 Seconds" is a haunting anthem about racism and "Together Now" features Tricky.
Man is more atmospheric and leaning towards trip-hop and rock than Neneh's previous albums.
A remix album of Man songs released in 1997.
New solo album, a work in progress since 2003. Neneh plans to finish it after cirKus's 2008 CD release and tour finishes and release should be around mid 2009.
In 2006, Cherry announced the formation of a new band, cirKus. In addition to Cherry, cirKus members are:
The band's first album, Laylow, was released in France in 2006.
Although Cherry has only released a handful of albums, she has frequently collaborated with other artists.
In the spring of 2004, Cherry presented Neneh Cherry's World of Music – a six-part series broadcast on BBC Radio 2.
In April 2007, Cherry presented a six-part cookery show Neneh and Andi – Dish it Up with her close friend Andrea Oliver for BBC2. The pair would later appear on Gordon Ramsay's The F-Word as part of the amateur brigade.
 |
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008) |
| Year | Title | Chart Positions 78 | Album | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | U.S. | U.S. Dance | AUS | NZ | GER | NL | SWI | |||
| 1989 | "Buffalo Stance" | 3 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Raw Like Sushi |
| "Manchild" | 5 | — | — | 51 | 4 | 2 | — | 4 | ||
| "Kisses on the Wind" | 20 | 8 | 19 | 52 | 8 | 23 | — | 9 | ||
| "Heart" | — | 73 | — | 91 | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Inna City Mama" | 31 | — | — | — | 15 | — | — | 17 | ||
| 1990 | "I've Got You Under My Skin" | 25 | — | — | 61 | 32 | 23 | — | 25 | Single Only |
| 1992 | "Money Love" | 23 | — | — | 85 | 31 | — | — | — | Homebrew |
| 1993 | "Buddy X" | 35 | 43 | 4 | — | — | — | 23 | — | |
| 1994 | "7 Seconds" (with Youssou N'Dour) | 3 | 98 | — | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Man |
| 1995 | "Love Can Build a Bridge" (with Cher, Chrissie Hynde & Eric Clapton) | 1 | — | — | — | — | 62 | 41 | 21 | Single Only |
| 1996 | "Woman" | 9 | — | — | 17 | 35 | 52 | 22 | 12 | Man |
| "Kootchi" | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1997 | "Feel It" | 68 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1999 | "Buddy X '99" (with Dreem Teem) | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single Only |
| 2000 | "Long Way" Around (with Eagle-Eye Cherry) | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | 81 | 45 | Living In the Present Future |
| 2003 | "Braided Hair" (1 Giant Leap featuring Neneh Cherry & Speech) | 78 | — | — | — | — | — | 96 | — | 1 Giant leap |
| 2006 | "Kids With Guns" (with Gorillaz) | 27 | — | — | 31 | — | 97 | — | — | Demon Days |
| Year | Title | UK | U.S. | AUS | GER | SWE 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Raw Like Sushi | 2 | 40 | 30 | 10 | 3 |
| 1992 | Homebrew | 27 | — | 49 | — | 29 |
| 1996 | Man | 16 | — | 10 | 20 | 22 |
2008 New cirKus album, title TBC 2009 New Solo album, "Reborn" TBC
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |