Cherie Currie

Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Cherie Ann Currie
Born	(1959-11-30) November 30, 1959 Encino, California, US
Genres	Punk rock Heavy metal Rock and roll
Occupations	Musician, singer, 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 Ann Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, actress and artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a rock band from Los Angeles, in the mid-to-late 1970s

Early life

Currie was born to Don Currie and actress Marie Harmon. 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 Cherie's twin, Marie Currie.

Career

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

Currie joined The Runaways in 1975, at age 15. The teen rock anthem "Cherry Bomb" was written for her at the audition. Assessments of 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".

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 television series (Matlock and Murder, She Wrote, among others).

Personal life

Currie struggled with drug addiction for much of her younger life, which was a major factor in the abrupt ending of her career. She later wrote a memoir, Neon Angel, recounting life in the band and her traumatic experiences with drug addiction, sex abuse and her broken family. The Runaways, a 2010 musical biographical drama film 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.

In 2008, Currie contributed to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's book, Cherry Bomb.

Currie is now a wood-carving artist who uses a chainsaw to create her works.

Discography

With The Runaways

Studio albums

• 1976 – The Runaways
• 1977 – Queens of Noise
• 1980 – Flaming Schoolgirls

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)

Guest appearances

• 2013 – Shameless - Beautiful Disaster

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	2 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.
2013	Hansel and Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft	Ms. Thoman	Direct-to-DVD release
	Warehouse 13	Herself	TV episode "Runaway"

External links

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