Exene Cervenka

Exene Cervenka
Exene Cervenka at The Chestnut Cabaret Philadelphia, PA
Background information
Birth name	Christene Cervenka
Born	February 1, 1956 (1956-02-01) , Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Punk, folk, rock
Occupations	Writer, Musician, Artist
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	1978–present
Associated acts	X, The Knitters, Auntie Christ and The Original Sinners
Website	Official website

Exene Cervenka (born as Christene Cervenka; February 1, 1956) is an American writer, musician and artist, most famous as the co-lead vocalist of the Los Angeles punk rock band X.

Career

Born as Christene Cervenka , Cervenka was raised in Illinois and Florida before moving to Los Angeles in 1976. In 1977 she met musician John Doe at a poetry workshop at Beyond Baroque in Venice, California, and founded X. They released their debut album, Los Angeles, in 1980 and, over the next six years, five more critically acclaimed albums. As of late 2011 she has continued her career with X as well as in solo performances and participation in bands such as The Knitters, Auntie Christ and The Original Sinners.

In 1982 Cervenka published her first in a series of four books, Adulterers Anonymous, in collaboration with artist Lydia Lunch. She has also performed and recorded solo work doing spoken word. In 1999, as Exene Cˇervenková, she appeared in the cult video Decoupage 2000: Return of the Goddess, along with guests Karen Black and the band L7. She gave a reading of her poem "They Must Be Angels", and appeared in an interview skit with Decoupage 2000 hostess Summer Caprice.

In 2005, her journals and mixed media collages were exhibited in a one-person exhibition titled America the Beautiful at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The exhibit was curated by Kristine McKenna and Michael Duncan. An expanded version of the exhibition traveled to DCKT Contemporary in New York in January 2006. The exhibition featured a selection of journals from the collection of approximately 100 that Cervenka has completed over the past 30+ years, as well as 18 collages. Cervenka's journals combine rough drafts of songs and personal reflections rendered in a baroque calligraphic script with photographs, drawings and scraps of ephemera found while traveling as a musician. Similarly, the collages are created from found materials to form an interpretative composite portrait of the country she's come to know through her life experiences on the road. DCKT Contemporary continues to represent her artwork.^{[citation needed]}

Cervenka appeared on the 2000 tribute album Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors with Perry Farrell on the track "Children Of Night".

Personal life

Cervenka is of Irish and Czech ancestry. Cervenka married Doe in 1980; they divorced in 1985. According to Henry Rollins' book Get in the Van, he and Cervenka are good friends, and did several spoken words shows together in the 1980s.

Cervenka met Viggo Mortensen in 1986 on the set of the comedy Salvation!, a parody of televangelism. Mortensen played her husband, Jerome. They married on July 8, 1987. On January 28, 1988, Cervenka gave birth to her only child, Henry Blake Mortensen. Mortensen and Cervenka separated in 1992, and were divorced in 1997.

Health

On June 2, 2009, Cervenka released a statement revealing that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Well before this diagnosis, she and X have actively supported Sweet Relief, a charity that aids uninsured artists. Sweet Relief was begun by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS.

Discography

• Los Angeles (1980) - X
• Wild Gift (1981) - X
• Under the Big Black Sun (1982) - X
• More Fun in the New World (1983) - X
• Poor Little Critter On The Road (1985) - The Knitters
• Ain't Love Grand! (1986) - X
• See How We Are (1987) - X
• Live at the Whisky a Go-Go (1988) - X
• Old Wives' Tales (1989) - Exene Cervenka
• Running Sacred (1990) - Exene Cervenka
• Hey Zeus! (1993) - X
• Unclogged (1995) - X
• Rude Hieroglyphics (1995) - Lydia Lunch & Exene Cervenka
• Surface To Air Serpents (1996) - Exene Cervenka
• Beyond and Back: The X Anthology (1997) - X
• Life Could Be A Dream (1997) - Auntie Christ
• Original Sinners (2002) - Original Sinners
• The Best: Make the Music Go Bang! (2004) - X
• The Modern Sounds Of The Knitters (2005) - The Knitters
• Live In Los Angeles (2005) - X
• Sev7en (2006) - Exene Cervenka and the Original Sinners
• Somewhere Gone (2009) - Exene Cervenka
• The Excitement of Maybe (2011) - Exene Cervenka

Influence

The Western novel Dances With Wolves is dedicated to her by author Michael Blake.

External links

• Official website
• Official website of X
• Exene Cervenka at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography at VH1
• Exene Cervenka at DCKT Contemporary
• Interview with Exene Cervenka at SuicideGirls.com
• SWINDLE Magazine Interview