Alannah Currie

Alannah Currie
Alannah Currie, Bristol, February 1984
Background information
Birth name	Alannah Joy Currie
Born	(1957-09-20) 20 September 1957
Origin	Auckland, New Zealand
Genres	Rock, Dance, New Wave, Synthpop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Xylophone Percussion Vocals
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Arista Records, Warner Bros. Records

Alannah Currie (born Alannah Joy Currie 20 September 1957, Auckland, New Zealand) is a musician and artist, best known as a former member of the UK pop group, Thompson Twins.

Career

Born in New Zealand, Currie emigrated to the UK in 1977, as a rock journalist. Currie squatted in various places in South West London, ending up in Lillieshall Road, Clapham Old Town. This turned out to be a major step on the road to stardom with the Thompson Twins. In 1979, with her across-the-road neighbour, Trace Newton-Ingham (Traci Newton), she co-founded the dread-punk-improvising group, The Unfuckables. The Unfuckables performed one "gig" at an Anti-Psychiatry Conference in early 1980, held in the Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London. For this particular gig the group comprised the two co-founders, plus an array of musicians from London's "underground" music scene — Viv Albertine (The Slits), Gareth Sager (The Pop Group), Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward (This Heat), Tom Bailey (of Thompson Twins, whom she would later marry), Jimmy Cauty (later of The KLF, and her current husband) and improviser Steve Beresford, amongst others.

Her songwriting credits include "I Want That Man", an international hit for Deborah Harry in 1989.

By 1992, Currie and her husband, fellow Thompson Twins band member Tom Bailey, had grown tired of being expected to chase chart success with new Thompson Twins material. After touring India collecting inspiration and audio samples, they elected to form Babble, featuring Currie as lyricist, percussionist and visual artist, as a means of creating music without the commercial expectations that were placed on the Thompson Twins. By 1994 Babble had released their first album. Currie later returned to New Zealand working primarily as a glass artist and environmental activist. She was founder of the women's anti-genetic engineering movement Mothers Against Genetic Engineering in Food and the Environment (MAdGE). In 2004 she designed a series of protest billboards that caused controversy in New Zealand but won several international art / science awards.

Since divorcing from Bailey, Currie currently lives and works in London with her daughter Indigo and current husband Jimmy Cauty. Currie made sculptural art-furniture under the name Miss Pokeno, but that enterprise has ceased trading.

External links

• The Guardian interview (April 2008)
• Investigate.com
• Songwriting credits @ Allmusic.com
• Miss Pokeno