#4M: Cherie Currie

It’s a new month, and we have a new musical conductor. Alana from Ramblin with AM gets to choose our themes this month. Today’s theme is Free Choice

Today’s post comes to you as a request from The Cute One. He’s been wanting me to write about Cherie Currie for a few weeks now. Today is that day :)

Some of you may be asking, Who is Cherie Currie?

The quick and easy answer is that she was the lead vocalist in an all-female teenage rock band out of Los Angeles in the mid to late 70s called The Runaways.

Here’s what wikipedia has to say about Cherie Currie:
Cherie Ann Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American musician, actress and artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of the Runaways, a rock band from Los Angeles, in the mid-to-late 1970s. After the Runaways, she became a solo artist. Then she teamed up with her identical twin sister, Marie Currie, and released an album with her. Their duet "Since You've Been Gone" reached number 95 on US charts. Their band was called Cherie and Marie Currie. She is also well known for her role in the movie Foxes.

But wait… there’s more!

Did you know that long before her days with The Runaways, Cherie and her twin sister Marie, had a television role at the age of two? They were to appear on the series My Three Sons - the task was to sing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’.  Unfortunately, when it came time to do their role, they froze and the part had to be cut from the episode.  Later, before they became famous, they were background dancers on the television show ‘American Bandstand’.

The Runaways had quite the line-up of female rockers. Each of the members would go on to have successful music careers. The line-up:

• Joan Jett – rhythm and lead guitar, lead and backing vocals (1975–1979); bass (1977, 1979)
• Sandy West – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1975–1979; died 2006)
• Micki Steele – lead and backing vocals, bass (1975)
• Lita Ford – lead and rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals (1975–1979); bass (1975, 1977, 1979)
• Peggy Foster – bass (1975)
• Cherie Currie – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, tambourine, snare drum (1975–1977)
• Jackie Fox – bass, backing vocals (1975–1977)
• Vicki Blue – bass, backing vocals (1977–1978)
• Laurie McAllister – bass (1978–1979; died 2011)

As this post is about Cherie, we’ll continue on with her story, and catch up with the other ladies of rock at a later date.

Upon leaving the Runaways, Currie released a 1978 solo album titled Beauty's Only Skin Deep and a 1980 duet album with her sister Marie Currie, Messin' with the Boys, in which the duo was backed by most of Toto. Cherie and Marie Currie's song "Since You Been Gone" charted number 95 on U.S. charts. She also appeared in a number of films, most notably Foxes with Jodie Foster.

Throughout the 1990s, Currie worked as a drug counselor for addicted teens and as a personal fitness trainer. She married actor Robert Hays; they have a son together, Jake Hays, but the couple divorced in 1997.

Currie still performs and records but her current passion is chainsaw carving. She has an art gallery in Chatsworth, California where her works are currently on display. She is also currently under contract with Joan Jett's Blackheart Records label.

In 2012, she has been recording songs co-written with her son Jake, produced by Steve Lukather. Lukather suspended the project for summer 2012, to go on tour with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. In the meantime, Currie announced plans to perform and possibly record new material with Lita Ford.

In 2013, Cherie recorded two songs with Alexx Michael for the Munich-based hard rock-glam metal supergroup Shameless, which were released on the album Beautiful Disaster on October 2, 2013. Currie released singles with ex-bandmate, Lita Ford and Glenn Danzig the same year. On October 19, 2013, Currie won the Rock Legend Award at the sixth annual Malibu Music Awards. The reward was presented to her by ex-bandmate, Lita Ford. That night Currie and Ford played on stage together for the first time in 37 years.

Currie released another studio album, Reverie, in 2015. The album features guest work from ex-bandmate, Lita Ford, Currie's son, Jake Hays, and Currie's ex-manager, Kim Fowley. Cherie toured the UK in November 2015, to support her new album. Her special guest on her UK tour was Last Great Dreamers. While in the UK, Currie recorded a live album entitled "Midnight Music in London" which features a special live appearance by Suzi Quatro. It was released in 2016.  In late May and early June 2016 Currie toured Australia and New Zealand. 

In 2018, Currie and her son were nominated for the Marshall Hawkins Award for Best Original Score for the film Take My Hand.

Currie's album Blvds of Splendor was released on April 13, 2019. On August 2, The Motivator, her album with Brie Darling, was released.

This year,  2020, Cherie Currie released an audio version of her memoir, Neon Angel. Her audio version of her book reached number 1 on Amazon's Best Biographies of Punk Rock Musician. Also this year, Currie contributed her vocals to the song "Flatten the Curve" for the band FTC

Please enjoy this week’s playlist:

1. The Runaways - Cherie Bomb
2. The Runaways - School Days
3. The Runaways - Hollywood
4. Cherie & Marie Currie - Since You’ve Been Gone
5. Cherie & Marie Currie - Messin’ With The Boys
6. Cherie & Marie Currie - Steel
7. Cherie Currie - Reverie
8. Cherie Currie featuring Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) - Blvds of Splendor
9. Cherie Currie feat. Slash, Duff McKagan, & Matt Sorum - Mr X
10. Quarantine video feat. Suzi Quatro, Nick Gilder - Roxy Roller

    





Today’s post is part of the Monday’s Music Moves Me blog hop, hosted by X-Mas Dolly, and co-hosted by Stacy Uncorked, Curious as a Cathy. , and Ramblin with AM. Be sure to stop by the hosts and visit the other participants.  If you have a MUSIC* post, feel free to join in the fun! *sorry non-music posts are not permitted in this blog hop.