When you hear Annie Lennox, the song Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by Eurythmics comes to mind for almost everyone. Ann Lennox, better known by her stage name Annie Lennox, is a Scottish musician, vocalist, and composer.
Real Name: Ann Lennox
Birthplace: Aberdeen, Scotland
Date of Birth: December 25, 1954
About:
- She performed with the new wave band "The Tourists" in the 1970s.
- She joined the "Eurythmics" group with musician David A. Stewart and gained a great reputation.
- She has won the BRIT Award 8 times.
- Her albums have reached sales of approximately 80 million albums.
- She started her solo career in 1992 with the album "Diva".
- In 2004, she won a Golden Globe and Academy Award for the score she composed for the movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King".
Annie Lennox in Her Own Words: "I attribute the reason why I have always felt special to being born on a Christmas day in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1954. I am a Christmas angel. My family has always supported my interest in art, especially my connection with poetry, music, and painting. 4 "I showed my talents and stood out immediately at the girls' school where I started at the age of 10."
Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart went on to achieve international success in the 1980s as Eurythmics. Appearing in the 1983 music video for "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" with orange cropped hair and wearing a man's business suit, the BBC states, "all eyes were on Annie Lennox, the singer whose powerful androgynous look defied the male gaze". Subsequent hits with Eurythmics include "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)", "Love Is a Stranger" and "Here Comes the Rain Again".
While going to school, Annie started playing the piano and flute, and of course, she also sang in the choir. These characteristics led Annie to play in the symphony orchestra and Odu band in the future. In the meantime, she started taking dance lessons, and the name of a type of Greek dance that would inspire her in the future was 'Eurhythmics'!!!
She continues to explain:
"At the beginning of my teenage years, Motown music started to attract my attention. I started listening to Marvin Gaye and The Supremes. At the age of 17, I found a place at London's prestigious "British Royal College of Music", but there was always something missing. I couldn't be as happy as my parents. Maybe with a fake joy and desire. "I started school with great expectations."
Lennox, who studied classical music at school, left the school a few weeks before her graduation because she was unhappy with the direction of her life.
For a while, there was Annie who wasn't sure what she wanted to do in her later years.
"But one day, I met Steve Tomlin, who ironically would go on to collaborate with us on the Eurythmics' album There Must Be An Angel, and who brought me together with Steve Wonder. Then everything started to happen. I started taking lessons and won my first competition as Annie.". God! It was an amazing feeling and then I realized that what I was doing and what I would do in the future had meaning. After winning my first competition, I started singing Scottish Folk music in local pubs and clubs with the band Dragon's Playground. But that was me, maybe because I had the necessary satisfaction, maybe it was new I joined Red Brass because I was looking for something, or maybe because I was tired. As a result of my desire for new experiences, my irrepressible desire to learn, and my hunger for experience, I found myself as the vocalist of a jazz artist. Later, I went on tour as the vocalist of a jazz singer.
In 1976 I met my future partner, Dave Stewart. We didn't have a group in mind before. Our lifestyles and outlook on life were very similar and we believed that we could do something together. And we started living together. Meanwhile, Dave met with Logo Records, namely Geoff Hannington and Olav Wyper, to see what we could do and what we could gain, and thanks to me, they signed a six-album deal. This was the beginning of something new.
First, we released a single under our own names. To see the progress. However, our first single was an unexpected success. There were new members joining the group. Success had found us once and we were not willing to give up on success. First came the album The Tourists, and then the second album Reality Effect was released. This album reached the top of the British charts. We went platinum in 1980 and released the third album Luminous Basement without delay. But perhaps due to haste, or perhaps due to its similarity to the other album, the success of the first two albums did not show itself in the third. When the desired success was not achieved, the Logo Records record company gave up on us. But neither my nor Dave's character was to give up. This made us ambitious, we were confident. We looked at what we could do. In this way, we came up with a new name for the group. Our new name, Eurythmics, and our first album, In The Garden, met with the listeners before it was too late.
We had a good relationship with Dave at first. But later on, this relationship started to tire and strain both of us. And we put our relationship on hold for the sake of the group. To rest. But in 1984, I met Radha Raman, a Hanna Krishna teacher, whom I married immediately. The serenity and calmness attracted me and we got married immediately. But our broken relationship with Dave started to improve when we got together again for a job. And we made a deal with Dave to score a movie. And Sex Crime (1984) appeared.
But life did not always give everything at once. Success at work did not bring happiness. In 1985, I separated from my husband, whom I married with great love. And my album Be Yourself Tonight, where I proved myself to the music world, was prepared. Dave and I had one unhappy marriage after another.
I won my first award in the early 1990s. But then I was devastated by an event that suddenly changed the course of my life. My stillborn baby changed the course of my life and Dave and I decided to disband the band. I devoted myself to non-governmental organizations, my aim was to alleviate my pain even a little bit, first I worked for the homeless. And in the meantime, I gave birth to my baby Lola, who reconciled and connected me to life again. I also attended a Freddy Mercury concert to raise money for the Aids campaign. Social projects were now a part of me. It was what I had to do as a human being. When I think about it in the future, it was an event that I will feel deeply happy about. I work purely with spiritual feelings, without expecting anything in return. "It was a job where I was purified for myself."
The Best of album, released in 1991, was the biggest success to date and became number 1. Her first solo album, Diva, was released immediately afterward. Annie was now a lone warrior in this market, her only goal was to get out of business with the best of luck. Then, in 1995, she released Medusa. She was now a strong vocalist and an acclaimed artist who had proven herself outside the band as well. Her listeners increased day by day.
But the listeners' longing for Eurythmics was also starting to intensify. Dave had already made his own way and was moving on with his life. Unable to resist the pressure, the duo started preparing for a new album after a one-night trial, perhaps to satisfy their longings. The album, on which so much effort and time was spent, was presented to music lovers with a message. Peace….. The new album was released under the name Peace – in support of Greenpeace and Amnesty organizations.
When we put all these together, the picture we see is fascinating. Annie is now an award-winning, well-known singer whose solo albums sell best and who works for people. At the same time, Annie is now more mature, knows what she wants to do, and is a conscious mother. First of all, she continues to work for her daughters Lola and Tali, and for women's rights in the world, she will leave to them. That's why she became one of the V-day activists. Her actions will continue like ours until rape and sexual harassment stop... She protests violence against women at every concert. She expresses her own reaction to the harassment of women by performing the "Vagina Monologues".