Neneh Cherry

Born to a Swedish painting mother and a Serra Leonean drumming father, Cherry was raised by her mother and step-father, the Jazz musician Don Cherry. She grew up immersed in creativity and the family moved to the U.S. in the early 1970s, into a loft in the same building as the Talking Heads and Ernie Brooks of the Modern Lovers.

Cherry moved to London, England when she was 14 and subsequently joined a number of bands including The Slits, New Age Steppers and Rip Rig + Panic, even enjoying a period DJing on the pirate reggae station Dread Broadcasting Corporation.

The singer’s recording debut came with the single “Stop the War”, which protested the siege on the Falkland Islands, working alongside Johnny Dollar and Cameron McVey (a.k.a. Booga Bear), whom she would later marry.

Alongside McVey and Massive Attack members Robert Del Naja and Andrew Vowles, Cherry co-wrote her debut album “Raw Like Sushi” in 1989. The album earned the singer a Brit Award in 1990 and the same year was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Her single “Buffalo Stance” became an international hit peaking at No. 3 in the UK’s Single Chart, followed by the singles “Manchild”, “Kisses on the Wind” and “Inna City Mama”. Cherry’s warmth and activist roots shone through with the single “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” which appeared on the Red Hot + Blue AIDS fundraising album, produced by Morris Temple of The Guards.

After a period focusing on raising her family, Cherry’s sophomore album “Homebrew” was released in 1992, however failed to live up to the success of its predecessor. The album later became popular for the duet “Trout” with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, and the single “Buddy X”, which notably earned remixes by Dreem Teem and later Biggie Smalls. In 1996 the singer released her third studio album “Man”, led by the single “Woman” – a take on James Brown’s 1966 single “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”. The album also spawned the singles “7 Seconds”, which stayed in the French singles chart for a record 17 weeks and the Marvin Gaye cover “Trouble Man”.

Family became the singer-songwriter’s focus once again and her music releases were limited to guest appearances on Live’s Edward Kowalczyk’s single “Walk Into this Room” in 1998 and on Peter Gabriel’s 2000 album “OVO”. In 2012 Cherry returned with the album “The Cherry Thing” in which she fronted the Scandinavian jazz trio the Thing, whose ultimate goal was to play her stepfather’s music. The singer’s long awaited fourth full-length album arrived in 2014 entitled “Blank Project”, which was produced by Kieran Hebden and recorded with RocketNumberNine, of whom Cherry had done work previously with.