Neneh Cherry

Neneh Cherry's inventive mix of funk, jazz and hip-hop made her a star in the late 1980s. The stepdaughter of jazz trumpet great Don Cherry, she was raised in Sweden, then returned to America to attend high school, then dropped out and moved to London. When she was 15 she joined her stepfather's band, and embraced punk rock after the Slits invited Don Cherry to join them on tour. She briefly joined the Slits herself, along with other cult-hero UK bands including Float Up CP and the New Age Steppers, and formed her own punk band the Cherries. Her recording debut was in 1982 as part of the group Raw Sex Pure Energy, which released a punk-funk single, "Stop the War" (a cover of the Vietnam-era Edwin Starr song) in response to the Falklands War. She continued developing over the next six years, working with genre-blurring groups including Massive Attack (whom she supported financially for a time) and Big Audio Dynamite. Her involvement with writer/producer Cameron McVey produced much of the material that would wind up on her 1989 debut, Raw Like Sushi. The album's smart and playful blending of musical styles, along with the singer's strong personality, won critical acclaim and the single "Buffalo Stance" was an international hit. The followup album Homebrew added more rock to the mix; including a duet with Michael Stipe ("Trout") at the height of R.E.M.'s success. Instead of reaching for another mainstream smash, Cherry continued to pursue eclectic music and collaborations: the 1994 duet with Youssou N'Dour, "7 Seconds," was her biggest hit after "Buffalo Stance." More surprisingly she teamed with Scandinavian band the Thing for a joint album, 2012's The Cherry Thing, which included Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman pieces alongside songs by alternative heroes the Stooges and Suicide. During this time she also worked with the London jazz duo RocketNumberNine. She was also known as a U.K. radio personality, hosting a music-themed show (Neneh Cherry's World of Music) during 2004 and a cooking show, Dish It Up, in 2006. 2018's Broken Politics, only her fifth solo album in a 20-year career, found her addressing global issues and working again with McVey and Massive Attack, her musical partners from the early days.