Annie Lennox

BY: PROVOKR Staff

Annie Lennox’s first musical aspiration was to become a classical flute player. The Scottish singer got accepted into London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Music to pursue that dream, but quickly realized that she needed to find a more freewheeling way to express her creativity. “I didn’t feel connected to the whole cultural aspect of it,” said Lennox. “It wasn’t who I was, and so the challenge was to find my own voice and my own path.”

Soon after dropping out of the Academy, she got a gig as a singer for a new wave band called The Tourists. That’s how she met Dave Stewart, a fellow member of the band, who—after The Tourists broke up—joined Lennox in founding what would become one of the seminal acts of the1980s, the Eurythmics.

The tipping point for the Eurythmics success was the release of the 1983 album Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). The album’s title song became a worldwide hit and the accompanying video—which featured Lennox sporting an androgynous look, wearing a suit and tie and rocking a bright orange buzzcut—helped the pair nab the 1984 MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist.

Over the ensuing seven years, the Eurythmics released a string of hits, including “Here Comes the Rain Again,” “Would I Lie to You?”, “There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart),” and “Missionary Man” which earned them a 1987 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.

After the Eurythmics broke up in 1990, Lennox went on to establish herself as a powerful solo act. Her first solo album—which featured memorable songs like “Why” and “Walking on Broken Glass”—earned her a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.

Throughout all of her years of success, Lennox has also made it a point of using her fame to help out philanthropic causes like women’s rights. “I am a feminist and I’m quite happy to take that label and run with it,” she’s said. “What it means for me, because I’ve traveled and I’ve seen a lot of the globe and I’ve gone to developing countries, is I see women that don’t even have the absolute basic rights — fundamental human rights that we have taken for granted.”

Lennox has also been an ardent campaigner for HIV/AIDS issues. “Every time I campaign, I wear my HIV POSITIVE t-shirt so that any photograph taken of me clearly displays the issue I try to represent,” she’s said. “I wear the t-shirt in solidarity with everyone who is living with HIV under the shadow of stigma, fear and discrimination.”

Although—at age 61—Lennox has passed the usual sell-by date of most musicians, she insists that she’s really only improved with age. “I’m a lot more confident now,” she’s said. “I’m more rounded. I’m not as fearful of certain challenges. I feel incredibly vital. I don’t particularly want to do those mammoth tours we used to do back in the day, because I find them quite exhausting. But I still love to perform, and I still love to create music.”