One of the more offbeat and memorable figures in new wave, Lene Lovich is an American-born singer, musician and songwriter, born March 30, 1950 in Detroit, Michigan. She currently lives in England.
Born to a Serbian father and an English mother, the family separated when Lene was 13 and she, her three siblings and her mother emigrated to Hull, England. There she met her life-long partner, guitarist and co-writer Les Chappell. They both later attended the Central School of Art in London, and there Lovich first tied her hair into the plaits that became a visual trademark, though at first she did it to keep her hair out of the clay when studying sculpture.
In 1978, after several years of playing saxophone, dancing and performing in fringe theatre, playing in other people's bands, and having penned the lyrics to Cerrone's Supernature, Lene came to the attention of Charlie Gillett, who played her demo to Stiff Records boss Dave Robinson who immediately signed her. That demo, a cover of the Tommy James classic "I Think We're Alone Now", was issued by Stiff as a mail-order only single. Shortly afterwards she appeared on the Be Stiff 1978 tour, a five band line-up touring the UK traveling as one company aboard a specially chartered train. The following year her debut album "Stateless" spawned an international hit "Lucky Number".
Singles "Say When" and "Bird Song" also charted and the second album, "Flex" (1979) made the UK top 20. Extensive tours followed, and she gained a large following. In 1979, she co-starred in the film "Cha Cha" with Nina Hagen, who recorded her own version of "Lucky Number", "Wir Leben Immer Noch". In 1986, they co-wrote and recorded "Don't Kill The Animals", a vegetarian and anti-vivisection rap.
Lene's third album "No Man's Land" was delayed by an unenthused Stiff Records. Lacking a release to promote, Lene co-wrote and played the title role in a musical "Mata Hari", at the London Lyric Hammersmith. The delayed album was remixed and given a release by Stiff in November 1982, owing to the positive press for Mata Hari, and pressure from Lene's US label Epic.
Negotiations to escape from Stiff Records entailed an eight year wait for the next album, "March" (1989), recorded in her home studio, and issued on independent US label Pathfinder Records. A US tour followed in its support. During the 1990s Lene and Les disappeared from the music scene to raise a family in the Norfolk countryside, Lene making occasional appearances.
After sixteen years, in 2005, Lene and Les returned to live performance with a string of shows at small venues in Britain and the USA. A self-produced fifth album "Shadows and Dust" was released in September 2005.
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