Cherie Currie - Lead Vocalist

Early Life

Currie was born to Don Currie and actress Marie Harmon. She was raised in Encino with three siblings, notably her twin sister Marie, to whom Cherie always felt inferior, calling herself the "runt" of the two. She was a huge fan of David Bowie and would relate to his otherworldliness, being an outcast at school.

The Runaways

Currie was the teenage lead vocalist for the all-female rock band The Runaways with bandmates Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West, Jackie Fox and Vicki Blue. Currie joined the band in 1975, at age 15. The teen rock anthem "Cherry Bomb" was written for her at the audition. Bomp! magazine described her as "the lost daughter of Iggy Pop and Brigitte Bardot".

While on tour in Europe, the road manager Scott Anderson got her pregnant and she had to have an abortion upon The Runaways' return to the US.

After an angry confrontation during a photoshoot in which Lita Ford kicked down the dressing room door, Currie decided to quit the band.

After The Runaways

After three albums with The Runaways, (The Runaways, Queens of Noise, and Live in Japan), Currie went on to record three other albums. She signed a contracted with Mercury saying she would record four records, but she left The Runaways after the third album, thus she was obligated to record another album. She recorded it solo and the result was Beauty's Only Skin Deep for Polygram Records. Marie Currie did a duet with Cherie on her solo record, "Love at First Sight." Cherie and Marie went on a US tour, and when Marie would join Cherie on stage to sing the encores the audience would go wild. Then they went on a Japan tour. While in Japan, the twins performed on many TV shows. So Cherie ran with the idea of two blondes are better than one. With her twin sister Marie Currie, she recorded Messin' with the Boys for Capitol Records and Young and Wild for Raven. Messin' with the Boys received more radio play than Beauty's Only Skin Deep and, the song "Since You Been Gone" off of Messin' with the Boys charted number 95 on US charts. Cherie and Marie performed on many television shows; including the Sha Na Na show, and The Mike Douglas Show. She then worked as an actress, starring in movies such as Foxes (her best known film), Parasite, Wavelength, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Rosebud Beach Hotel (with Marie Currie), Rich Girl, and others, as well as numerous guest spots on television series (Matlock and Murder, She Wrote, among others). Cherie and Marie sang, wrote, and produced songs for The Rosebud Beach Hotel Soundtrack.

Personal Life

Currie struggled with drug addiction for much of her younger life, which was a major factor in the abrupt ending of her career. She later wrote a memoir, Neon Angel, recounting life in the band and her traumatic experiences with drug addiction, sex abuse, and her broken family. The Runaways, a 2010 musical biographical drama film executive-produced by Joan Jett, focuses on the group's early beginnings and explores the relationship between Currie and Jett. In the film, Currie is portrayed by Dakota Fanning.

Currie married actor Robert Hays (he was Ted Striker in Airplane!) on May 12, 1990, and they had one son together, Jake Hays. They are now divorced, but are on very good terms (she calls him the "best ex-husband"). Jake Hays learned to play guitar well enough to be included in recent recording sessions, and as a member of Cherie Currie's new touring band.

Currie is now a wood-carving artist using a chainsaw to create her works. She has been doing chainsaw art since 2002 and opened her own gallery in 2005 in Chatsworth, California. After Sandy West passed, Cherie made a chainsaw-carved mermaid as a tribute to her memory.