Neneh Cherry facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Neneh Cherry
Cherry in 2016
Background information
Birth name	Neneh Mariann Karlsson
Born	(1964-03-10) 10 March 1964 (age 61) Stockholm, Sweden
Origin	London, England
Genres	Hip hop post-punk trip hop dance
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter rapper disc jockey broadcaster
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Virgin Smalltown Supersound
Associated acts	The Cherries, The Slits, New Age Steppers, Rip Rig + Panic, Float Up CP, CirKus, The Thing, Youssou N'Dour, Mabel, Tricky, Four Tet, RocketNumberNine

Neneh Cherry (born 10 March 1964) is a famous Swedish singer, songwriter, and rapper. She also works as a disc jockey and broadcaster. Neneh started her music career in London in the early 1980s. She was part of several punk and post-punk bands when she was young. These included bands like The Slits and Rip Rig + Panic.

Neneh Cherry has released six studio albums. Her first album, Raw Like Sushi, came out in 1989. It became very popular, reaching number three on the UK Album Chart. This was largely thanks to her worldwide hit song "Buffalo Stance". Her second album, Homebrew, was released in 1992. Four years later, she released Man. Her album Blank Project came out in 2014. Her most recent album, The Versions, was released in 2022. Besides her solo work, Neneh also formed a band called cirKus in 2006. She also worked with the jazz group The Thing on an album called The Cherry Thing in 2012. Neneh Cherry has won two Brit Awards and an MTV Europe Music Award (with Youssou N'Dour). She was also nominated for a Grammy Award.

Early Life and Family

Neneh Mariann Karlsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her mother, Monika "Moki" Karlsson, was a Swedish painter. Her father, Ahmadu Jah, was a musician from Sierra Leone, West Africa. Ahmadu Jah came to Stockholm to study engineering. Neneh's paternal grandmother was named Neneh.

Neneh's parents separated when she was young. Her mother then married the American jazz musician Don Cherry. Don Cherry helped raise Neneh from when she was a baby. Neneh took her stepfather's last name. She has a half-brother, Eagle-Eye Cherry, who is also a musician. She also has a stepsister, Jan Cherry, and a stepbrother, David Ornette Cherry, from Don Cherry's side. Through her father, Ahmadu Jah, Neneh is the half-sister of singer Titiyo and music producer Cherno Jah.

In the 1970s, Neneh's parents, Moki and Don Cherry, bought an old schoolhouse in rural Tågarp, Sweden. The family also lived in the United States for a while when Don Cherry taught at Dartmouth College. In 1977, they bought a loft in New York City. They lived in the same building as members of the band Talking Heads. Neneh left school at age 14 and moved to London.

Neneh's Music Journey

Neneh moved to the United Kingdom when she was 15. This was during the punk music era. She felt like she found her place there. Neneh had met members of the band The Slits earlier. Her stepfather, Don Cherry, was touring with them, and Neneh joined them. She even lived in a squat (an empty building) in Battersea for a time.

In London, Neneh joined a punk rock band called The Cherries. She then played in other bands like New Age Steppers and Rip Rig + Panic. She also worked as a DJ, playing early rap music on a pirate radio station called Dread Broadcasting Corporation. Neneh has said that she found her singing voice by singing along with Poly Styrene from the band X-Ray Spex. She grew up in a musical family and remembers singing with her father at the piano.

Raw Like Sushi: Her First Big Hit

Neneh Cherry started her solo career in 1982 with a song called "Stop the War." This was a protest song about the Falklands War. She worked with Jonny Dollar and Cameron McVey (also known as Booga Bear). Cameron McVey co-wrote most of her first album, Raw Like Sushi, and they later got married. Neneh was also involved in the music scene in Bristol, England. She helped with Massive Attack's Blue Lines album. Members of Massive Attack also helped with Raw Like Sushi.

Her song "Buffalo Stance" became a huge hit. It reached number 3 in the UK and the US. It was also number 1 on the US Dance chart. Other popular songs from this album included "Manchild" and "Kisses on the Wind". She also had success with "I've Got You Under My Skin", a new version of an old song. This song was on an album to raise money for AIDS research. Neneh was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1990. She also won a Brit Award for Raw Like Sushi.

Neneh caused a stir when she performed "Buffalo Stance" on the TV show Top of the Pops while she was pregnant.

Homebrew: Exploring New Sounds

Neneh's second album, Homebrew, came out in 1992. It wasn't as big a commercial success as her first album. However, songs like "Buddy X" and "Trout" did well on some music charts.

"Buddy X" reached number 4 on the Billboard Dance Club Music Charts. The music video for "Buddy X" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in 1993.

"Trout" featured vocals from R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe. He also helped write the song. Homebrew also included work by Geoff Barrow, who later became part of the band Portishead.

Man: More Global Success

Cherry performing in Vienna in 1996

Her 1996 album, Man, was produced by Cameron McVey, Jonny Dollar, and Christian Falk. The main song was "Woman". This was Neneh's version of James Brown's song "It's a Man's Man's Man's World." The album also featured the worldwide hit "7 Seconds" with Youssou N'Dour. Another song, "Together Now," featured the artist Tricky.

In France, "7 Seconds" was number one for a record 16 weeks in 1994. The song earned Neneh her second Grammy nomination and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song.

Blank Project: A Personal Album

Blank Project was written by Neneh and her husband, Cameron McVey. Paul Simm also helped write six songs. This album was greatly influenced by the death of Neneh's mother.

To promote the album, she toured Europe in 2014. In 2015, Neneh performed as a solo artist in New York City. New York is special to Neneh because she has visited or lived there since 1966.

Broken Politics: Music with a Message

Broken Politics was Neneh's second album produced by Four Tet. It was released in October 2018. Neneh described it as "quieter and more reflective" than Blank Project. The first song released from the album was "Kong" in August. A reviewer for The Guardian newspaper called the album "revelatory" and gave it a top rating.

Neneh toured North America, Australia, and Europe in late 2018 and early 2019 to support the album.

The Versions: Reimagined Songs

On June 10, 2022, Neneh Cherry released her album The Versions. This album features new and different versions of her older songs. It includes vocals from artists like Robyn and Sia.

Working with Other Artists

Neneh Cherry has often worked with other artists.

In 1987, she sang on the song "Slow Train To Dawn" by The The. She also appeared in the music video. In 2005, she worked with Gorillaz on the song "Kids with Guns" from their album Demon Days.

CirKus: A Family Band

Neneh Cherry at Tauron Nowa Muzyka 2014 in Katowice, Poland

In 2006, Neneh formed a new band called cirKus. The band included her husband, Cameron McVey, their daughter Lolita Moon, and Karmil. CirKus toured Europe and played a show at the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada. They also played some concerts in Brazil. The band's first album, Laylow, was released in France in 2006. A second CirKus album, Medicine, came out in 2009.

The Cherry Thing: Jazz Adventures

In 2011, Neneh worked with an experimental jazz group called The Thing. They released an album together called The Cherry Thing. The Thing is a jazz trio from Norway and Sweden. They are named after a song from Neneh's stepfather Don Cherry's album. The album The Cherry Thing was released in June 2012.

Neneh said that The Thing was inspired by her stepfather's music. She felt they took that inspiration to a new place. One song on the album, "Golden Heart," was written by Don Cherry. The album included songs originally by different artists, like hip-hop artist MF Doom and The Stooges. Most of the songs were recorded live.

RocketNumberNine: Live Music Magic

In 2013, Neneh worked with a London duo called RocketNumberNine. They are brothers Ben and Tom Page. They recorded an album called MeYouWeYou. Neneh also performed the whole album live with them at the Manchester International Festival. Neneh wrote the 10 songs with Cameron McVey. RocketNumberNine then added their music to her vocals. They recorded the album live in Woodstock, New York, in just five days. Neneh called it "fearless and hardcore."

Neneh's Other Work

In the early 1980s, Neneh Cherry was a DJ on a pirate radio station called DBC radio.

She appeared in music videos for the band Big Audio Dynamite in the 1980s. She also helped financially support the band Massive Attack in the late 1980s.

In 2004, Neneh presented a radio show called Neneh Cherry's World of Music on BBC Radio 2. In 2007, she presented a cooking show called Neneh and Andi – Dish It Up with her friend Andrea Oliver for BBC Two. They also appeared on Gordon Ramsay's cooking show The F-Word.

In 2016, she starred in a movie called Stockholm, My Love. This was a drama and musical film set in Stockholm. It featured music by Benny Andersson from ABBA.

A short film about Neneh Cherry, simply called Cherry, was released on YouTube in 2022. In 2024, Neneh published her autobiography, A Thousand Threads.

Neneh's Personal Life

In 1983, Neneh married drummer Bruce Smith. They had a daughter named Naima. They divorced in 1984. Naima is now a photographer in London and has a son named Flynn.

In 1986, Neneh met producer Cameron "Booga Bear" McVey at Heathrow Airport. They were both traveling to Japan as fashion models. Neneh proposed to Cameron, and they married in 1990. Neneh and Cameron have two daughters who are also singers: Tyson (born in 1989) and Mabel (born in 1996). Tyson was the daughter Neneh was pregnant with on Top of the Pops. Mabel is a singer who has worked with artists like Clean Bandit.

Neneh and Cameron McVey often work together. Cameron produced and co-wrote Raw Like Sushi. They also supported many British music acts. They were both in the band cirKus. Neneh also has a stepson, Marlon Roudette, from Cameron's previous relationship.

Cherry in Stockholm, February 2013

The family has homes in London and Stockholm. They also have a country house near Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Neneh and her half-brother inherited their family home in an old schoolhouse in Skåne County, Sweden, when their mother passed away in 2009. In 2014, Neneh said she was traveling between London and Stockholm.

Neneh's Style

Since the late 1980s, Neneh Cherry has often worked with stylist and jewelry designer Judy Blame. For her street style, Neneh says she was influenced by rapper LL Cool J, photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Judy Blame, and designer Ray Petri.

Neneh Cherry's Albums

Cherry performing in 2012

• Raw Like Sushi (1989)
• Homebrew (1992)
• Man (1996)
• Blank Project (2014)
• Broken Politics (2018)
• The Versions (2022)

Awards and Achievements

Neneh Cherry has won many awards for her music.

Brit Awards

Danish Music Awards

Grammy Awards

Grammis

MTV Europe Music Awards

NME Awards

Silver Clef Awards