Happy Birthday

Pop icon and activist: Annie Lennox turns 70

An icon on and off the stage - Annie Lennox celebrates her 70th birthday on December 25.

(Bild: dapd)

Her voice shaped 80s music: as one half of the Eurythmics, Annie Lennox became a global star and style icon with worldwide hits such as "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These)". She then enjoyed great success as a solo artist. Today, Lennox tends to keep a low profile musically, but she is all the more committed to political and social issues. Before her 70th birthday today, December 25th, the committed feminist struggled with the global situation for women's rights.

"I don't even know if I should be celebrating this!" she told The Standard newspaper, referring to her special day. "I'm really deeply concerned, as I always have been, about women and girls. It just seems to be disappearing so quickly from the front pages of newspapers and from the media, and we need to keep that in perspective. We need these conversations everywhere to understand why there's a need for global feminism."

Leading feminist figure
She has been a leading feminist figure since the beginning of her career. This was partly due to her androgynous look, which ignored traditional gender roles in the pop business at the time. While other female pop stars used clichés and focused on sexual appeal, Lennox wore masculine suits and short haircuts.

Lennox presented herself as a strong, independent woman in every respect and also expressed this in her lyrics - probably most clearly in the feminist anthem "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" from 1985, a rousing pop duet with soul legend Aretha Franklin. "With this song we celebrate the self-confident liberation of women," reads one verse.

Nothing to lose
The singer, who was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1954, met her bandmate Dave Stewart in London when she was working as a waitress in a restaurant. She had previously studied classical music at the Royal Academy of Music. Lennox initially joined Stewart's band The Tourists. After they split up, the duo, who were a couple at the time, reinvented themselves as Eurythmics in 1980. "We were broke and had nothing to lose," said Lennox in a BBC interview.

Their international breakthrough came in 1983 with the album "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" and the hit single of the same name. The synth-pop hit also made the Eurythmics famous thanks to its surrealistic music video, which ran up and down on the music channel MTV. It was filmed in a cellar with a real cow. "The record company had doubts that it would be played because they thought it was so strange," Stewart told the German Press Agency in London. "But MTV just broadcast it and people went crazy."

The combination of Lennox's unmistakable alto voice and Stewart's minimalist but innovative production with the cool visual aesthetic became a trademark. Their private relationship didn't last long, but professionally they celebrated one success after another with hits such as "Here Comes The Rain Again", "Love Is A Stranger" and "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)".

Parting ways
After eight intense years in which they released eight albums, the Eurythmics went their separate ways for the first time in the early 1990s. Lennox began a successful solo career. Her debut album "Diva" from 1992 with the singles "Why" and "Walking On Broken Glass" established her as an independent artist.

To date, the multiple Grammy winner has released six solo albums and has been involved in numerous musical projects. In 2004, the song "Into The West" for the film "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" even earned Annie Lennox an Oscar.

No desire to tour
The Eurythmics released another album ("Peace") in 1999, which was their last, and completed one more tour. Since then, Stewart and Lennox have only appeared on stage together occasionally - although they are still friends in private. "In the last 20 years, Annie and I have been offered pretty much every tour you can imagine," Stewart told dpa last year, "but Annie doesn't want to go on tour." The producer and guitarist is now touring with the "Eurythmics Songbook". Three female singers are singing instead of Lennox.

In addition to her music career, Lennox has been involved in humanitarian and social projects for decades, particularly in the fight against HIV and Aids - and for women's rights. In 2011, Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services. "It's our responsibility to make a positive difference when we have the opportunity," Lennox, who is the mother of two daughters, told the Guardian.

Rare appearances in the spotlight
She no longer goes on tour. However, Annie Lennox continues to make occasional musical appearances. This year, for example, she performed at the Grammy Awards. In memory of deceased artists, she sang a rousing version of the Prince song "Nothing Compares 2 You", which Sinead O'Connor once made famous. On the occasion of the awarding of the Gershwin Prize to Elton John and Bernie Taupin, she sang the classic "I'm Still Standing" with Joni Mitchell and Brandi Carlile in a highly reduced but charming version.

Annie Lennox will be on stage in London on March 6, 2025. At the Royal Albert Hall, she will bring music and activism together under the motto "Sisters: Annie Lennox And Friends". The charity concert will benefit The Circle, an organization she founded that campaigns for the rights of women and girls worldwide.