Lene Lovich

"Angels" single sleeve, 1979. Lovich is pictured with collaborator Les Chappell.

Lili-Marlene Premilovich, better known as Lene Lovich (March 30, 1949) is an American singer of Bosnian and British parentage.

Biography

Lovich was born in Detroit, Michigan to a British mother and a Serbian father, but after her father became mentally unstable her mother took her and her three siblings to live in Hull, England. Lovich met the guitarist/songwriter Les Chappell, who became her longtime collaborator and life partner, when they were teenagers. In the Autumn of 1968, they went to London, England to attend art school. It was there that Lovich first tied her hair into the plaits that later became a visual trademark, though at first she did it to keep her hair out of the clay when studying sculpture.

Over the following decade, Lovich attended several art schools, busked around the London Underground and appeared in cabaret clubs as an "Oriental" dancer. She also travelled to Spain, where she visited Salvador Dalí in his home. She played acoustic rock music around London, sang in the mass choir of a show called Quintessence at the Royal Albert Hall, played a soldier in Arthur Brown's show, worked as a "go-go" dancer with the Radio One Roadshow, toured Italy with a West Indian soul band, and played saxophone for Bob Flag's Balloon and Banana Band and for an all-girl cabaret trio, The Sensations. She recorded screams for horror films, wrote lyrics for French disco star Cerrone (including the sci-fi dance smash "Supernature," later recorded by Lovich in her own version and by Erasure, as a B-side) and worked with various fringe theatre groups. She was also one of thousands of people in the audience at the 1972 Lanchester Arts Festival when Chuck Berry recorded the risqué "My Ding-a-Ling" for Chess Records. As the audience was encouraged to sing along technically this could be described as her first appearance on record. The record was a No. 1 hit in the UK and the US.

In 1975, Lene joined The Diversions, a funk group that put out five singles and an album on Polydor Records without success.

In 1977, Lovich, along with recording engineer Alain Wisniak, provided lyrics for "Supernature," a song featuring music composed by French percussionist and disco music performer Cerrone. The song, with its surreal lyrics describing a world in which nature has risen to fight against desecration and destruction by humanity, is indicative of Lovich's interest in animal rights issues.

In 1978, disc jockey and author Charlie Gillett presented her recording of "I Think We're Alone Now", a cover of a song originally performed by Tommy James & The Shondells, to Stiff Records boss, Dave Robinson. Robinson immediately proposed to release it as a single on Stiff, for which Lovich and Chappell had to write and record a B-side at short notice. They came up with "Lucky Number".

Invited by Robinson to participate in the forthcoming Be Stiff Route 78 Tour in 1978, Lovich quickly recorded her first album for Stiff, Stateless, which spawned the hit singles "Lucky Number" and "Say When." Lovich's musical style combined her own quirky inventions with then current punk rock and new wave. Lovich recorded the albums Flex and No-Man's-Land for Stiff over the next few years, as well as an EP titled New Toy, the title cut penned by touring band member Thomas Dolby. She also recorded vocals for 'Picnic Boy' by The Residents.

Lovich co-wrote with Les Chappell and Chris Judge Smith and performed Mata Hari, a play/musical at the Lyric Hammersmith, London, UK, Oct-Nov 1982. During this time she was having promotion disputes with Stiff. The success of the show and pressure from Epic, her US label, persuaded Stiff to release and promote No Man's Land. Around this time she was diagnosed as having Syphillis and had to take things easy whilst be treated.

Following her departure from Stiff, Lovich released "Don't Kill The Animals," a single with Nina Hagen, with whom she had previously appeared in Cha Cha, a film that also starred Herman Brood; together, the three created the film's soundtrack.

In 1989, after an absence of several years due to raising a family, she recorded the album March. It was only moderately successful and was not released until nearly a year after the album's single "Wonderland" had been issued and had become an American dance hit. Lovich continues to perform in much the same style she did back in the 1970s and 1980s, with Les Chappell still at her side. In 2005 she appeared on Hawkwind's Take Me to Your Leader CD, as well as appearing occasionally on stage with them.

Lovich's first album since March, entitled Shadows and Dust received a limited release on Mike Thorne's Stereo Society label on September 13, 2005.[1] Lene played for the first time in many years with the full band at the Drop Dead Festival in 2006.

Discography

Albums

1. Stateless (1978)
2. Flex (1979)
3. New Toy (1981)
4. No Man's Land (1982)
5. March (1989)
6. Shadows and Dust (2005)

Singles

• "I Think We're Alone Now"
• "Lucky Number" (1978)
• "Bird Song" (1979)
• "Say When" (1978)
• "What Will I Do Without You?" (1979)
• "Angels"
• "The Night"
• "New Toy" (1981)
• "It's You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)" (1982)
• "Blue Hotel"
• "Don't Kill the Animals" (with Nina Hagen)
• "Wonderland"
• "Shapeshifter"

External links

• Lene Lovich fan site
• Drop Dead Festival where Lene performed in 2006 and again October 31-Nov4, 2007 at Drop Dead Prague
• Drop Dead Magazinehuge exclusive interview with Lene Lovich as well as a pull out poster in Current Issue

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