Alannah Currie

Alannah Currie
Alannah Currie, Bristol, February 1984
Background information
Birth name	Alannah Joy Currie
Born	(1957-09-20) 20 September 1957 (age 59)
Origin	Auckland, New Zealand
Genres	Pop, rock, dance, new wave, synthpop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Marimba Percussion Vocals
Years active	1979–1997
Labels	Arista Records, Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts	Thompson Twins

Alannah Joy Currie (born 20 September 1957, in Auckland, New Zealand) is a musician and artist, best known as a former member of the UK pop group Thompson Twins.

Born in New Zealand and trained as a journalist, Currie emigrated to the UK in 1977. Currie squatted in various places in South West London, ending up in Lillieshall Road, Clapham Old Town. In 1979, with her across-the-road neighbour, Trace Newton-Ingham (Traci Newton), she co-founded the dread-punk-improvising group, The Unfuckables. The Unfuckables performed one "gig" at an Anti-Psychiatry Conference in early 1980, held in the Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London. For this particular gig the group comprised the two co-founders, plus an array of musicians from London's "underground" music scene — Viv Albertine (The Slits), Gareth Sager (The Pop Group), Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward (This Heat), Tom Bailey (of Thompson Twins, whom she would later marry), Jimmy Cauty (later of The KLF, and her current husband) and improviser Steve Beresford, amongst others.

In 1981, Currie joined Tom Bailey, Joe Leeway, and others to form part of the Thompson Twins, the line-up of which included up to seven members in its early days. The Thompson Twins became a trio in 1982 and signed two major record contracts with Arista Records before signing with Warner Bros. Records. Currie was a lyricist, percussionist, visual stylist and singer in the band and co-wrote and recorded 6 albums which included gold and platinum records and the hits Doctor! Doctor!, Hold Me Now, and You Take Me Up. The band performed at the JFK Stadium, Philadelphia for the 1985 Live Aid concert and worked with artists including Nile Rodgers, Madonna, Grace Jones, Alex Sadkin and Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads amongst others.