Following the 1991 breakup of Eurythmics, Annie Lennox launched a solo path whose mainstream reach matched that of her former band. A native of Aberdeen, Scotland, she had taken up both piano and flute during childhood. While still in her late teens she earned a place at the Royal Academy of Music in London, only to leave before completing her final examinations. Over the ensuing years she supported herself with daytime work in the city while performing vocals at night. Late in the 1970s a mutual acquaintance introduced her to guitarist Dave Stewart, formerly of Longdancer; he invited Lennox to sing in a new group he was assembling with songwriter Peet Coombes. That ensemble, the Tourists, issued three albums from 1979 to 1980 and reached number four on the U.K. chart with its version of Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be with You.”
During their time together in the Tourists, Lennox and Stewart became romantically involved. Mounting friction inside the band prompted the pair to exit in 1980 and form Eurythmics. Throughout the first half of the decade the duo’s polished synth-pop sound ranked among new wave’s most successful styles, generating transatlantic hits that included “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” “Love Is a Stranger,” “Who’s That Girl,” and “Here Comes the Rain Again.” As their career progressed they shifted toward a tougher, more direct rock approach.
After the modest commercial performance of the 1990 album We Too Are One, Lennox declared a two-year hiatus intended for starting a family. The group dissolved without fanfare during this period; she gave birth and began recording her debut solo project. Released in 1992, Diva presented a more restrained and seasoned singer aimed at adult-contemporary listeners. Powered by the singles “Walking on Broken Glass,” which climbed to number 14, and “Why,” which reached number 34, the album surpassed two million copies sold in the United States and earned three Grammy nominations.
Lennox issued her second solo effort, the covers album Medusa, in 1995. It rose to number 11 on the charts, featured the single “No More I Love You’s,” and attained platinum certification before the year ended. She then stepped back to concentrate on raising her child and on humanitarian causes. Eight years after Medusa she returned with Bare, widely regarded as one of her most compelling and autobiographical recordings. Following another interval she unveiled Songs of Mass Destruction in September 2007 and scheduled an extensive North American tour that began the next month. Three years later she released her first holiday collection, A Christmas Cornucopia. In 2014 she offered another set of interpretations, Nostalgia, produced by Mike Stevens. The following year she reissued the project as Nostalgia: An Evening with Annie Lennox, adding a bonus Blu-ray of her PBS concert taped live at the historic Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles with a 19-piece ensemble.
