Biography
Actress, writer, and performance artist Hermine brought a French inflection evocative of Nico laced with ironic self-mockery to her singing pursuits, active from the close of the 1970s into the middle of the 1980s. Hermine Demoriane entered the world in Paris in 1942; her path led her to London in 1964, where an encounter with poet Hugo Williams, soon to become her husband, encouraged her to make the U.K. her home. She started contributing pieces to British periodicals and, in 1969, released her debut book, Lifestar, recounting her time while expecting her first child.
In 1971, Hermine felt drawn to tightrope walking, treating it as a vehicle for expressive performance instead of mere gymnastics; her shows featured appearances alongside the avant-garde performance collective COUM (later known as Throbbing Gristle), and the work drew the notice of filmmaker Derek Jarman, who included her in his unconventional portrait of the British punk scene, Jubilee. (Hermine would eventually publish a memoir of her aerial endeavors under the plain title The Tightrope Walker.)
She entered music in 1976 as part of the fleeting proto-punk outfit the Subterraneans (whose ranks included rock critic Nick Kent along with future members of the Damned), yet her path gained traction once experimental plays she authored attracted David Cunningham. Cunningham fronted the Flying Lizards, the experimental pop ensemble that scored an unexpected success in 1979 via an eccentric reading of Barrett Strong’s “Money.” He invited Hermine to provide vocals for a forthcoming venture and oversaw a single featuring her distinctly skewed take on the Everly Brothers’ “Torture.” Virgin Records planned to issue the recording, but after Cunningham abruptly moved to Arista, Virgin proposed returning the masters to Hermine for under sixty pounds; she accepted, manufactured the disc independently, and put it out on her own Salome Disc label. The single received warm notices, and once the initial run sold through, Human Records licensed the track and broadened the 7-inch into a four-song EP.
With the wider pop sphere registering interest in Hermine, she became a frequent presence at London’s The Comic Strip comedy venue, whose roster featured Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson (later stars of the series The Young Ones) plus Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (creators of the worldwide hit Absolutely Fabulous). Additional club dates accumulated, and in 1982 Hermine commenced her next project, a set of distorted covers alongside equally singular originals fashioned with Ian Kane. Issued on Belgium’s Crammed Disc imprint, The World on My Plates (its cover showing Hermine in vintage attire placing 7-inch singles into a dishwasher) registered strongly in Britain, charting prominently on NME’s independent lists; now established as a pop figure, she shared bills with experimental acts such as Einstürzende Neubauten and metal band Girlschool.
Hermine’s brush with wider recognition proved brief; after finishing her debut long-player, 1984’s Lonely at the Top, Crammed Disc declined to release it, and following rejections from numerous other labels she issued the album herself on Salome Disc. The first pressing sold out, yet when work on a follow-up album stalled, Hermine withdrew from pop. She still contributes vocals to television sketches by French and Saunders while continuing to mount performance works and running an art center from her family’s property in France.
In 1971, Hermine felt drawn to tightrope walking, treating it as a vehicle for expressive performance instead of mere gymnastics; her shows featured appearances alongside the avant-garde performance collective COUM (later known as Throbbing Gristle), and the work drew the notice of filmmaker Derek Jarman, who included her in his unconventional portrait of the British punk scene, Jubilee. (Hermine would eventually publish a memoir of her aerial endeavors under the plain title The Tightrope Walker.)
She entered music in 1976 as part of the fleeting proto-punk outfit the Subterraneans (whose ranks included rock critic Nick Kent along with future members of the Damned), yet her path gained traction once experimental plays she authored attracted David Cunningham. Cunningham fronted the Flying Lizards, the experimental pop ensemble that scored an unexpected success in 1979 via an eccentric reading of Barrett Strong’s “Money.” He invited Hermine to provide vocals for a forthcoming venture and oversaw a single featuring her distinctly skewed take on the Everly Brothers’ “Torture.” Virgin Records planned to issue the recording, but after Cunningham abruptly moved to Arista, Virgin proposed returning the masters to Hermine for under sixty pounds; she accepted, manufactured the disc independently, and put it out on her own Salome Disc label. The single received warm notices, and once the initial run sold through, Human Records licensed the track and broadened the 7-inch into a four-song EP.
With the wider pop sphere registering interest in Hermine, she became a frequent presence at London’s The Comic Strip comedy venue, whose roster featured Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson (later stars of the series The Young Ones) plus Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (creators of the worldwide hit Absolutely Fabulous). Additional club dates accumulated, and in 1982 Hermine commenced her next project, a set of distorted covers alongside equally singular originals fashioned with Ian Kane. Issued on Belgium’s Crammed Disc imprint, The World on My Plates (its cover showing Hermine in vintage attire placing 7-inch singles into a dishwasher) registered strongly in Britain, charting prominently on NME’s independent lists; now established as a pop figure, she shared bills with experimental acts such as Einstürzende Neubauten and metal band Girlschool.
Hermine’s brush with wider recognition proved brief; after finishing her debut long-player, 1984’s Lonely at the Top, Crammed Disc declined to release it, and following rejections from numerous other labels she issued the album herself on Salome Disc. The first pressing sold out, yet when work on a follow-up album stalled, Hermine withdrew from pop. She still contributes vocals to television sketches by French and Saunders while continuing to mount performance works and running an art center from her family’s property in France.
Albums
Singles
