25th December 1954

Musician Annie Lennox is born

Singer and musician Annie Lennox was born in Aberdeen and gained international recognition as one half of The Eurythmics. Her bandmate was Dave Stewart, with whom she had previously been a member of The Tourists.

“Aberdeen’s own Annie Lennox is back in the big time with her guitarist boy-friend Dave Stewart,” wrote the Aberdeen Evening Express on 4 November 1981. “The former Tourists duo have just released their first album under their new name of Eurythmics… their change in name also happens to reflect the change in their musical style. The pop sounds of the Tourists have developed into the more experimental synthesised sounds of Eurythmics. And that means Annie and Dave will have to begin the hard slog of winning over a different market all over again.”

Success as the Eurythmics

They did this very successfully, and the Eurythmics became one of the biggest British groups of the 1980s. They gained widespread recognition, and won a Brit Award, MTV Video Music Award, and Grammy Award.

The group produced a string of number-one and top-ten hits, including There Must Be An Angel (playing with my heart), Love is a Stranger, Sweet Dreams (are made of this) and Here Comes The Rain Again. Their partnership endured until 1990, after which they focused on individual projects.

Solo career

In 1992, Annie Lennox embarked on a successful solo career and, in 2004, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, for Into The West, which appeared in the 2003 film, The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King.

The Eurythmics reformed at the end of the 1990s, and released a new album in 1999. Several further collaborations saw them working together well into the new century.