1976–1990: Dragon's Playground, the Tourists and Eurythmics as part of
Eurythmics in 1985 In 1976, Lennox was a flute player with a band called Dragon's Playground, leaving before they appeared on
ITV's talent show
New Faces. From 1977 to 1980, she was the lead singer of
the Tourists, a British pop band and her first collaboration with
Dave Stewart. Lennox and Stewart's second collaboration, the 1980s
synth-pop duo
Eurythmics, resulted in her most notable fame, as the duo's
alto, soul-tinged lead singer. Early in Eurythmics' career, Lennox was known for her
androgyny, wearing suits and once impersonating
Elvis Presley. Eurythmics released a long line of hit
singles in the 1980s, including "
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (a US number one and UK number two), "
There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" (UK number one), "
Love Is a Stranger", "
Here Comes the Rain Again", "
Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves", "
Who's That Girl?", "
Would I Lie to You?" (Australian number one), "
Missionary Man" (
Grammy Award for
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group), "
You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart", "
Thorn in My Side", "
The Miracle of Love" and "
Don't Ask Me Why". Although Eurythmics never officially disbanded, Lennox made a fairly clear break from Stewart in 1990. Thereafter, she began her solo career. Lennox and Stewart reconvened Eurythmics in the late 1990s, resulting in the 1999 release of
Peace, the band's first album of new material in ten years. A subsequent concert tour was completed, with profits going to
Greenpeace and
Amnesty International. Four of the awards were given during her time with Eurythmics, and another was given to the duo for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1999. The 1988 single "
Put a Little Love in Your Heart" was a duet with
Al Green recorded for the soundtrack of the movie
Scrooged. Though it was produced by Dave Stewart, it was credited to Lennox and Green. This one-off single peaked at No. 9 on the US
Billboard Hot 100, 6 in Australia, and was a top 40 hit in the UK. Lennox performed the song "
Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye", a Cole Porter song, that same year for a
cameo appearance in the
Derek Jarman film
Edward II. She then appeared with
David Bowie and the surviving members of
Queen at 1992's
Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at London's
Wembley Stadium, performing "
Under Pressure".
1992–1993: Solo career and Diva Lennox began working with former
Trevor Horn protégé
Stephen Lipson, beginning with her 1992 solo debut album,
Diva. During an interview with the
BBC in 1992 ahead of the release of the album, Lennox claimed that she debated with herself whether to begin writing a solo album, claiming that she thought of other things she could do but concluded "it all comes back to writing songs", stating that songwriting "affirms who I am" and acknowledging being a songwriter as "part of my identify". Lennox claimed that, during the songwriting process for
Diva, she did "not miss Dave [Stewart]" (her partner with Eurythmics), claiming that they both "spent so much time together it became frayed". She did, however, state that she wishes Dave well and that she was "sure he would say the same for me".
Diva charted at No. 1 in the UK, No. 7 in Australia, No. 6 in Germany, and No. 23 in the US where it went
double platinum. Lennox's profile was boosted by
Diva singles, which included "
Why" and "
Walking on Broken Glass". "Why" won an
MTV Award for Best Female Video at the
1992 MTV Video Music Awards, while the video for "Walking on Broken Glass", set in the
Rococo period, featured actors
Hugh Laurie and
John Malkovich. "
Little Bird" also formed a double A-side with "
Love Song for a Vampire", a soundtrack cut for
Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie ''
Bram Stoker's Dracula. The B-side of her single "Precious" was a self-penned song called "Step by Step", which was later a hit for Whitney Houston for the soundtrack of the film The Preacher's Wife''.
1995–2000: Medusa and return to Eurythmics Although Lennox's profile decreased for a period because of her desire to bring up her two children away from the media's glare, she continued to record. Her second album,
Medusa, was released in March 1995. It consisted solely of
cover songs, all originally recorded by male artists including
Bob Marley,
The Clash and
Neil Young. It entered the UK album chart at No. 1 and peaked in Australia at No. 5, and in the US at number 11, spending 60 weeks on the
Billboard 200 chart and selling over 2 million to date in the United States. The album yielded four UK singles:
"No More 'I Love You's (which entered the UK singles chart at No. 2, Lennox's highest-ever solo peak), losing to
Turbulent Indigo by
Joni Mitchell and instead winning
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "No More 'I Love You's. Although Lennox declined to tour for the album, she did perform a large scale one-off concert in New York's
Central Park, which was filmed and later released on home video. Lennox provided an extensive solo vocal performance (without lyrics) for the
soundtrack score of the film
Apollo 13 in 1995. Managed by
Simon Fuller since the beginning of her solo career, he said that Lennox played an important but unheralded role in the success of the
Spice Girls, encouraging the group to "ham up" their characters, which helped them top the charts around the world. In 1997, Lennox re-recorded the Eurythmics track "
Angel" for the
Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute album, and also recorded the song "Mama" for
The Avengers soundtrack album. In 1998, following the death of a mutual friend (former Tourists member
Peet Coombes), she re-united with
Dave Stewart. Following their first performance together in eight years at a record company party, Stewart and Lennox began writing and recording together for the first time since 1989. This resulted in the album
Peace. The title was designed to reflect the duo's ongoing concern with global conflict and world peace. The record was promoted with a concert on the
Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior II, where they played a mixture of old and new songs. "
I Saved the World Today" was the lead single, reaching number eleven on the
UK singles chart. Another single, released at the beginning of 2000, "
17 Again", made the UK top 40, and topped the
US dance chart. In 2002, Lennox received a
Billboard Century Award; the highest accolade from
Billboard magazine, with editor-in-chief Timothy White describing her as one of "the most original and unforgettably affecting artists in the modern annals of popular music." She embarked on her first tour as a solo artist to promote the album. The tour, simply titled Solo Tour, pre-dated the release of the album and visited both the US and Europe, with only a two-night stop in the UK at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. The album has been certified Gold in both the UK and the US and was nominated for
Best Pop Album at the
46th Grammy Awards. The album was released with a DVD which included interviews and acoustic versions of songs by Lennox. In 2004, Lennox won the
Academy Award for Best Song for "
Into the West" from the film
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which she co-wrote with screenwriter
Fran Walsh and composer
Howard Shore. Lennox performed the song live at the
76th Academy Awards. The song also won a Grammy award and a
Golden Globe award. She had previously recorded "Use Well the Days" for the movie, which incorporates a number of quotations from
Tolkien in its lyrics. This features on a bonus DVD included with the "special edition" of the movie's soundtrack CD. In mid-2004, Lennox embarked on an extensive North American tour with
Sting. In 2005, Lennox and Stewart collaborated on two new songs for their Eurythmics compilation album,
Ultimate Collection, of which "
I've Got a Life" was released as a single in October 2005. The promotional video for the song features Lennox and Stewart performing in the present day, with images of past Eurythmics videos playing on television screens behind them. The single peaked at number fourteen in the
UK Singles Chart and was a number-one US
dance hit. Lennox also collaborated with
Herbie Hancock doing the song "Hush, Hush, Hush" on his collaboration album,
Possibilities in August 2005.
2007–2008: Songs of Mass Destruction and AIDS activism " with 23 other invited singers, Lennox launched the
Sing campaign in 2007. Ending her long association with
Stephen Lipson, Lennox's fourth solo album,
Songs of Mass Destruction, was recorded in Los Angeles with veteran producer
Glen Ballard (known for producing
Alanis Morissette's album,
Jagged Little Pill). It was released on 1 October 2007, and was the last studio album of Lennox's contract with
BMG. It peaked at No. 7 in the UK and No. 9 in the US. Lennox described it as "a dark album, but the world is a dark place. It's fraught, it's turbulent. Most people's lives are underscored with dramas of all kinds: there's ups, there's downs—the flickering candle." She added, "Half the people are drinking or drugging themselves to numb it. A lot of people are in pain." Included among the group of vocalists are TAC activist members' own vocal group known as The Generics, whose CD of music inspired Lennox to make "Sing".
2008–2009: The Annie Lennox Collection and departure from Sony Finishing out her contract with Sony BMG, Lennox released the compilation album
The Annie Lennox Collection. Initially intended for release in September 2008, the release date was pushed back several months to allow Lennox to recuperate from a back injury. The compilation was eventually released in the US on 17 February 2009, and in the UK and Europe on 9 March 2009. Included on the track listing are songs from her four solo albums, one from the ''
Bram Stoker's Dracula'' soundtrack, and two new songs. One of these is a cover of
Ash's single, "
Shining Light". The other is a cover of a song by the English band
Keane, originally the B-side of their first single in 2000. Lennox renamed the song from its original title "
Closer Now" to "
Pattern of My Life". A limited 3-disc edition of the album included a DVD compilation featuring most of Lennox's solo videos since 1992, and also featured a second CD of rarer songs including a version of
R.E.M.'s "
Everybody Hurts" with
Alicia Keys and Lennox's Oscar-winning "Into the West" from the third
Lord of the Rings film. The album entered the
UK Album Chart at No. 2 and remained in the top 10 for seven weeks. Lennox's recording contract with
Sony BMG concluded with the release of
Songs of Mass Destruction and the subsequent retrospective album
The Collection, and much was made in the press in late 2007/early 2008 about the apparent animosity between Lennox and the record company. Lennox stated that while on a trip to South Africa in December 2007 to appear at the
46664 campaign in Johannesburg, the regional company office of the label failed to return phone calls and e-mails she made to them for three weeks, and had completely failed to promote the Sing project as planned. Upon her return to the UK, Lennox met with the head of Sony BMG UK, Ged Docherty, who was "mortified" by the problems she had encountered with the South African branch. The debacle (partly inflamed by her blogging her dissatisfaction with the South African office) led to press reports that she was "dropped" by Sony BMG, which quickly clarified that their contract had been fulfilled and that it hoped she would consider signing a new one. The British tabloid,
Daily Mirror, subsequently printed a retraction of its story about her being dropped by the label.
2010–2019: A Christmas Cornucopia and Nostalgia during the Sing campaign in 2010 In August 2010, Lennox signed a new contract with
Island Records in the UK and
Decca Records in the US, both part of the
Universal Music Group. Her first release was a Christmas album entitled
A Christmas Cornucopia, issued on 15 November 2010. The album is a collection of Lennox's interpretations of traditional festive songs such as "
Silent Night" and "
The First Noel", along with one new composition, "
Universal Child", which was released as a download-only single on 13 October 2010. Lennox had previously showcased the song on the
American Idol Gives Back TV show in April 2010. She sang the song "
Angels from the Realms of Glory" from the album for the TNT special
Christmas in Washington. A music video was produced for a second single from the album, "
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". Lennox also performed the track on the UK chat show
Loose Women in December 2010, and was also interviewed. According to
Metacritic,
A Christmas Cornucopia has gained "generally favourable reviews". Ian Wade of
BBC Music gave the album a very positive review, saying "this collection could find itself becoming as much a part of the holiday season as arguments with loved ones." Sal Cinquemani of
Slant Magazine awarded the album 3.5/5 and said "Lennox seems more inspired on
A Christmas Cornucopia than she has in years." John Hunt of
Qatar Today magazine gave the album 9/10 and said "in particular, the vocal work and musical arrangement of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' are impactful to the point of being intimidating." " during the symphony of British Music segment at the
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London On 4 June 2012, Lennox performed, as part of the Queen's
Diamond Jubilee Concert, in front of
Buckingham Palace in London and on 12 August she performed "
Little Bird" at the
2012 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony. In October 2014, Lennox released her sixth solo album,
Nostalgia. The album is a collection of Lennox's childhood favourite soul, jazz and blues songs. Critic Mike Wass of
Idolator stated that Lennox "puts her own inimitable spin" on the selected tracks. The
lead single "
I Put a Spell on You" received its first radio play on 15 September 2014 by
Ken Bruce on
BBC Radio 2. Upon release, the album entered the UK and US Top 10, and reached number one on the US
Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart. The album was nominated for a
Grammy Award for
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. On 28 January 2015, Lennox performed a live concert at the
Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles entitled
An Evening of Nostalgia with Annie Lennox. The show aired on
PBS in the US in April 2015, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray internationally in May 2015.
2019–present: Lepidoptera In May 2019, Lennox released
Lepidoptera, an EP containing four extemporised piano songs. The album serves as a companion piece to her art installation "Now I Let You Go..." at
MASS moca. It is Lennox's first independently distributed record. Since 2019, Lennox has joined with Dave Stewart on two occasions for Eurythmics reunions—for
Sting's 30th We'll Be Together Benefit Concert and the other in 2022 for their
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. They performed together on 9 December 2019 at the Sting benefit concert at New York City's
Beacon Theatre, playing "
Would I Lie to You?", "
Here Comes the Rain Again" and "
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", before returning to join in the finale performance of Journey's "
Don't Stop Believin' along with the night's other performers. In 2022, they performed at the
Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California for their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, performing "Would I Lie to You?", "Missionary Man" and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" as part of the
2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. They were inducted by
U2's
the Edge. In 2024, she performed at the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Tribute Concert in
Washington, D.C. to honour both
Elton John and
Bernie Taupin. Her chancellorship of
Glasgow Caledonian University came to an end in mid-2024, and was succeeded by
Anne-Marie Imafidon. Her legacy as chancellor of the university includes a building being renamed the Annie Lennox Building. At the unveiling, Lennox said it was "an incredible honour to have such a wonderful building on the Glasgow Caledonian University campus named after me". During the
2025 California wildfires in January, Lennox volunteered with a local Los Angeles based charity Project Angel Food to deliver food amid relief efforts. In March 2025, Lennox played her first live performance in six years at the
Royal Albert Hall. The show, entitled
Sisters: Annie Lennox and Friends, was organised to celebrate
International Women's Day. During the performance, Lennox was joined by notable female performers including Rioghnach Connolly,
Celeste and
Nadine Shah. In the same month, Lennox expressed concerns over proposed budget cuts by UK Prime Minister
Keir Starmer, citing that such cuts "would affect us all in the end". She said that a "very, very tiny amount" of the UK budget was allocated to foreign and development aid, and argued that "the impact around the world will affect us in the end, when you have countries that have so many that are being displaced, it has a knock-on effect as well", adding that "it benefits us to invest". ==Public image==