Cherie Bomb
Cherie Currie was just a Bowie-obsessed 15-year-old smoking a cigarette at the Sugar Shack, an under-21 club in North Hollywood, when she was spotted by producer Kim Fowley. A Svengali, visionary and predator, he was cruising the underage clubs with a young Joan Jett in tow, looking for recruits for his brand-new teen rock band, The Runaways. With her bleached-out hair and tight pants, Currie had the goodsor at least looked the part. Fowley had also approached Curries twin sister Marie that night, who dismissed him as creepy. Now 50, with a 19-year-old son, Currie has updated her memoir, Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, to coincide with the Mar. 19 release of the Runaways biopic, starring Dakota Fanning as Currie and Twilights Kristen Stewart as Jett.
Im just glad that The Runaways are finally being recognized for what we went through and what we tried to accomplish, she says, speaking from her home in Los Angeles. I really dont regret anything except for leaving the band and not keeping in touch with Joan.
Jett was her closest friend in the band, and when Currie quit The Runaways, she mistakenly thought they wanted me out. [But] I found out several weeks ago how [Jett] felt when I left, and that was not the case.
Jett wrote Cherry Bomb on the spot for her at the audition. Currie didnt exactly know how to sing, but, as she wrote in her book: I realized that you could get away with just about anything so long as you do it with enough conviction. The Runaways soon had a record deal and a national tour lined up.
Curries father, an alcoholic, left when she was 12. Her mother re-married and took off for Indonesia without saying goodbye just after Currie signed the contract with Mercury Records. Freed from authority, Currie went on tour. The tutor that was promised to school her on the road never materialized, so she played to increasingly bigger audiences, signed autographs and snorted cocaine with Rod Stewart. Currie returned home a few months later with a pill problem. She had just turned 16.
Almost two years later, burned out after nonstop touring in the States, Europe and Japan, Currie needed a break. When Fowley refusedhe was a maniacal control freak who called the girls dogs and kept their moneyshe quit the band. The last straw was a petty fight over leaving a photo shoot on time.
Post-Runaways, Currie acted in a movie with Jodie Foster, the 1980 cult hit Foxes, cut a record with her sister Marie and worked as a drug counselor and a fitness instructor. Now, she makes a living as a chainsaw artist.
Five days a week, Im out there carving, she says, creating surprisingly detailed mermaids and other whimsical creatures out of tree trunks. Its the greatest just me, the wood, and the saw. I always say a little prayer before I start to saw.
As for the movie, Currie calls Fannings portrayal of her fantastic... Its really difficult to put three years of craziness into an hour and a half. Unfortunately, I really dont think [the film] showed the fun that we had, because we really did. We were a family out there, we had to be.
And she recently got the opportunity to have it out with the films villain, abusive manager Kim Fowley. I met him at a party at the Houdini Mansion about a year ago. We ended up talking for quite some time, and he apologized. He didnt know how to handle young teenage girls. I accepted his apology, I just told him he wasnt going to take any more of my money.
Its all good now, she says cheerfully.
It was a trip, but Im glad its over. Im glad that I have a fantastic life now. C