Early life

Currie was born to Don Currie and actress Marie Harmon. She was raised in Encino with three siblings. Her brother is Don Currie Jr. She has an elder sister, actress Sondra Currie, and an identical twin sister, Marie Currie.

Career

Currie was the teenage lead vocalist for the all-female rock band the Runaways with bandmates Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West, Jackie Fox and Vicki Blue. Bomp! magazine described her as "the lost daughter of Iggy Pop and Brigitte Bardot".

Currie joined the Runaways in 1975, at age 15. The teen rock anthem "Cherry Bomb" was written for her at the audition. Assessments of her impact at that time differ; one reviewer has written that "the received wisdom that carved out new territory for female musicians is hard to justify - it's doubtful that the predominantly male audience who flocked to see the 16-year-old in her undies picked up any feminist subtext."

After three albums with the Runaways (The Runaways, Queens of Noise and Live in Japan), Currie went on to be a solo artist. She signed a contract with Mercury saying she would record four records, but she left the Runaways after the third album, thus she was obligated to record another album. She recorded it solo and the result was Beauty's Only Skin Deep for Polygram Records. Marie Currie did a duet with Cherie on her solo record "Love at First Sight". Cherie and Marie went on a US tour in 1977, and when Marie would join Cherie on stage to sing the encores the audience would go wild. Then they went on a Japan tour in 1978. While in Japan, the twins performed on many TV shows. So Cherie ran with the idea of two blonds are better than one, and changed the band name from Cherie Currie to Cherie and Marie Currie. With Marie Currie, she recorded Messin' with the Boys for Capitol Records and Young and Wild for Raven. Messin' with the Boys was released in 1980. Messin' with the Boys received more radio play than Beauty's Only Skin Deep and, the song "Since You Been Gone" off Messin' with the Boys charted number 95 on US charts. Both the single "This Time" and the album Messin' with the Boys made the top 200 on U.S. charts. Cherie and Marie performed on many television shows to support the album; including the Sha Na Na show, and The Mike Douglas Show. Young and Wild was released in 1998. It was Cherie and Marie's first compilation album. It contains tracks from Beauty's Only Skin Deep, Messin with the Boys, Flaming School Girls (The Runaways compilation album), and one new track co-written by Marie. Along with the album recordings with Marie, Cherie and Marie sang, wrote, and produced songs for The Rosebud Beach Hotel and its soundtrack called, The Rosebud Beach Hotel Soundtrack. In the film, they acted and sang together.

In 1994 Currie performed at the Runaways reunion with former Runaways, Jackie Fox, Sandy West, and her sister, Marie

Cherie starred in the film Foxes in 1980 with Jodie Foster. She received strong reviews for her acting debut, and because of this film she received many roles in other films. Along with starring in Foxes (her best known film), she starred in Parasite, Wavelength, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Rosebud Beach Hotel (with Marie Currie), Rich Girl, and others, as well as numerous guest spots on television series (Matlock and Murder, She Wrote, among others). In 1984 Currie was cast as Brenda in Savage Streets, but was replaced by Linda Blair. In the same year Currie was cast as the lead singer of the fictional band the Dose in the film This is Spinal Tap, but her character was cut out of the film. Cherie was considered for a part in the 1985 film Explorers but, according to her autobiography, she was in the throes of drug dependency and couldn't even make it to a meeting.

Later years

Currie was a guest vocalist on Shameless' 2013 album, Beautiful Disaster. Currie released singles with ex-bandmate, Lita Ford and Glenn Danzig the same year. Currie released another studio album, Reverie, in 2015 The album features guest work from ex-bandmate, Lita Ford, Currie's son, Jake Hays, and Currie's ex-manager, Kim Fowley. Cherie toured the UK in November of 2015, to support her new album. Her special guest on her UK tour was Last Great Dreamers.

Personal life

Currie struggled with drug addiction for much of her younger life, which was a major factor in the abrupt ending of her career. She later wrote a memoir, Neon Angel, recounting life in the band and her traumatic experiences with drug addiction, sex abuse, and her broken family. The Runaways, a 2010 biographical drama film executive-produced by Joan Jett, focuses on the group's early beginnings and explores the relationship between Currie and Jett. In the film, Currie is portrayed by Dakota Fanning.

Currie was married to actor Robert Hays on May 12, 1990, and they had one son together, Jake Hays. Jake Hays learned to play guitar well enough to be included in recent recording sessions, and as a member of Cherie Currie's new touring band.

Currie is now a wood-carving artist using a chainsaw to create her works. She has been doing chainsaw art since 2002 and opened her own gallery in 2005 in Chatsworth, California. Her chainsaw art has been featured on recent television programs.

Discography

With the Runaways

Studio albums

• 1976 - The Runaways
• 1977 - Queens of Noise
• 1980 - Flaming Schoolgirls

Live albums

• 1977 - Live in Japan

Solo

Studio albums

• 1978 - Beauty's Only Skin Deep
• 1980 - Messin' with the Boys (with Marie Currie)
• 1997 - Messin' with the Boys (re-released with 7 bonus tracks, with Marie Currie)
• 1998 - Young and Wild (compilation, with Marie Currie)
• 1999 - The 80's Collection (rare studio album, with Marie Currie as a guest on some tracks)
• 2015 - Reverie

EPs

• 2007 - Cherry Bomb

Guest appearances

• 1978 - Yesterday & Today - Struck Down
• 1981 - 707 - The Second Album
• 1984 - various artist - The Rosebud Beach Hotel Soundtrack (with Marie Currie)
• 1991 - various artist - Rich Girl Soundtrack
• 1990 - Tater Totz - Stereo: Sgt. Shonen's Exploding Plastic Eastman Band Request
• 1993 - Atsushi Yokozeki Project - Raid
• 1998 - Precious Metal - What You See Is What You Get: The Very Best of Precious Metal
• 2001 - Katt Lowe & the Othersyde - Katt Lowe & the Othersyde
• 2004 - Texas Terri Bomb! - Your Lips...
• 2006 - Rick Derringer - Rock 'n' Roll Hoochie Coo: The Best of Rick Derringer
• 2007 - Dee Dee Ramone / Johnny Ramone / Marky Ramone - Ramones Solo Performances
• 2008 - The Ramones - The Family Tree
• 2003 - The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs - Maximum Overdrive
• 2013 - Shameless - Beautiful Disaster
• 2013 - Warehouse 13 - Runaway
• 2013 - Glenn Danzig - "Some Velvet Morning"

Singles

Year	Single	US	Album	Artist
1977	"Call Me at Midnight"	-	Beauty's Only Skin Deep	Cherie Currie
1978	"Beauty's Only Skin Deep"	-	Beauty's Only Skin Deep	Cherie Currie
1978	"Love at First Sight"	-	Beauty's Only Skin Deep	Cherie and Marie Currie
1978	"Science Fiction Daze"	-	Beauty's Only Skin Deep	Cherie Currie
1979	"Since You Been Gone"	95	Messin' with the Boys	Cherie and Marie Currie
1979	"Messin' with the Boys"	-	Messin' with the Boys	Cherie and Marie Currie
1980	"This Time"	TBA	Messin' with the Boys	Cherie and Marie Currie
1980	"Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)"	-	Messin' with the Boys	Cherie and Marie Currie
1989	"Instant Karma!"	-	Mono! Stereo: Sgt. Shonen's Exploding Plastic Eastman Band Request	Tater Totz featuring Cherie Currie
1998	"Cherry Bomb"	-	Maximum Overdrive	The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs meets Cherie Currie
2013	"Life's a Gas"	-	Beautiful Disaster	Shameless featuring Cherie Currie
2013	"Some Velvet Morning"	-	Single Only	Glenn Danzig featuring Cherie Currie
2013	"Rock This Christmas Down"	-	Single only	Lita Ford and Cherie Currie
2015	"Believe"	-	Reverie	Cherie Currie

Album charts

Year	Album	US	Artist
1978	Beauty's Only Skin Deep	-	Cherie Currie
1980	Messin' with the Boys	TBA	Cherie and Marie Currie
1997	Messin' with the Boys (Re-released)	-	Cherie and Marie Currie
1999	The 80's Collection	-	Cherie Currie/Cherie & Marie Currie
2015	Reverie	-	Cherie Currie

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1980	Foxes	Annie
1982	Parasite	Dana
1983	Twilight Zone: The Movie	Sara	Segment #3
1983	Wavelength	Iris Longacre
1984	Murder, She Wrote	Echo Cramer	TV episode: "It's a Dog's Life"
1984	The Rosebud Beach Hotel	Singing Maid Cherie	Her twin Marie Currie played Singing Maid Marie.
1990	Matlock	Renee Thorton	2 episodes: "The Informer: Part 1" and "The Informer: Part 2"
1991		Betsy Rhodes	TV episode: "The Suspect"
	Rich Girl	Michelle
1992	Dr. Giggles	ADR voice
2004	Getting the Knack	Herself	documentary
2005	Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways	Herself	Film by former Runaways bassist Victory Tischler-Blue documenting the Runaways' musical history.
2013	Hansel and Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft	Ms. Thoman	Direct-to-DVD release
	Warehouse 13	Herself	TV episode "Runaway"

2014 " Keeping up with the Kardashains "

Bibliography

Year	Book	L.A. Weekly	author(s)	notes
1989	Neon Angel	-	Cherie Currie, Neal Shusterman	author
2008	Cherry Bomb	-	Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna	contributor
2010	Neon Angel (Re-released)	9	Cherie Currie, Tony O'Neill	author
2014	The Narrow Road of Light	-	Marie Currie	developer

[ Source: Wikipedia ]