Neneh Cherry

Cherry was born as Neneh Mariann Karlsson in Stockholm, Sweden, the daughter of Monika "Moki" Karlsson (1943–2009), a Swedish painter and textile artist, and the musician Ahmadu Jah (1936–2018).

Jah was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, the son of a tribal chief, and went to Stockholm to study engineering at university.

Cherry's parents separated early and her mother married the American jazz musician Don Cherry, who helped raise Cherry since birth.

Cherry took her stepfather's surname.

From her mother's side, Cherry also has a half-brother, musician Eagle-Eye Cherry.

From stepfather Don Cherry's side, she has a stepsister, violinist Jan Cherry, and a stepbrother, jazz musician David Ornette Cherry.

Through her father Ahmadu Jah's marriage to Maylen Jah (née Bergström), Cherry is the half-sister of singer Titiyo and record producer Cherno Jah.

Neneh Mariann Karlsson ; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, occasional DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk and post-punk bands in her youth, including the Slits and Rip Rig + Panic.

Cherry has released six studio albums under her own name.

In 1970, Cherry's parents, Moki and Don Cherry, bought and converted an old Swedish schoolhouse in rural Tågarp in Svalöv Municipality.

In the early 1970s, the family moved to the United States, when Don Cherry taught at Dartmouth College.

In 1977 the family bought a loft in New York City in the same building as Talking Heads members Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, whom they befriended.

Cherry dropped out of school at age 14 and moved to London.

Cherry moved to the United Kingdom when she was 15, in the midst of the punk era, and she remembers finding "her people" there.

Cherry had met Tessa Pollitt, Viv Albertine and Ari Up from the Slits earlier as her stepfather, Don Cherry, was touring with them and took the 15-year-old Neneh along.

She and Ari lived in a squat in Battersea.

She felt at home, after ending up there because The Slits invited Don Cherry to go on tour with them with Prince Hammer and Creation Rebel.

In London, Cherry joined the punk rock band The Cherries.

She moved through several bands, including the Slits, New Age Steppers, Rip Rig + Panic, and Float Up CP.

She also DJ'd, playing early rap music on the reggae pirate Dread Broadcasting Corporation.

Cherry has stated that she found her voice singing along with Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex.

She grew up in a musical family; she remembers singing with her father at the piano.

Cherry began a solo career in 1982 with "Stop the War", a protest song about the Falklands War.

More singles released between 1988 and 1990 included "Manchild", "Kisses on the Wind", "Heart", and "Inna City Mama".

She also found success with "I've Got You Under My Skin", a reworking of the Cole Porter song, which appeared on the Red Hot + Blue AIDS fundraising album.

The single reached number 25 in the UK.

Her first, Raw Like Sushi, was released in 1989 and peaked at number three on the UK Album Chart, thanks in large part to the worldwide hit single "Buffalo Stance".

She worked with Jonny Dollar, The The and Cameron McVey (aka Booga Bear), who co-wrote most of her 1989 debut album Raw Like Sushi, and whom she later married.

She was intimately involved in the Bristol Urban Culture scene, working as an arranger on Massive Attack's Blue Lines album, through which she met Dollar.

Both Robert Del Naja and Andrew Vowles of Massive Attack contributed to Raw Like Sushi.

The single "Buffalo Stance" eventually peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 1 on the US Dance chart.

Cherry was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1990 in the Best New Artist category (but lost to Milli Vanilli who eventually had their award revoked).

She won a Brit Award in 1990 for Raw Like Sushi.

Cherry caused a press furore when she performed "Buffalo Stance" on Top of the Pops while pregnant (with her second child, Tyson).

Her second studio album was 1992's Homebrew.

In addition to releasing these studio albums, she formed the band cirKus in 2006 and has collaborated with the Thing, releasing an album entitled The Cherry Thing in 2012.

Cherry has won two Brit Awards and an MTV Europe Music Award (with Youssou N'Dour).

She has also been nominated for a Grammy Award.

Four years later she released Man, with her next studio album, Blank Project, coming in 2014.

Her most recent album, The Versions, was released in 2022.