In this candid autobiography, Cherie Currie—the original lead singer of ‘70s teenage all-girl rock band The Runaways—powerfully recounts her years in the band, her friendship with guitarist Joan Jett, and her struggle with drugs. An intense, behind-the-scenes look at rock music in the gritty, post-glam era, Neon Angel is a must-read for anyone whose heart beats to the rhythm of David Bowie, Suzi Quatro, Nick Gilder, and the Sex Pistols, and for every fan of the movie it inspired: The Runaways, starring Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett.
Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“What truly amazes me is what a fine, honest, introspective author Cherie is, with an incredible tale about an incredible life, and a fascinating personal odyssey.” (Joan Jett)
“I don’t think a lot of people know the story of Cherie Currie. It’s an amazing story and she’s an amazing woman and performer. ” (Dakota Fanning on The Tonight Show)
“Raw and riveting.” (LA Weekly)
“Details the band’s short, messy history and the struggle with addiction that nearly claimed her life.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“[NEON ANGEL] reveals how the liberated life of a 16-year-old rock star in Los Angeles included many dark moments.” (Spin)
“Unflinchingly honest.” (Boston Globe)
“The striking thing about The Runaways, is how authentic it feels… One reason may be that the movie is partly based on Neon Angel, a newly revamped autobiography by the group’s lead singer Cherie Currie, whose chillingly quick self-destruction is relived through Dakota Fanning.” (New York Times)
“Currie is looking forward to giving Neon Angel its second life…the new version, with a foreword by [Joan] Jett, adds the sex, drugs and darkness that were missing from the first edition.” (Reuters)
“I don’t think a lot of people know the story of Cherie Currie. It’s an amazing story and she’s an amazing woman and performer. ” (Dakota Fanning on The Tonight Show)
“Raw and riveting.” (LA Weekly)
“Details the band’s short, messy history and the struggle with addiction that nearly claimed her life.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“[NEON ANGEL] reveals how the liberated life of a 16-year-old rock star in Los Angeles included many dark moments.” (Spin)
“Unflinchingly honest.” (Boston Globe)
“The striking thing about The Runaways, is how authentic it feels… One reason may be that the movie is partly based on Neon Angel, a newly revamped autobiography by the group’s lead singer Cherie Currie, whose chillingly quick self-destruction is relived through Dakota Fanning.” (New York Times)
“Currie is looking forward to giving Neon Angel its second life…the new version, with a foreword by [Joan] Jett, adds the sex, drugs and darkness that were missing from the first edition.” (Reuters)
From the Back Cover
Cherie Currie, with her signature Bowie haircut and fishnet stockings, was the groundbreaking lead singer of '70s teenage all-girl rock band the Runaways. At the tender age of fifteen, she joined a group of talented girls—Joan Jett and Lita Ford on guitar, Jackie Fox on bass, and Sandy West on drums—who could play rock like no one else.
Arriving on the Los Angeles music scene in 1975, they catapulted from playing small clubs to selling out major stadiums, headlining shows with opening acts like the Ramones, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, and Blondie. Currie lit up the stage with the provocative teen-rebellion songs "Cherry Bomb," "Queens of Noise," and "Born to Be Bad," riding a wave of hit songs and platinum albums, all while touring around the world.
On the face of it, Currie's is a riveting story of girl empowerment and fame. But it is also an intensely personal account of her struggles with drugs, sexual abuse, and violence. She and her bandmates, runaways all, were thrown into a decadent, high-pressure music scene where on the road, unsupervised for months at a time, they had to grow up fast and experience things that no teenage girls should. Neon Angel exposes the side of the music industry fans never get to see, and chronicles the group's rise to fame and their ultimate demise.
Shocking and inspiring, funny and touching, Neon Angel stunningly re-creates a bygone era of rock and roll, all the while providing an inside look at growing up hard under the relentless glare of the public eye, and chronicling one tough woman's fight to reclaim her life.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This wild ride of a memoir takes us from Currie's suburban upbringing as a young rebel, dyeing her hair red, white and blue and dressing up as her idol, David Bowie, to, in a turn that is dramatically sudden, being asked to audition for The Runaways by Kim Fowley and Joan Jett while at her local hangout. All of a sudden, she's thrust into the big-time world of rock music, and the pace is hectic, with fame, and drugs, chasing the band.
The heart of the story is Currie's quest to find a family who'll appreciate her for herself; her dad does, and, to a large degree, her twin sister, Marie, and older sister, Sandie, but she contrasts them with the sisterhood, of sorts, she finds with her bandmates. The growing infighting amongst the band, in large part of what was perceived as Currie's starring role in the press, along with her own increasing reliance on drugs and exhaustion from touring, help drive them apart. Her life post-Runaways finds her acting (in the film Foxes, alongside Jodie Foster), recording solo albums and, mainly, figuring out who she is...all while still in her twenties. So much happens to Currie while still a teenager that it's sometimes hard to remember that she is so young.
This is often a dark story, including rape and attacks that read like something out of a true crime book. Her evocation of shows overseas, in Europe especially, are some of the most vivid, including garbage and knives being thrown onstage as punk hit; you can practically feel the anger hurtling toward the stage, and Currie documents these times as vividly as she does the wildness of setting out on the road for the first time.
Kim Fowley emerges as the villain who turned a group of young, talented teens into a world-famous band, and while his actions speak for themselves, Currie also details the mixed feelings she had about him, at once abhorring him and appreciating the opportunities he gave her. Sadly, her teen devolution into a range of drugs continued for a while as she tried to break free of their grip, even after watching her alcoholic father die. This Currie, the one struggling for her place and her pride, is as much a player here as the one brandishing glitter and attitude onstage.
She is circumspect about some moments, such as her relationship with Joan Jett, writing, "She was my anchor. How do I explain about a person that was my best friend, someone I would confide in like a sister, someone who to me became a strong, sexual attraction? Well, it's easy. Just like how easy it was to be that way with her. I can leave it by saying that I had moments with a friend that quake me to this day. And they were some of the most satisfying moments of my young life."
These tender moments are few and far between in Neon Angel; much more drawn out are some of the horror stories that illustrate the dark side of fame, or rather, fame under the iron fist of Fowley. Currie's transformation from Bowie-wannabe to Cherry Bomb through recovery to mom, actress and chain saw cutter is fascinating and riveting.
The heart of the story is Currie's quest to find a family who'll appreciate her for herself; her dad does, and, to a large degree, her twin sister, Marie, and older sister, Sandie, but she contrasts them with the sisterhood, of sorts, she finds with her bandmates. The growing infighting amongst the band, in large part of what was perceived as Currie's starring role in the press, along with her own increasing reliance on drugs and exhaustion from touring, help drive them apart. Her life post-Runaways finds her acting (in the film Foxes, alongside Jodie Foster), recording solo albums and, mainly, figuring out who she is...all while still in her twenties. So much happens to Currie while still a teenager that it's sometimes hard to remember that she is so young.
This is often a dark story, including rape and attacks that read like something out of a true crime book. Her evocation of shows overseas, in Europe especially, are some of the most vivid, including garbage and knives being thrown onstage as punk hit; you can practically feel the anger hurtling toward the stage, and Currie documents these times as vividly as she does the wildness of setting out on the road for the first time.
Kim Fowley emerges as the villain who turned a group of young, talented teens into a world-famous band, and while his actions speak for themselves, Currie also details the mixed feelings she had about him, at once abhorring him and appreciating the opportunities he gave her. Sadly, her teen devolution into a range of drugs continued for a while as she tried to break free of their grip, even after watching her alcoholic father die. This Currie, the one struggling for her place and her pride, is as much a player here as the one brandishing glitter and attitude onstage.
She is circumspect about some moments, such as her relationship with Joan Jett, writing, "She was my anchor. How do I explain about a person that was my best friend, someone I would confide in like a sister, someone who to me became a strong, sexual attraction? Well, it's easy. Just like how easy it was to be that way with her. I can leave it by saying that I had moments with a friend that quake me to this day. And they were some of the most satisfying moments of my young life."
These tender moments are few and far between in Neon Angel; much more drawn out are some of the horror stories that illustrate the dark side of fame, or rather, fame under the iron fist of Fowley. Currie's transformation from Bowie-wannabe to Cherry Bomb through recovery to mom, actress and chain saw cutter is fascinating and riveting.
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By ryant
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was a fan of Joan jett from the time I was seven years old, ever since I first heard "I Love Rock N Roll". I didn't know anything about her early band, "The Runaways" till years later. I remembered Lita Ford from from her "Kiss Me Deadly" Video and her duet with Ozzy Ozborne on the song "Close My Eyes Forever" when I was just 13 years, old back in 1988. I didn't know that Joan Jett and Lita Ford were in a band together. I saw a documentary a few years ago about Joan and "The Runaways" about five years ago and decided to hear what they were about, so I decided to download some of their songs to hear for myself what they were all like. After listening to "Cherry Bomb", "Dead End Justice", and "Queens of Noise" I was blown away at how good these girls were, being that they were only just under seventeen years old! About two years ago I was watchimg [...] and decided to look at some vidoes for "The Runaways", cuz I was curious to see if there was any footage, of any of the their performances. I was totally amazed when I saw the video for "Cherry Bomb". I was like wow!!1 I cant believe that that blond chick with the white corset and thigh high fishnets, was only sixteen and strutting arond the stage like that. This was ten years before Madonna was wearing that. I was captivated by her voice cuz it sounded so mature for such a young girl. I was watching a video of Cherie Currie from 1987 I believe, and she was on the "Sally Jessie Rafael Show" sharing her testimony about her early youth in the Runaways and then she talked about the drugs and about her she kicked drugs ans all that and how she was working at that time as a drug counslor for teens. I was totally impressed with her honesty. I decided a couple weeks ago to buy her book called "Neon Angel: A memoir of a Runaway. after getting it through Amazon last week I could wait to read it. I just finished reading it yesterday and I was so overtaken with with her personal story of youth gone wild, her rape at 14 years old, her relationship with her family, her being discovered at the Sugar Shack Club by Kim Fowely and Joan Jett and then being recruited into "The Runaways". Her struggle to get along with the girls (especially Lita Ford who always antagonizing and was always bullying her), her temptations and personal demons with drugs which would destroy the fabric of the band and her relationship with her family. She went through so much in so little time at just before the age of 18 years old that it's hard to comprehend how she even today, is even alive to tell the tale. You will enjoy this amazing and captivating story of innocence lost, Family bond, personal struggle to be sober and to regain back her life, and coming out of it all. This is a remarkable story with an even amazing remarkable journey through hell and finally, redemption. I totally recommend this book. I can't wait to see the movie.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Kurt Woods
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
SPOILERS AHEAD
Cherie Currie's memoir is a roller coaster ride that's far beyond what most people will ever experience. She had more horrible things happen to her as a teenager than ten average people would have in an entire lifetime. A lack of parental supervision, a rebellious nature, and life on the road as a member of the Runaways led to many experiences that will simply make your jaw drop. I thought that Cherie losing her virginity at fourteen by being raped by her twin sister's boyfriend must be the low point of the book, but, incredibly enough, it gets much worse. After she joined the Runaways, she had to deal with the sleazy Kim Fowley and other people, and she fell into drug abuse which lasted for many years. Her attempt at becoming a rock star wasn't nearly as successful or lucrative as it should have been, but she somehow managed to survive her many bad experiences and drug addiction. I'm glad she made it through to the other side and got her life together, and I'm very glad that she wrote such a powerful memoir. It's a stunning piece of work. I'm sure the new Runaways movie will show some of the dark side of her life, but I'm also sure it will be a Disney story compared to this book. Buy this book and prepare to be astounded.
Cherie Currie's memoir is a roller coaster ride that's far beyond what most people will ever experience. She had more horrible things happen to her as a teenager than ten average people would have in an entire lifetime. A lack of parental supervision, a rebellious nature, and life on the road as a member of the Runaways led to many experiences that will simply make your jaw drop. I thought that Cherie losing her virginity at fourteen by being raped by her twin sister's boyfriend must be the low point of the book, but, incredibly enough, it gets much worse. After she joined the Runaways, she had to deal with the sleazy Kim Fowley and other people, and she fell into drug abuse which lasted for many years. Her attempt at becoming a rock star wasn't nearly as successful or lucrative as it should have been, but she somehow managed to survive her many bad experiences and drug addiction. I'm glad she made it through to the other side and got her life together, and I'm very glad that she wrote such a powerful memoir. It's a stunning piece of work. I'm sure the new Runaways movie will show some of the dark side of her life, but I'm also sure it will be a Disney story compared to this book. Buy this book and prepare to be astounded.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cherie Curry of the Runaways
This was a great book about the lead singer of a pioneer girl band. I have always enjoyed the Runaways music & face it they were way ahead of their time. Read more
Published 18 days ago by thehimiler
4.0 out of 5 stars
School project
Project in school for my son and he loves to read. He said the story is very interesting and now his looking forward to reading more stories like this one.
Published 1 month ago by hagen
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great memoir
I love all things Joan Jett which is what attracted me to this book. Now I'm a Cherie Currie fan too. The Runaways disbanded before I was born and I was always curious about them. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Cheryl
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book!
My wife bought this for me for my birthday. I have always been a fan of Joan Jett. This book was really good.
Published 1 month ago by Christopher Bailey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous!!
As a longtime 'Runaways' fan, I really enjoyed the openess Cherie shared in this book. I'm not much of a reader, but I literally could not put this book down. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Charles W. Patty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Memories of favorite bands during high school
Really loved the book, it gave an in-depth behind the scenes look at the physical and emotional demands of being a musician. Read more
Published 1 month ago by jcorcoran
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written, entertaining
Loved it, very entertaining. Learned a lot about the Runaways that I didn't know before. Would have liked a little more about what she's doing now, but overall a good book.
Published 2 months ago by Stacey J. Fox
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read!!!
was more than i expected...worth a try. One of the better rock n roll bio's out there. Way to go Cherie!!!
Published 2 months ago by Twilight Fan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Her story-Not Joan Jett
A good read on the teenage girl rock group that was first. Cherie lived an unbelievable life with many heartbreaking events. Read more
Published 2 months ago by T. Gillen
2.0 out of 5 stars
Neon angel
I have not read it yet but I hope it turn out good. I started one time but I lost my place .
Published 2 months ago by jodi Lynn hollabaugh
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