Annabella Lwin (born Myant Myant Aye, , 31 October 1966) is an Anglo-Burmese singer, songwriter and record producer best known as the lead singer of

Bow Wow Wow Bow Wow Wow are an English new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band behind 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on vocals. They released their debut EP ''Your Cassette Pe ...

Early life, family and education

Lwin was born in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

to a Burmese father and an English mother.

Bow Wow Wow

EMI records

After recording '' Dirk Wears White Sox'' as members of Adam and the Ants, Matthew Ashman and Dave Barbarossa plus new Ants bassist Leigh Gorman (who had replaced Andy Warren since the sessions) were persuaded by former

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

manager

Malcolm McLaren Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provo ...

to leave

Adam Ant Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954), is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten ...

to form a new band under his management.

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, music director and talent scout Dave Fishel heard thirteen year old Lwin singing along to the radio in a

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage ...

dry cleaners where she worked and he convinced McLaren to audition her. Following her successful audition, he had her transfer from a mixed comprehensive school in London to the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Bow Wow Wow signed with

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

in July 1980, and released their first single, " C·30 C·60 C·90 Go!", shortly afterwards. Originally only released on cassette, it was the world's first-ever cassette single. EMI did not promote the cassingle due to lyrics ("Off the radio I get constant flow/Hit it, pause it, record and play/Turn it, rewind and rub it away") that promoted

home taping "Home Taping Is Killing Music" was the slogan of a 1980s anti- copyright infringement propaganda campaign by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), a British music industry trade group. With the rise in cassette recorder popularity, the BPI fe ...

during an era when music piracy was a hot button issue and the use of cassette recorders to record music from the radio was still a controversial practice. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, "Sun, Sea and Piracy", also promoted home taping, then lying on a beach and enjoying the fruits of this labour. Both tracks were on side 1 of the tape, making the second side blank, apparently so that the listener could follow Lwin's lead.

RCA Records

When Bow Wow Wow moved to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

, controversy followed them over to their new label. The album cover of their debut album, '' See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!'' depicted the band recreating

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bor ...

’s '' Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe'', with a then fourteen-year-old Lwin posing nude. Photographed by Andy Earl, the cover caused outrage that led to an investigation by

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

, instigated by Lwin's mother. Undeterred, the band used the same photo on the cover of their follow-up EP ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinde ...

'', and the sleeve of the " Go Wild in the Country" single
This picture is now part of the National Portrait Gallery collection
Another nude photo of Lwin was used for the cover of '' I Want Candy'' less than a year later. The title track, a cover of the Strangeloves' 1965 hit originally on ''The Last of the Mohicans''. The single reached No. 9 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

s in June 1982. At the behest of Ashman, Lwin began writing for Bow Wow Wow's follow up, ''

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" is a popular witticism in American English. The phrase is an example of antimetabole. The origin of the phrase has been attributed to various sources. It appears to come from American football ...

''. ''When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going'' contained the hit "Do You Wanna Hold Me?", which received heavy rotation on MTV. During a hiatus following an intense US tour, Lwin was suddenly fired from the band in September 1983. She found out about her firing by reading it in '' NME''.

Reunion to the present

Lwin and former Bow Wow Wow bass player Leigh Gorman reunited in 1997 for a US tour. The reunion included appearances by a range of musicians from the young up and coming, such as Eshan Khadaroo of Beat Kitchen, ( Blue Man), and the established, including Adrian Young of

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, ...

, both playing drums in place of original member Dave Barbarossa. The original guitarist of Bow Wow Wow, Matthew Ashman, had died of complications from diabetes in 1995, and various guitarists filled in. The tour began in December 1997, and ended in March 1998. Two shows, the 10 January 1998 show at the

Bluebird Theater The Bluebird Theater (originally known as the Thompson Theater) is a theater in Denver, Colorado on East Colfax Avenue. The theater was designed by Harry W.J. Edbrooke and built during 1913–1914. It was renamed in 1922. It is currently use ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado, and the 7 March 1998 show at the Drama Club in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label= Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name “S ...

, were used for a live CD, '' Wild in the U.S.A.'' on

Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, ...

. In 1998, Bow Wow Wow collaborated with DJ

Swedish Egil Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

on the track "Eastern Promise", released as part of Egil's ''Groove Radio Presents: Alternative Mix'' CD on Priority Records. They contributed the song "A Thousand Tears" to the 1999 film '' Desperate But Not Serious'' (retitled ''Reckless + Wild'' in the US), starring

Christine Taylor Christine Joan Taylor Stiller (born July 30, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for playing Marcia Brady in ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' and ''A Very Brady Sequel'', as well as roles in films like '' The Craft'', '' The Wedding Singer'', '' ...

and Claudia Schiffer, and appeared in the film. In 2006, Bow Wow Wow recorded a cover of the Smiths' "

I Started Something I Couldn't Finish "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. The song was released on the group's 1987 album '' Strangeways, Here We Come''. Featuring a glam rock-i ...

", which appeared on three 2007 releases: a new three-track ''I Want Candy'' EP (Cleopatra), compilation album ''Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before: A Tribute to the Smiths'' (Cleopatra) and the '' Blood & Chocolate: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' (

Lakeshore Records Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...

). On 21 November 2010, the 15th anniversary of Ashman's death, Barbarossa joined Lwin and Gorman at the Scala in London in a tribute concert for Ashman. The show was headlined by Adam Ant, and also featured Ashman's other bands, Chiefs of Relief and Agent Provocateur. With a new guitarist (Jimmy Magoon) and drummer (Dylan Thomas), Bow Wow Wow played shows in California, US and toured the UK during 2011–2012. In December 2012, Gorman began performing under the name "Bow Wow Wow" with Chloe Demetria of the band Vigilant on vocals, and launched a new Bow Wow Wow Facebook page. All of which was done without Lwin's consent. Lwin has continued to perform billed as "Annabella Lwin of the original Bow Wow Wow". Bow Wow Wow songs "Aphrodisiac", "I Want Candy" and " Fools Rush In" (the latter two remixed by

Kevin Shields Kevin Patrick Shields (born 21 May 1963) is an American-born Irish musician, singer-songwriter, composer, and producer, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the band My Bloody Valentine. They became influential on the evolution of alter ...

of My Bloody Valentine) were included on the soundtrack of the 2006 Sofia Coppola film ''

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

''. Lwin was also the inspiration for how Coppola had lead actress Kirsten Dunst portray the title character. The band performed on 2 November 2006 at the Maritime Hotel's Hiro Lounge in New York City to promote the film.

Solo and other ventures

Lwin has recorded original material as a solo artist, and is a featured vocalist on numerous transatlantic dance tracks with producers/DJs, such as Tony B of Groove Radio, Jason Nevins, and the

Utah Saints Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its w ...

. Lwin's songwriting also brought her into partnerships with producers such as Guy Chambers and Michael Lattanzi. Simply calling herself "Annabella", she remained with RCA Records. Her first solo release was the 1985 single "Don't Dance With Strangers", produced by the System. She followed that up with the album ''Fever'' in 1986. The title track, a cover of the

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

classic, was produced by and recorded with multi-instrumentalist Jim Lea of Slade. Another single from the album, "War Boys", produced by

John Robie John Robie is a musician, producer and songwriter who has produced and/or written for a wildly diverse array of artists such as Chaka Khan, New Order, UB40, Cabaret Voltaire, Soulsonic Force, Boy George, C Bank, Planet Patrol, Quadrant 6, ...

, spent six weeks on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Hot Dance Music/Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart, peaking at No. 28. "Don't Dance With Strangers" and "Fever" were included on ''The Best of Bow Wow Wow'', released on 29 October 1996 by BMI. She formed a new band, Naked Experience, and collaborated across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

with seasoned musicians and songwriters such as

Billy Steinberg William Endfield Steinberg (born February 26, 1950) is an American songwriter. He achieved his greatest success in the 1980s with songwriting partner Tom Kelly; together they wrote or co-wrote the No. 1 hits " Like a Virgin" by Madonna (1984), ...

and

Ellen Shipley Ellen Shipley (born March 24, 1949 in New York City, New York, United States) is an American musician and songwriter. Career At sixteen years old, Shipley got a NYC Cabaret license. She performed a duo act in Greenwich Village in the early 70's ...

. In 1994,

Sony Soho Square Sony S2 Records, formerly named as S2 Records and Sony Soho Square (typeset as Sony Soho2), was a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (SME), which operated as a record label in the 1990s and early 2000s. Sony Soho Square was named after its ...

released two singles, "Car Sex" and "Do What You Do", for which, she was billed as "Annabella Lwin". "Car Sex" made the Top 10 in the UK Dance Chart, while the re-mixed dance follow-up "Do What You Do" (1995), produced by Steve Lironi, spent one week at No.61 in the

. In 1999, Cleopatra released ''Virgin Voices: A Tribute To

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, Volume One''. It contained a cover of " Like a Virgin" credited to "Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow." In 2005, Lwin was a featured vocalist, with

Camp Freddy Camp Freddy was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of established musicians who played rock covers at various shows around the United States from 2002 through 2014. The band consisted of core members Matt Sorum on drums, Dave Navarro a ...

members

Dave Navarro David Michael Navarro (born June 7, 1967) is an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of the rock band Jane's Addiction, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Between 1993 and 1998, Navarro was the guitarist of the Red Hot C ...

and Billy Morrison, during a fund raising concert for victims of the

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

caused by the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern ...

. Lwin co-wrote and co-produced a solo song with record producer Carey Beare, which was donated exclusively to the Hands and Hearts Organization for Tsunami Relief in spring 2006. Amongst a couple of her own shows in 2010, Lwin appeared on stage with Kathy Valentine and

Charlotte Caffey Charlotte Irene Caffey (born October 21, 1953) is an American guitarist, best known for her work in the rock band the Go-Go's in the 1980s, including writing " We Got the Beat". Career Caffey began her musical career playing bass guitar in th ...

(

Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboards, Belind ...

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band th ...

( Smashing Pumpkins), and other prominent artists for a MusiCares Musicians Assistance Program (MAP) Benefit concert called 'Women in Recovery', as well as participating in animal charity related concerts. On 10 July 2012, Lwin released ''Super Boom'' on Secret Records. It was a fourteen-track collection of unreleased demo and studio recordings from 1984 through to 1987. In 2016, she released a new EP, entitled ''Willow Tree'', on which she wrote all four tracks. Later in the year, she contributed a cover of "Cheer Up" to ''One Heart: A Tribute to

Bob Marley & the Wailers Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as The Wailers, and prior to that The Wailing Rudeboys, The Wailing Wailers and The Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley (Rober ...

'', a benefit for teens and young adults with cancer or who are living in difficult circumstances.

Personal life

Lwin is a practising Soka Gakkai International

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

.Annabella Lewin – About
Annabellalwin.com. Retrieved 27 June 2019: "working behind the scenes for global charities like UNICEF and Save the Children Fund, through Buddhist organization SGI" and "Her ongoing Buddhist practice continues to enhance and inform her artistic sensibilities"

Discography

With Bow Wow Wow

*'' Your Cassette Pet'' (1980) *'' See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!'' (1981) *''

'' (1982) *'' Teenage Queen'' (1982) *'' I Want Candy'' (1982) *''Original Recordings'' (1982) *''

'' (1983) *''The Best of Bow Wow Wow'' (Receiver Records Limited) (1989) *'' Girl Bites Dog: Your Compact Disc Pet'' (1993) *''Go Wild, The Best of'' (1993) *''Aphrodisiac... Best of'' (1996) *''The Best of Bow Wow Wow'' (

) (1996) *''Live in Japan'' (1997) *'' Wild in the U.S.A.'' (1998) *''I Want Candy – Anthology'' (2003) *''We Are the '80s'' (2006) *''I Want Candy'' (EP) (2007) *''Love, Peace & Harmony – The Best of Bow Wow Wow'' (2008) *''Mile High Club Live'' (2009) *''

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Session'' (20 October 1980) (2011) *'' Your Box Set Pet (The Complete Recordings 1980–1984)'' (2018)

Solo

*''Fever'' (1986) *''Super Boom!!'' (2012) *''Willow Tree'' (2016)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lwin, Annabella 1966 births Living people Anglo-Burmese people Bow Wow Wow members Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School English women pop singers English new wave musicians Women new wave singers Burmese emigrants to England People from Yangon Musicians from London English Buddhists Members of Sōka Gakkai 20th-century British women singers