It has taken nearly 40 years for a Scotswoman to be inducted into the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But now, Aberdeen’s Annie Lennox – and her Eurythmics colleague, Dave Stewart – have gained entry to a very select club which boasts many of the greatest names in pop and rock music from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen.
The duo, who joined forces in the late 1970s, eventually became one of the world’s best-selling groups and recorded a string of best-selling songs, including Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Would I Lie to You, Here Comes the Rain Again and Who’s That Girl.
They suffered disappointment with the release of their first album In the Garden in 1981 and it seemed their story might be over before it had properly started when Annie returned to the Granite City suffering from depression.
However, the pair began working together again and a memorable chart appearance on Top of the Pops when they performed Sweet Dreams in 1983 was the catalyst for them to crash into the charts on a regular basis.
The versatile singer-songwriter has also enjoyed major solo success winning eight Brit Awards, including Best British Female Artist a record six times.
And she has secured a Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Song for Into the West, which featured in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Yet there was little sign of the international stardom which beckoned while she was growing up in Aberdeen in the 1960s; a period when she seemed destined for a classical career rather than having ambitions to rock the world.
Annie, born on Christmas Day in Aberdeen in 1954, excelled at music, poetry and art, and entertained aspirations of becoming a professional flautist, while she was growing up as part of a working-class family in the north east.
Turning up on Top of the Pops and The Tube was the last thing on her mind.
Instead, the pupil at Aberdeen High School for Girls (which later became Harlaw Academy), sang in the choir, performed in symphony ensembles and attended dance classes which were run by teacher Marguerite Feltges.
The name stuck and is now immortal
One of the disciplines which she taught her students was a Greek dance called Eurhythmics – and so it was that, a decade later, and minus a superfluous ‘h’, Annie made one of the pivotal decisions of her life.
She went to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music, met Dave while she was working in a health food store and the pair were soon soulmates, in and out of the studio, after they joined the hit group The Tourists.
As the lead vocalist, with a striking appearance and insouciant swagger – although, behind the scenes, she was painfully shy – Annie was usually the prime focus of attention and it often rested uneasily on her shoulders.
But although Eurythmics eventually flourished – and produced some of the most memorable and enduring music of the 80s – Annie spoke later about the fears which drove her back to her roots in the winter of 1981.
As she told The Face: “I spent a great deal of time crying. It was unbearable. I felt so claustrophobic and experienced such terror that I hit rock bottom.
“It was like having a scar – you never believe that you’ll recover or function again properly. My self-esteem dropped to an all-time low and I was suffering from agoraphobia. It was horrible to deal with.
“I couldn’t go outside the door. Whenever I did, I started having panic attacks, I would get palpitations and come out in cold sweats.
“After Dave and I parted, I tried to form new friendships, but all I did was frighten people. In the end, you realise you are devastatingly alone in the world. And no matter how much you want to get out of that sort of thing, it’s very hard to crack.”
Fortunately, she and Dave were reunited and determined to prove they could shrug off the largely negative response to their debut album.
And they did so with an almighty vengeance and some serious slabs of classic rock.
Artistic serendipity happened in the most improbable place: the Crouch End branch of Barclays Bank, where Dave met the manager, Geoff Williams.
Dressed in a sharp suit and carrying a briefcase, he made his pitch with a take-no-prisoners conviction. “I told him that Annie and I were going to do something absolutely amazing and the bank should invest in us.
“I made the point that we could buy all the equipment we needed for £7,000 and then make all the albums that we wanted.”
Within the next few moments, Mr Williams had agreed to the proposal and jotted down a note that his customer was “a determined young man with a good head for business”. And everything changed from that point.
Annie and Dave never looked back in the following decade and sold millions of Eurythmics records as the prelude to her subsequently forging a stellar solo career – and duetting with the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin on the timeless Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves, which has become a #MeToo anthem.
It’s a world removed from those dank, depressing days in Aberdeen when she truly wondered if she was out of step with her generation.
And now, at the age of 67, this redoubtable granite-hewn character has boldly gone where none of her compatriots have ever gone before.
Other Scots in the Hall of Fame
You could pretty much fit all the Scottish inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame into a phone box – albeit one which would make a joyful noise.
Originally launched in 1983, the selection process has often courted controversy, which continued this year with Dolly Parton saying she was flattered to be nominated, but wished to withdraw – only for her to be confirmed as one of seven new inductees this week, alongside Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Eminem, Pat Benatar, Eurythmics and Carly Simon.
Some of these names have raised a few eyebrows and it’s a list which pales in comparison to those inducted in 1994, including honorary Scot, Rod Stewart, Elton John, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Al Green and Janis Joplin.
In 2002, Kirriemuir-born Bon Scott, the mesmerising lead singer with heavy rockers AC/DC, was granted posthumous entry 22 years after his death.
And finally, there’s Glasgow singer-songwriter Donovan, who hit the charts in 1965 with three UK hit singles, Catch the Wind, Colours and Universal Soldier, and was a more recent inductee in 2012.
So where are the Sensational Alex Harvey Band? Nazareth? Deacon Blue? Simple Minds? And who would you like to see included in the future?
