Founding Eurythmics frontwoman Annie Lennox recently published her first official book, Annie Lennox: Retrospective. Described as a “visual memoir,” the book presents a chronological journey through Lennon’s life and long music career.
Retrospective features more than 200 images, including Polaroids from her personal archives, famous photographs, stills from music videos, album covers, and more.
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To promote Retrospective, Lennox was interviewed by CBS Mornings’ Anthony Mason. During the conversation, she discussed what she considered one of the most thrilling experiences she’d ever had performing onstage. The performance in question was the duet she did with David Bowie at the all-star tribute concert for late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, which took place in April 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Lennox and Bowie delivered an intense and theatrical rendition of David’s classic 1981 collaboration with Queen, “Under Pressure.” The two singers were backed by Queen’s surviving members—guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor, and bassist John Deacon.
For the performance, Lennox wore a striking dress that featured a metallic silver top and a flowing black skirt. She also donned black makeup applied to look like a mask across her eyes.
During part of the performance, Lennox sang with her face up against Bowie’s as she wrapped one arm around his neck.
Reflecting in the performance, Annie told Mason, “I still honestly, genuinely can’t believe that we did this.”
About the Makeup and Outfit Lennox Wore for Her Duet with Bowie
Lennon then told the story about how she wound up putting together her look for the concert.
“We had one rehearsal,” she recalled. “And [David] said to me, ‘What are you wearing?’ after we had done the rehearsal. Just as I’m leaving, he said, ‘Oh, by the way, what are you wearing?’”
Lennox admitted to Bowie she hadn’t thought about what to wear, and asked him what he thought. Bowie suggested that wear a dress, and that she have British fashion designer Antony Price to make it for her.
Annie was hesitant because Price was expensive, and she’d “never done anything like that,” but she went ahead and had the designer create the dress.
“I had the idea as to what it was I wanted,” Annie shared. “So I told Antony, ‘I want it to look like this, and I want an enormous skirt. I want it to be, like, so spreading out.’ And he made this phenomenal outfit for me. I wanted [the top part] to look like a kind of armor, you know, like the silver … It looks like metal.”
As for the eye makeup, Lennox said the idea came to her while she was getting ready for the performance.
“As I’m sitting backstage in the dressing room, I did my own makeup there,” she recalled. “And I just decided, ‘Oops, I think I know what’s gonna finish this off.’ So I did this kind of Blade Runner-ish band or this [look that resembled] the Lone Ranger, whatever way you want to interpret it.”
Annie added, “And when I came on stage … [Bowie] kind of did a double take. Oh, it was just fantastic, honestly.”
More About the Performance with Bowie
Lennox also talked about a particularly exciting aspect of her performance with Bowie, which she explained was her decision to interact with him so closely onstage.
“Daring to put my hand around his neck, and bring him in [was a thrill,]” she noted. “We didn’t plan that. And the great thing was, I’m kind of looking at him out the side of my eye, and he just stood there. … He knew exactly what to do, ’cause he was so consummate. He just let me kind of slither around. And it was thrilling.”
Lennox added that her performance with Bowie was “totally” spontaneous.
“I do a lot of things in a very spontaneous way,” she then admitted with a laugh. “I’m so glad it worked. I mean, can you imagine if it hadn’t? A lot of egg on my face!”
Annie Lennox: Retrospective is available now. You can find out more details about the book at RizzoliUSA.com.
(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)