Cherie Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American singer, musician and actress. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, an all-female hard rock (of which Joan Jett and Lita Ford were also members) proto-punk band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.
Currie was the teenage lead vocalist for the all-female rock band The Runaways with bandmates Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West and Jackie Fox. Bomp! magazine described her as "the lost daughter of Iggy Pop and Brigitte Bardot."
Currie, not yet 16, joined The Runaways in 1975. The teen rock anthem "Cherry Bomb" was written for her at the audition. Attitudes to her impact at that time differ; one reviewer has written that "the received wisdom that carved out new territory for female musicians is hard to justify - it's doubtful that the predominantly male audience who flocked to see the 16 year old in her undies picked up any feminist subtext".
After three albums with The Runaways, (The Runaways, Queens of Noise, and Live in Japan ), Currie went on to record a solo album in 1978, Beauty's Only Skin Deep, for Polygram Records, and an album with her twin sister Marie, in 1980, as Cherie & Marie Currie , entitled Messin' With The Boys for Capitol Records. She then worked as an actress, starring in movies such as Foxes, Parasite, Wavelength, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Rosebud Beach Hotel, Rich Girl, and others, as well as numerous guest spots on TV series (Matlock and Murder She Wrote, among others).
Currie wrote a memoir of her teen years called Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway. The book revolves around her dysfunctional family, her struggles with drugs and alcohol, sexual abuse and her days with The Runaways. The Runaways movie, a 2010 musical biographical drama film executive produced by Joan Jett, explores the relationship between Currie and Jett. In the film Currie is portrayed by Dakota Fanning.
In 2008, Currie contributed to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's book, Cherry Bomb. Currently, Currie is a wood carving artist who uses a chain saw to create her works. Currie finally independently released her second solo album, Reverie, in 2015.