I also try to find the best way to best represent an artist’s career as a whole, putting 10 different spotlights on their varied gifts. When I put together a list like this, I look at it more as a 10-way tie for first. And likely the first argument anyone’s going to make is about my omission of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This),” Lennox’s breakthrough 1983 single with Eurythmics. The beautiful and frustrating thing about a list like this is that it’s going to stir up debate. And throughout her solo career, she’s moved in a dozen different artistic directions, guided only by her own curiosity and a need to express her deeply felt emotions. Later working alongside Stewart in Eurythmics, she was able to give off vibes both chilly and toasty in the service of blinking technopop, stomping R&B, cut-and-paste art rock, and pure Europop bliss. But when Lennox came to the attention of the European music scene, it was in 1977, and she was a power-pop/post-punk player in her first band, the Tourists - where she started working with her longtime partner (and now-former flame) Dave Stewart. Most recently, at this year’s Grammy Awards, she blew away Hozier as his duet partner on his own song. And she’s had plenty of occasion to display this over the years, having worked in an admirable number of different musical styles. The 60-year-old Scot singer/songwriter’s career has been marked by this rare and remarkable quality. She doesn’t dare try to replicate the growl of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins for her take on “I Put A Spell On You,” preferring instead to add a subtle tone of frustration and desire around the edges of that familiar alto, and on the Duke Ellington classic “Mood Indigo,” she adds an ironically catty twinge to the lamenting lyrics, inspired by Don Was’s swinging arrangement. Even when she’s singing a song written by someone else, as on her most recent album Nostalgia, a collection of her favorite tunes from the jazz and blues canon, her voice changes almost imperceptibly to capture the raw emotion of each one. This chameleonic quality is precisely why Lennox is considered one of the world’s greatest living singers. Once she is all made-up and costumed in her Diva-wear, she confronts the camera and cycles through even more moods: playful, lustful, fearful, impassioned, passive … It’s a reflection of a song that recounts the wounds of a broken relationship, but it’s also a marvelous showcase for Lennox’s impressive acting range. She is at times amused, crestfallen, furious, and reserved. Hell, all you need to do is watch the clip for her 1992 single, “Why.” The camera spends a long time focused on Lennox’s face as she puts on makeup and examines her visage.
If you’ve watched any of the videos she made as a member of the mega-selling pop duo Eurythmics or for her solo albums, particularly those created with the aid of UK director Sophie Muller, you’ve seen her range.
It’s surprising to learn that the only significant acting credit associated with Annie Lennox is a role in a Robert Altman-directed adaptation of a Harold Pinter play.