CHERIE CURRIE: Why THE RUNAWAYS Will Probably Never Reunite
December 7, 2016Cherie Currie says a full reunion of iconic seventies rockers THE RUNAWAYS will now probably never happen.
Speaking on the "White Line Fever" podcast, Currie outlined in great detail her relationships with fellow former bandmates Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Jackie Fox and Sandy West and the previous attempts to get the band back together.
"It's funny. A little over 20 years ago, Lita had reached out to us to convince us, me and Joan, to do a RUNAWAYS reunion," Currie, now 57, says.
"And we did, with Kenny Laguna [Jett's manager, co-producer and co-songwriter for the past 35 years] basically at the helm, he secured a tour and Lita, she just basically doesn't get along with Kenny and she just walked away from that. Now she's come back and she … I've always wanted a reunion. I've worked with every single one of the girls since the band dissolved. I've worked with Jackie, Sandy, Lita and Joan … separately, but I've performed with all of them.
"I really did see a RUNAWAYS reunion happening but now I don't believe it will because Lita and Joan just can't seem to figure that out. So I'm now saying that's not going to happen, unfortunately.
"I always thought that we had to have a reunion. It was very, very disappointing for me over a number of years. For 20 years, actually, when we had it in the bag and Lita walked … that was very difficult.
"Five years ago would have been the perfect time, when the movie came out, but I can't control how other people feel. It was very important for me to say 'you know what? This isn't going to happen' and that's really what I've done."
Currie gave her account of why Fox and Ford were not involved in the 2010 film about the fabled all-girl rock band.
"Jackie, unfortunately, when we reached out to her to participate in the film… went to (producers) John and Art Linson and was demanding huge amounts of money," she says.
"And also, she was demanding to be a producer. They tried to reason with her but she was holding fast.
"John and Art LInson, of course, they made films like 'Fight Club' and 'Into The Wild' and countless great movies and they were having none of it.
"They just threw her out of the film entirely, wouldn't even use her name, no matter how much me and Joan tried to change their minds.
"Lita, she was married at the time and her husband at the time told her not to read the contracts so she was basically out of the film.
"That was too bad because it would have been a completely different movie. There was nothing Joan and I could do about that."
Currie's first solo album in 35 years, "Reverie", was released last year. The follow-up to an unreleased album produced by former GUNS N' ROSES/VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum includes four songs co-produced by THE RUNAWAYS' controversial late svengali Kim Fowley (who spent the last nine days of his life living in Currie's house in 2015) and covers of two RUNAWAYS songs — "Is It Day or Night" and "American Nights" — featuring vocals by Ford.
In a 2015 interview with the WHMH (Rockin' 101) radio station, Lita stated about the prospect of a RUNAWAYS reunion: "Joan doesn't want anything to do with it, which… I think she's wrong. 'Cause now is the perfect time, and we would all love to see it now. There was a time when they called me and asked me for a RUNAWAYS reunion, but it was early '90s — NIRVANA was just kicking in, and it was really bad timing; it wouldn't have worked. People would have just turned their nose up at it. But now, to do it now, I think now is the perfect time. And I'm all for it, Cherie was all for it. We never spoke to Jackie about it, because we couldn't get Joan's approval. Had we gotten Joan's approval, we would have spoke to Jackie. But we couldn't get a 'yes' or a 'no' out of Joan."
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