Two Forgotten Friday Favorites: Lene Lovich

Decades before Lady Gaga donned crazy ass outfits on stage, Lene Lovich was making a name for herself with equally outrageous clothing, makeup, and her own unique style of singing. Born as Lili-Marlene Premilovich in Detroit in 1950, Lene Lovich would go on to have a career at the forefront of the new wave music scene in London by the mid-70s. After her family moved to England in the late 60s, Lovich held many interesting jobs: she was a go-go dancer, saxophone player, did voiceover work as a screamer for horror movies, and performed as an extra in Arthur Brown's concerts. 

Eventually she settled into music, and one of her first notable recordings was a cover version of Tommy James' "I Think We're Alone Now." However, she is probably best known for her 1978 "Lucky Number" (if you don't know what song I'm talking about, click on the video link below and you'll surely recognize it.) Legend has it that when John Lennon heard "Lucky Number" in a disco, he proclaimed that Yoko Ono's time (as a musician) "had come." 

Needless to say, she is one unique chick! Here's Lene making crazy eyes as she performs "Lucky Number" followed by her cover of "I Think We're Alone Now." Have a great weekend, everybody!


7 comments:

  1. Just watched the Lucky Number video all of the way through and she truly looks like she's on acid...LMAO. Love the song, though.

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  2. I seriously do not remember this chick. I think I'm glad I don't. She's scary!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! Appreciate the visit and the comment. Happy weekend!

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  3. I love Lene. A true original. I think Lucky Number is so effervescent and truly captures the fun of the music in the 80s.

    Great choice for a Forgetten Friday Favorite!

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  4. I just found your wonderful blog, and am an instant fan. I love all the Retro blogs, but so many are oriented toward the sixties or seventies, with only occasional '80s references.

    Although I love the '60s and '70s, I'm an '80s teen, and love how much of it is found in your blog! Keep it up!!

    And I agree with Amanda By Night: although the song is 1979, Lovich does represent the quirky effervescence of the New Wave that dominated the '80s.

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  5. @Marlene - LOL! She's definitely an original for sure.

    @Amanda - I like this song, too, and I think it's definitely a forgotten favorite (BTW, yes you did inspire me to bring back this regular feature.)

    @Anonymous - thank you and welcome! You will see lots of 60s and 70s topics on Go Retro but one thing I really want to do soon is an 80s month. I think your comments are the push I need to see that through.

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  6. You can see where Amy Winehouse got her influence from,or more like who she ripped off!I've never heard of her which shames me since I consider myself something of a music buff of that era.

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  7. She also had a minor hit called ''New Toy'' which was written by Thomas Dolby. Most folks know Mr. Dolby as the author of ''She blinded Me With Science'' but he is also the founder of a company called Beatnik which is responsible for the technology that drives ringtones in cell phones around the world.

    They toured together around 1981, the longform Dolby Video ''live wireless'' was an early MTV staple and she provided backing vocals in that concert.

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