The tumultuous beginning of Cherie Currie’s career is chronicled in the movie The Runaways, based on a 1970’s all-girl teenage band from Los Angeles by the same name. The Runaways opens on March 19th in limited release.
The band The Runaways was formed by Joan Jett and Sandy West in 1975 and gained notoriety in the Los Angeles club circuit with songs such as the rock anthem Cherry Bomb. Cherie Currie had a short tenure with the band from 1975 to 1977 as the lead singer.
Currie was only fifteen when she joined the band and was taken in by all of the excesses a rock and roll life had to offer. The success of the band was meteoric and they were soon playing with major headliners of the day (Cheap Trick, Van Halen and Tom Petty among others).
By 1977, The Runaways had arrived in Japan to a reception akin to Beatlemania, but Currie was burned out. Much to her credit, she realized that for her own good she needed to leave the band. Bandmate Joan Jett was dismayed by her decision to leave, but agreed that it was in her best interest. Joan Jett, on the other hand, knew that rock and roll was her life and was to go on to greater fame with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
The movie The Runaways was written and directed by Floria Sigismondi and is based on the book Neon Angel written by Cherie Currie. The Runaways is being distributed by Apparition.
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