Born on October 31st: Annabella Lwin, eternal teenage singer of Bow Wow Wow

Born Muant Muant Aye in 1966 in Rangoon, the singer of Burmese origin had no apparent destiny for her to become the young icon of tribal rock.

Just listen to the syncopated rhythm and drum rolls of "Dirk Wears White Sox" from 1979, one of Adam & The Ants' first tracks, to realise that the band truly invented tribal punk rock, a style Bow Wow Wow would later adopt, emphasising the drum rolls (subtly reminiscent of those from Burundi) even more clearly.

Malcolm McLaren, partner of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood in London (during her time running her "Sex" boutique on King's Road) and the eccentric manager of the Sex Pistols, immediately sensed a golden opportunity. Not content with poaching the musicians from Adam Ant, he also discovered Annabella, a singer barely fifteen years old who didn't hesitate to show off her shapely legs. Hardly deterred by the Sex Pistols saga, which they had initially signed, the British record label EMI allowed itself to be convinced by McLaren that his new protégés would be the new idols of youth. The story would ultimately be nothing more than a three-year fireworks display spiced up by a few marketing gimmicks dear to McLaren.

From the outset, their first release, "Your Cassette Pet," in 1980, was only available on cassette, a format now largely forgotten. A few months later, the cover of their first album, classically inspired by Édouard Manet's "Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe" (1862), caused a scandal because Annabella, still far from being of legal age, appeared nude. With "See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!", the album boasted one of the longest titles in history. A year later, now alone on the cover of "I Want Candy" (1982), Annabella still reigns completely naked. Despite its seemingly provocative image, reminiscent of a creation by the perverse McLaren, Bow Wow Wow nevertheless produced a string of gems that have weathered the decades remarkably well, especially "I Want Candy." This came in the form of their third album, "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Gets Going," released in 1983, within a band riddled with internal strife.

Since then, the singer, now based on the West Coast of the United States, and bassist Leigh Gorman, in his native England, have been vying for the legacy of this unlikely shooting star of the 80s.

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Annabella Lwin with Bow Wow Wow on stage at the Futurama festival at Bingley Hall in Stafford, England, on September 6, 1981