Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway

In this candid autobiography, Cherie Currie—the original lead singer of ‘70s teenage all-girl rock band The Runaways—powerfully recounts her years in the band, her friendship with guitarist Joan Jett, and her struggle with drugs. An intense, behind-the-scenes look at rock music in the gritty, post-glam era, Neon Angel is a must-read for anyone whose heart beats to the rhythm of David Bowie, Suzi Quatro, Nick Gilder, and the Sex Pistols, and for every fan of the movie it inspired: The Runaways, starring Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett. |

Cherie Currie, with her signature Bowie haircut and fishnet stockings, was the groundbreaking lead singer of '70s teenage all-girl rock band the Runaways. At the tender age of fifteen, she joined a group of talented girls—Joan Jett and Lita Ford on guitar, Jackie Fox on bass, and Sandy West on drums—who could play rock like no one else.

Arriving on the Los Angeles music scene in 1975, they catapulted from playing small clubs to selling out major stadiums, headlining shows with opening acts like the Ramones, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, and Blondie. Currie lit up the stage with the provocative teen-rebellion songs "Cherry Bomb," "Queens of Noise," and "Born to Be Bad," riding a wave of hit songs and platinum albums, all while touring around the world.

On the face of it, Currie's is a riveting story of girl empowerment and fame. But it is also an intensely personal account of her struggles with drugs, sexual abuse, and violence. She and her bandmates, runaways all, were thrown into a decadent, high-pressure music scene where on the road, unsupervised for months at a time, they had to grow up fast and experience things that no teenage girls should. Neon Angel exposes the side of the music industry fans never get to see, and chronicles the group's rise to fame and their ultimate demise.

Shocking and inspiring, funny and touching, Neon Angel stunningly re-creates a bygone era of rock and roll, all the while providing an inside look at growing up hard under the relentless glare of the public eye, and chronicling one tough woman's fight to reclaim her life.

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“What truly amazes me is what a fine, honest, introspective author Cherie is, with an incredible tale about an incredible life, and a fascinating personal odyssey.” - Joan Jett

“I don’t think a lot of people know the story of Cherie Currie. It’s an amazing story and she’s an amazing woman and performer. ” - Dakota Fanning on The Tonight Show

“The most striking thing about The Runaways, a new film about the trailblazing bad-girl rock band from the 1970s that spawned Joan Jett, is how authentic it feels… One reason may be that the movie is partly based on Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, a newly revamped autobiography by the group’s lead singer Cherie Currie, whose chillingly quick self-destruction is relived through Dakota Fanning.” - New York Times

“Jett was raw, Currie refined. Jett looked like a biker, Currie like a porcelain doll. Jett was punk before anyone called it punk, while Currie had a sometimes-unaccountable affection for sappy ballads. But as with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, the combination worked.” - San Francisco Chronicle

“Currie is looking forward to giving Neon Angel its second life. The memoir, co-written with Tony O’Neill, was first published in 1989 as a young adult book, while the new version, with a foreword by Jett, adds the sex, drugs and darkness that were missing from the first edition. ‘I had grown up,’ Currie said. ‘I wrote that first book when I was 27, and all of a sudden being in my early 40s, having a teenage son, I wanted to do it again, from a different perspective. It was really, really tough; I had to put myself back in those places again. I couldn’t believe how much I’d locked away, and it all came back out in vivid detail, scary detail. I realized by doing this and writing down all the stories, it was a way to purge myself of everything ... And now the world can know all about (the Runaways), which I’m very excited about.’” - Reuters

“The striking thing about The Runaways, is how authentic it feels… One reason may be that the movie is partly based on Neon Angel, a newly revamped autobiography by the group’s lead singer Cherie Currie, whose chillingly quick self-destruction is relived through Dakota Fanning.” - New York Times

“Currie is looking forward to giving Neon Angel its second life…the new version, with a foreword by [Joan] Jett, adds the sex, drugs and darkness that were missing from the first edition.” - Reuters

“Details the band’s short, messy history and the struggle with addiction that nearly claimed her life.” - Entertainment Weekly

“Raw and riveting.” - LA Weekly

“[NEON ANGEL] reveals how the liberated life of a 16-year-old rock star in Los Angeles included many dark moments.” - Spin

“Unflinchingly honest.” - Boston Globe