Annabella Lwin

“The Original Lead Singer of Bow Wow Wow”

The vivacious, effervescent and beautiful lead singer of the 80’s sensational punk pop band “Bow Wow Wow”, Annabella Lwin will be embarking on a major UK tour, beginning with “The Rewind Festival”, in Scotland on July 24th.

Every young man’s heartthrob in the 80’s, Annabella began her career at age 13, and although sometimes surrounded by controversy, she has emerged victoriously, and continues to write her own songs, sing and entertain her fans. Best known for the song, ” I Want Candy”, she has also appeared and wrote songs for movies including, “Desperate But Not Serious”, “Scandalous”,  and “Entertainment”.

Recently the talented the radiant singer has released a new EP entitled, “Willow Tree” She has also been invited to do a tribute song for Bob Marley for the “Specialized Project”, a cause created to beat teenage cancer.

Annabella is probably one of the most enlightened, interesting, and fun filled ladies that I have spoken with thus far. Very spiritual and sparkling, we shared views on  nearly every topic under the sun. Way ahead of her time in the 80’s, I found her to be candid, strong and empowered….

You started in the music industry when you were just a little girl. I mean you should have still been playing with dolls….what was that like for you?
When I first auditioned I was 13 and a half. I was still working at the dry cleaners, a job my mother had gotten me, actually, God Bless her. I have to say, it was after I was in the band for a hot minute, and then they decided to kick me out, that was a few times…point being, I was auditioned at 13 and a half, and people say, “It must have been what you were planning on doing”. I say, ” absolutely not”. Actually I wanted to be an air stewardess. Really that was my plan. I wanted to be this gracious lady in an airplane serving people, believe it or not, and traveling all over the world, and being able to enjoy that. As it turned out, it happened anyway, obviously through singing.

Through another means…
It’s weird isn’t it? The universe does answer our question,  they just do it in different ways then you’ve planned. We have to trust the universe more, that’s why I chant. I want to be on the right path, as opposed to the wrong one. I can’t waste precious time doing things for the sake of just doing them. I need to do things that make a difference. But yes, I’ve seen a lot through the years, especially in the industry. I think I know now, what I should have known then. It’s taken a long time. It takes a young girl, without any experience what so ever, a while. It’s like most of us …when you get to a new school, or a new job, we’d have to find our feet as they say.

Your latest EP, “Willow Tree”, looks to be very earthy and spiritual. Is it out yet?
I released it in February. When you say, “your EP”, it is my EP….because I did write all the songs, as well as the singing on it. I started writing at the age of 17. I started writing on “When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Gets Going” album. I became a writer because of Mathew Ashman, he was the original guitar player in my band. He unfortunately passed away in 1995. He was the person that got me on that craft. He said to me,  ” Haven’t you got something to say”? I said, ” Yeah”…and that’s how we started doing, “When the Going Gets Tough, The a tough Gets Going” album. We sat down and wrote that in his living room. I’m really very, very proud of that because it was my first experience of writing, and I’ve been doing it ever since. Getting back to my recent EP, it’s one of many, but it seems apt because I have a song on it called “Spirits of the Earth”, it’s about the Earth. The rest is about, what I come from, what I do, who I am. I love “Garden of Pleasure”, it’s a very up beat song. I perform that song live now with my band.

It’s different when you do things at the studio. That’s the beauty of doing things at the studio, which I hear is getting a little out of control with all the twiddling of the knobs, and the twerking of the singers that can’t sing in tune, when they really should be doing that already. When I sing in the studio, I like to try and have a live vibe, a live feel, so that the people  feel what I’m singing. The whole thing about studio, is you put something down for now, and then you go out live and perform it for the “next now”, as I call it. You just perform it and add stuff to it. It’s all about “keeping it live”.

But you can really sing…
Thank you, but I don’t know if I can sing…I’ve never thought of myself as a great singer. I’m an ok singer. When you say “singer”, to me when they call singers “pop” singers, I don’t know if that’s a compliment. Really pop is what’s popular at the moment. Singers to me are people like Lena Horne, all the 60’s singers, all the Motown singers. I love all kind of singers, I’ve come to know its a real craft and art in singing. The idea is really to carve your own   Niche, which is what I was told by Malcolm, right at the start, which I never appreciated back then. I was singing a song called “I Will Survive”, by Gloria Gaynor. That was the song I was singing when he came to hear me at my mother’s home. He said,”do you know anybody a bit younger that you can sing along to”? He slammed The Ronettes down. He introduced me to The Ronettes. But I completely get it now, it took me a long time.