Marie Michelle Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and artist. Currie is best known for playing in a band with her twin Cherie Currie, called Cherie & Marie Currie. Their song "Since You Been Gone" charted at number 95 on the US charts. Marie played Singing Maid Marie in The Rosebud Beach Hotel and is now a multi-media sculptor and artist.

Early life

Currie was born to Don Currie and actress Marie Harmon.^[1] She was raised in Encino with three siblings. Her brother is Don Currie Jr. She has an elder sister, actress Sondra Currie, and a twin sister, Cherie Currie. Marie was the first twin born.^[2]

Currie and her twin sister were given a role on an episode of My Three Sons at the age of two. They were due to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" with Fred MacMurray, but froze during filming, and their part was cut from the show.^[3] Before Currie and her sister rose to fame, they appeared on American Bandstand as background dancers.^[4]

Career

While her sister Cherie was in the Runaways, Currie worked at a fast food restaurant. She started the Marie Currie Band,^[5] but they never released a record. They were featured in magazine articles across the U.S. and Japan. She started her career as a singer by singing a duet with Cherie called "Love at First Sight".^[6] The song appeared on Cherie's debut album Beauty's Only Skin Deep.

In 1979, Cherie and Marie released two singles, "Messin' with the Boys" and "Since You Been Gone". The latter reached number 95 on U.S. charts.^[7] In 1980, Cherie and Marie released their album, Messin' with the Boys,^[8] and the album received more radio play than Beauty's Only Skin Deep. They released another single that year titled "This Time".

Cherie and Marie performed on television shows in the 1980s including Sha Na Na, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Merv Griffin Show^[9] In 1984, they played the singing maids in The Rosebud Beach Hotel. The twins sang, wrote, and produced songs for the film and its soundtrack. That film was Marie's acting debut.^[10] In 1991, they performed at a tribute concert to Paula Pierce, a member of The Pandoras. For the final performance, the remaining Pandoras backed the Curries.^[11]

Currie performed with her sister's band, The Runaways, at a reunion which included Jackie Fox and Sandy West.^[12] In 1997, she worked as a mortgage banker, along with her brother, Don.^[13] She later became a sales and branch development manager for a lending company founded by her brother.

In 1997, Cherie and Marie re-released Messin' with the Boys with seven bonus tracks.^[8] In 1998, they held a concert at the Golden Apple in support of the re-release. Cherie's ex-bandmate West joined Cherie on stage to perform some of the Runaways songs.^[14] In 1998, Cherie and Marie released a compilation called Young and Wild.^[15] In 1999, Rocket City Records released Cherie's album The 80's Collection. The album features guest work done by Marie.^[16][17]

Currie was portrayed by Riley Keough in the film The Runaways, about the band of the same name.^[18]

Later years

On January 30, 2014, her novel The Narrow Road of Light was published.^[19][20][21]

Personal life

Currie married Steve Lukather, lead guitarist and co-vocalist of Toto in November 1981. They met in the studio during the recording of Messin' with the Boys. They had two children together before divorcing. Currie and Lukather appeared on the cover of Steel Notes Magazine (alongside singer Debbie Harry, and model Josi Kat) with a lengthy feature story on her life and work featured in the issue.^[22]

References in pop culture

On the cover of the runaways "Neon Angels on the Roads to Ruin" single Currie's twin is wearing a shirt with Marie's name on it.^[23]

Currie's then husband, Steve Lukather, wrote and dedicated Toto's songs, "I'll Be Over You" and "I Won't Hold You Back" to her.

Harmony Korine has stated that the characters Dot and Helen Darby (played by Chloë Sevigny and Carisa Glucksman) in his 1997 film Gummo "were based off [sic] a combination of Cherie and Marie Currie, home schooling, and The Shaggs."^[24]

In 2018, a photo of Marie Currie appeared in Bad Reputation, a documentary about the career of Cherie's ex-bandmate, Joan Jett. In the documentary, Kim Fowley tells the story of how he would not allow them both to join the Runaways because he did not want a set of identical twins being backed by an all-girl rock band. Therefore, only Cherie joined.^[25]

Discography

Album charts

Filmography

Bibliography

References