Annabella Lwin is the lead singer for groundbreaking 80's punk/pop/ska group Bow Wow Wow.

What has been your highpoint being a part of Bow Wow Wow?
Annabella-Well we've had a few of them. But I don't think that's an easy question to answer because we're still doing stuff. We're still doing shows here and there. You never know what's going to happen. How old are you by the way?

31.
Annabella-Well I don't know if you are familiar with the sound of Bow Wow Wow but we were around, we started about twenty five years ago and we had people like Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders, I think was one of the things that stands out in my mind. When I was performing in Japan and everyone had to sit down and their was this one solitary figure who was dancing in the aisle and it turned out to be Chrissie Hynde. And everyone was clapping but they couldn't get up because in Japan they are very strict in certain auditorium's and we were supporting The Pretenders at the time on their tour and it was one of the situation where the man just came out to say "Hey sit down," and she said, "Get the fuck off me I'm Chrissie Hynde." So that was an interesting little thing that happen. A lot of other little things I certainly couldn't get into during an interview.

What are some of your favorite songs to perform during your live show?
Annabella-I like all of them. I think the one's I still have a warmth for are "C-30," which is the song I auditioned on and "Do You Wanna Hold Me?" which is one of the first songs I wrote. For the last album I did with Bow Wow Wow, "When The Going Get Tough, The Tough Get Going," was the name of the album and the lead guitar player who is no longer alive today unfortunately, he and I were put together and wrote on the last album which was great.

What did you do immediately after the group ended in the early 80's?
Annabella-I was already signed to a record label named RCA and the three guys in the band went off to form another band called Chiefs of Relief. I believe they were trying to be instrumental dash kinda-hip-hop kind of a band. But I actually just continued writing. I did a solo album called Fever which I spent working on with the record label and various song writers, people from all sorts of eras. Unfortunately, I was a little bit confused about what I wanted to do at the time because I was in a band and I didn't have any plans for being kicked out of the band so I kind of was left trying to find the best thing to do. I love singing and I love performing and it just seemed a good idea to me at the time to take some time out. When I joined the band I was 14 and it was kind of like a helter-skelter ride. It was very crazy.

You started in the band really young I was reading. How did your parents feel about your joining a band at such a young age? Were they worried about school or anything like that?
Annabella-My mother… I had to leave home you see. I had a situation regarding an album cover I posed nude for. Which was one of our early albums, I don't know if you are familiar with The Last of the Mohicans. It was based on a very famous painting named Picnic In The Grass and it was not easy to live at home after I did that and my mother was very upset with me so I left home and I continued working with the band but it was like a choice I had to make at the time. I had to go off and focus on the music.

Annabella on leaving home

Are you ever surprised that I Want Candy has become this song that is etched in pop culture I mean you hear it in commercials and everything when you were singing this song all those years ago did you think the song would be as huge as it is?
Annabella-No, I didn't actually. When I first heard the song it was the first time I heard myself actually singing which made a nice change because a lot of the early stuff in Bow Wow Wow was all screaming and shouting. I don't know if you're familiar with the punk rock movement, Sex Pistols, I was 9 when I was hearing those songs and I was like "What the hell is this?" No, I didn't know that "Candy" would be received so well. It's a beautiful song and it was so well produced by Kenny Laguna who was the producer for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts "I Love Rock & Roll," so it was kind of on par and when I actually heard it, it was kind of amazing I was like "Who's that singing?"

Are you looking forward to the upcoming tour dates?
Annabella-Yeah Sept/October time. We are playing the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. It's always been a dream of mine to perform there. It's going to be really interesting to see how that goes.

We Love The 80s Bow Wow Wow arrives in stores July 18th!
For more Bow Wow Wow visit http://www.bowwowwow.org/

Bow Wow Wow interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2006
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the founder of Thabiz.com and Imissthe80s.com and writes for the Rap, Teen, and 1980s section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying entertainment jobs, or general comments.
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Bow Wow Wow interview may not be reprinted, copied or distribute without permission. You may link to this interview.Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com July 2006.