Miki Eleonora Berenyi (born 18 March 1967) is an English singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

best known as a member of the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band Lush and currently a member of Piroshka.

Biography

Berenyi was born in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

to a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

mother, actress

Yasuko Nagazumi is a Japanese producer and manager responsible for print advertising campaigns on behalf of clients such as Armani, Donna Karan, Guess?, Pirelli and ''Vogue'' magazine, working with photographers such as Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, Helmut Newt ...

, and Hungarian father, Ivan Berenyi. She is also a second cousin of the Japanese singer-songwriter Cornelius. At the age of 14, Berenyi met friend and future bandmate

Emma Anderson Emma Anderson (born 10 June 1967) is an English musician. She is best known for being a songwriter, guitarist and singer in the shoegazing/Britpop band Lush. Musical career Born in Wimbledon, London, the adopted daughter of a former army offi ...

while both were students at Queen's College. They became interested in music and together published a

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

, ''Alphabet Soup'' (which lasted for five issues). Berenyi first played bass with the band the Bugs. In 1987, Berenyi studied English literature at

North London Polytechnic The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

, where she met drummer

Chris Acland Christopher John Dyke Acland (7 September 1966 – 17 October 1996) was an English drummer and songwriter. He was the drummer of the London-based alternative rock band Lush. Early life Acland was born at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary in Lanc ...

and singer Meriel Barham. Along with Anderson, they decided to form their own band, originally called the Baby Machines. Bassist Steve Rippon joined and they changed their name to Lush. When Barham left, "the remaining members of Lush placed ads in local papers looking for Barham's replacement, but they couldn't find the singer they wanted and Berenyi took over the vocals". From 1987 until 1996, she played with Lush, releasing several albums, singles and music videos and toured extensively through the UK,

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and other countries. She and Acland also collaborated with members of

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrum ...

and

Moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

, releasing one song in 1991 under the name Lillies.Miki Berenyi of Lush in the ''Von Pip Musical Express'
Interview
contains
link
to the title Lush officially announced their breakup in February 1998, following Acland's death by suicide in October 1996. After Lush split, Berenyi appeared on

The Rentals The Rentals are an American rock band fronted by vocalist Matt Sharp. Sharp has been the only consistent member since the group's inception. The band's best selling single is "Friends of P" (1995). The Rentals released two albums, ''Return of t ...

' album '' Seven More Minutes'' (1999). She also contributed vocals to a remix of a Flat 7 track by

Robin Guthrie Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer, record producer and audio engineer, best known as the co-founder of the alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has performed ...

(who also produced Lush's early work) and appeared on Seinking Ships' debut album, ''Museum Quality Capture'', released in 2010. When asked if she missed anything about her time in Lush, Berenyi stated, "I miss the excitement and energy of playing live and the camaraderie of touring—being with the band and crew in a foreign country is like going on holiday with your mates but even more fun because it’s free." She also said, "I enjoyed being in the band immensely, I’m glad I did it". Berenyi later worked for a magazine as a sub-editor and did not perform for many years. She explained: "I was never a proper guitarist—only in the context of Lush. I played the guitar to write songs on and to play live". Lush, including Berenyi, announced a reunion on 28 September 2015, with former

Elastica Elastica were an English rock band formed in London in 1992 by ex-Suede members Justine Frischmann and Justin Welch. The band was stylistically influenced by punk rock, post-punk and new wave music. The band's members changed several times, w ...

drummer

Justin Welch Justin Steven Welch (born 4 December 1972) is an English musician, best known as the drummer in Elastica, Suede, and later the drummer in Lush. Biography Welch moved to London in his late teens and studied at London's Drumtech drum school. H ...

taking over for Acland. They toured extensively throughout 2016 and released an EP of new material; "Blind Spot" in April of that year. Bassist Phil King left the band in October 2016 and as a consequence Lush played their final farewell gig, with Michael Conroy of Modern English on bass at Manchester Academy on 25 November 2016. In September 2018, Berenyi announced that she had formed a new band, Piroshka, with Welch, Conroy and former

member K.J. "Moose" McKillop. Berenyi and partner McKillop have two children. Their debut album, ''Brickbat'', was released by

Bella Union Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde. History After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twi ...

on 15 February 2019. In April 2022, Berenyi announced the release of her memoir ''Fingers Crossed'', due out in September. Berenyi is set to do a series of live Q&As to coincide with the release of the book from October 2022, including at

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

London, at

Lincoln Drill Hall The Drill, previously known as Lincoln Drill Hall, is a former drill hall in Lincoln, England, which is now used as a multi-purpose community hub, hosting live music, comedy shows, pantomimes and live wrestling performances. It is currently under ...

in conversation with

Guy Mankowski Guy Mankowski (born 6 January 1983) is an English writer. He is the great grandson of the author and broadcaster Harry Mortimer Batten. He was educated at St John's College, Portsmouth and Ampleforth College. He read Applied Psychology at Dur ...

,and at IINSIDE, Manchester in conversation with

John Robb (musician) John David Robb (born 4 May 1961Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, , p. 272-3) is an English music journalist and singer. Robb writes for and runs the ''Louder Than War'' website and a monthly m ...

Louder Than War ''Louder Than War'' is a music and culture website and magazine focusing on mainly alternative arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication that was started by journalist John Robb in 2010 and is now ru ...

Influences

In 2020, Berenyi cited

The Shangri-Las The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 several hit songs of theirs documented teen tragedies and melodramas. They continue to be known for their hits "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", "Give Him a Gre ...

as an influence for their harmonies and lyrics. She also has cited

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

and

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

as influences as well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berenyi, Miki 1967 births Living people Singers from London People educated at Queen's College, London Alumni of the University of North London Women rock singers English rock guitarists English women guitarists English people of Hungarian descent English people of Japanese descent English rock singers Shoegaze musicians 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers Lush (band) members