Laurie Anderson

Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s. Throughout the 1970s, Anderson did a variety of different performance-art activities. She became widely known outside the art world in 1981 when her single "O Superman" reached number two on the UK pop charts. She also starred in and directed the 1986 concert film Home of the Brave. Anderson is a pioneer in electronic music and has invented several devices that she has used in her recordings and performance art shows. In 1977, she created a tape-bow violin that uses recorded magnetic tape on the bow instead of horsehair and a magnetic tape head in the bridge. In the late 1990s, she developed a talking stick, a six-foot-long baton-like MIDI controller that can access and replicate sounds. Anderson started dating Lou Reed in 1992, and was married to him from 2008 until his death on October 27, 2013.

Links To Peel
Peel got credited in leading the success of O Superman in 1981 when he played the unedited version of the track on his late night show before any other DJ in the UK. The record recieved so much acclaim from listeners that London's Capital Radio decided to play the record on their daytime schedule. The single ultimately reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1981. At the end of the year the track reached number 34 in the 1981 All Time Festive Fifty and the following year at number 49. Follow up singles failed majority to reach the impact of the charts and Peel's playlists, however a Henry Cullen remixed version of O Superman in 2004 got played regularly on Peel's show and the track after his death reached number 28 in the 2004 Festive Fifty. Anderson praised Peel in the 2005 Channel 4 documentary, John Peel's Record Box, acknowledging how he helped drive her success of the record after discovering the single was found in Peel's Record Box.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1981 Festive Fifty: O Superman #34
 * 1982 Festive Fifty: O Superman #49
 * 2004 Festive Fifty: O Superman (Henry Cullen Remix) #28

Other Shows Played
1981 1982 2003 2004
 * 01 September 1981: O Superman (7") One Ten
 * 24 December 1981: 'O Superman (7 inch)' (One Ten Records) FF#34
 * 15 April 1982: Example #22 (b/w 12" - Big Science) Warner Bros
 * 15 December 1982: 'O Superman (LP-Big Science)' (Warner Bros) FF #49
 * 09 October 2003: 'O Superman' (7") (One Ten)
 * 28 October 2004:  'O Superman (LP-Big Science)' Warner Brothers
 * 29 December 2004 (Rob Da Bank): 'O Superman-Henry Cullen Remix (12")' (X Booty) FF #28