Miki Berenyi

Miki Eleonora Berenyi (born 18 March 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known as a member of the alternative rock band Lush and currently a member of Piroshka.

Biography


Berenyi was born in Chelsea, London to a Japanese mother, actress Yasuko Nagazumi, and Hungarian father, Ivan Berenyi. She is also a second cousin of the Japanese singer-songwriter Cornelius. Her parents divorced when she was young and Berenyi began to divide her time between her mother and father's separate houses. Berenyi mentions in her autobiography that at her father's house, she was subjected to sexual abuse from both family friends and her paternal grandmother.

At age 14, Berenyi met friend and future bandmate Emma Anderson while both were students at private school Queen's College. They became interested in music and together published a music fanzine, 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, where she met drummer Chris Acland 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, Japan, Australia and other countries. She and Acland also collaborated with members of Cocteau Twins and Moose, releasing one song in 1991 under the name Lillies.

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' album Seven More Minutes (1999). She also contributed vocals to a remix of a Flat 7 track by Robin Guthrie (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 drummer Justin Welch 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, a quartet including Berenyi, Justin Welch (Elastica), Michael Conroy (Modern English) and former Moose member K.J. "Moose" McKillop. Their debut album, Brickbat, was released by Bella Union on 15 February 2019. A second album, Love Drips and Gathers, followed on July 23, 2021.

Berenyi and partner McKillop have two children.

On September 29, 2022, Berenyi's memoir Fingers Crossed, which included her account of Lush's story, was published by Nine Eight Books. Berenyi promoted the book with live author talks as well as a set of performances in 2023 under the name Miki Berenyi Trio opening for Gang of Four.

On May 8, 2024, the Miki Berenyi Trio released their debut single 'Vertigo' digitally via Bella Union. The ‘Vertigo’ single release was supported with an 8-date tour of America in May/June, including an appearance at the Schellraiser Festival in Nevada and headline shows at Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre and New York’s Webster Hall, where the Miki Berenyi Trio (MB3) was joined by Lol Tolhurst (The Cure) and Budgie (Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Creatures, The Slits) as special guests. The two drummers also joined MB3 on stage in New York for a live performance of Lush’s ‘Baby Talk’.

An 11-date tour of the UK has been announced and runs from August to October 2024.

Influences
In 2020, Berenyi cited The Shangri-Las as an influence for their harmonies and lyrics. She has also cited ABBA and The Smiths as influences.