Songs of Mass Destruction

Songs of Mass Destruction is the fourth solo studio album by Scottish singer Annie Lennox, released on 1 October 2007 by RCA Records and 19 Recordings. It was her first album of new material since 2003's Bare and to date her most recent of original material.

Singles
The first single, "Dark Road", originally appeared on Lennox's Myspace page on 15 August 2007. It was subsequently released as a single on 24 September 2007 and charted at number 58 on the UK Singles Chart.

The second single, "Sing", was released digitally on 1 December 2007 and it had a physical release as a single on 17 March 2008. "Sing" is a collaboration between Lennox and 23 other prominent female acts and artists and is a charity record aimed to raise money and awareness for the HIV/AIDS organization Treatment Action Campaign. The line-up consists of Madonna (who sings solo on the second verse of the song), Anastacia, Isobel Campbell, Dido, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Fergie, Beth Gibbons, Faith Hill, Angélique Kidjo, Beverley Knight, Gladys Knight, k.d. lang, Sarah McLachlan, Beth Orton, Pink, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Joss Stone, Sugababes, KT Tunstall, and Martha Wainwright.

As Lennox reported herself on her official website, this song is about raising money and awareness for what she considers to be the HIV/AIDS genocide: Several years ago I personally witnessed Nelson Mandela, standing in front of his former prison cell on Robben Island, addressing the world's press. His message was that the pandemic of HIV/AIDS in Africa was in fact, a genocide. Since that time I resolved to do as much as I can to bring attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Critical reception
Songs of Mass Destruction received generally favourable reviews from critics upon its release, holding a Metacritic's average score of 68 out of 100 based on 18 reviews.

Tour
On 13 September 2007, Lennox announced a primarily North American tour for Songs of Mass Destruction called Annie Lennox Sings, which is the third solo tour of her career. Lasting throughout October and November 2007, the tour included 18 stops: London, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boulder, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, New York City (two dates), Philadelphia, and Boston. The venues generally were at medium-size theatres, except in New York City, where one of the dates was a United Nations fundraiser at Wall Street restaurant Cipriani.

Commercial performance
Songs of Mass Destruction debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart with 25,000 copies sold in its first week, and has since been certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It peaked at number nine on the US Billboard 200, selling 78,000 copies its first week. As of October 2010, the album had sold 275,000 copies in the United States and 71,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Songs of Mass Destruction.

Musicians

 * Annie Lennox – all vocals, piano, keyboards
 * Blair Sinta – drums
 * Sean Hurley – bass
 * Joel Shearer – guitar
 * Randy Kerber – piano, keyboards
 * Zac Rae – keyboards
 * Glen Ballard – keyboards
 * Mike Stevens – keyboards, arrangements
 * Eddie Baytos – accordion
 * Nadirah X – rap on "Womankind"
 * Anastacia, Angélique Kidjo, Beth Gibbons, Beth Orton, Beverley Knight, Bonnie Raitt, Celine Dion, Dido, Faith Hill, Fergie, Gladys Knight, Isobel Campbell, Joss Stone, k.d. lang, KT Tunstall, Madonna, Martha Wainwright, Melissa Etheridge, Pink, Sarah McLachlan, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Sugababes – choir on "Sing"
 * The Generics – additional performance on "Sing"

Technical

 * Glen Ballard – production
 * Tom Lord-Alge – mixing at South Beach Studios (Miami Beach, Florida)
 * Femio Hernandez – mix assistance
 * Scott Campbell – recording engineering
 * Mike Stevens – additional production
 * Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City)

Artwork

 * Mike Owen – photography
 * Allan Martin – design