In 1993 Diva, the first solo album to be released by Annie Lennox was met with critical acclaim from fans and new listeners alike, and broke the mould of other top charting acts of the time. SO many fans (me included) really did not know what to expect. A BMG rep that was in contact with me kept teasing me with snippets of information, and kept saying, whatever it is you are expecting, it will be different. Different it was, and a real departure from recent Eurythmics music, Annie Lennox’s solo career arrived in a thundering juggernaut. After 2 successful appearances on Top Of The Pops to perform “Why”, there was no reason why the album wasn’t going to do well.
In fact, Diva was included in Q magazine’s list of the “50 Best Albums Of 1992” and Rolling Stone magazine described the album as “…state-of-the-art soul pop…” and it is included in Rolling Stone’s “Essential Recordings of the 90’s” list. Several songs from the album were released as singles over the following year with “Why”, “Walking on Broken Glass” “Cold” and “Little Bird” being the most successful.
The song “Keep Young And Beautiful” was also included on the CD release as a bonus track (the original vinyl album had only ten tracks) and another bonus track, “Step by Step”, appeared on the Mexican and Japanese editions of the album and was also included as the B-Side on the single “Precious”. The song was later recorded by Whitney Houston for the 1996 film soundtrack The Preacher’s Wife and subsequently became a hit single.
The album won Best British Album at the 1993 Brit Awards. That same year, it was also nominated for the Grammy for Album of the Year.
The Rolling Stone commented:-
State-of-the-art soul pop, Annie Lennox’s solo debut is sonically gorgeous; it also declares her aesthetic independence. Ace session men polish Diva’s gloss, and producer Stephen Lipson operates in hyperdrive, but these eleven songs are fiercely those of a sister doing things for herself. Three years after her last outing with Dave Stewart, her cohort in Eurythmics, Lennox voids any notion that he was her Svengali and she merely the MTV beauty with stunning pipes. Writing nearly all of Diva, she manages a whirlwind tour of mainstream R&B and retains her singular persona – an ice queen thirsting to be melted by love.
Annie Lennox also released a video album for Diva, featuring promotional videos for seven of the album’s tracks. The video album was directed by Sophie Muller who had worked with Annie during her years with Eurythmics. Some months after its first release, the Diva video album was reissued as Totally Diva, and featured two additional promotional videos that had been made since the original release (“Walking On Broken Glass” and “Precious”). The only omissions from the video album were “Little Bird” (the video for which had not yet been made at this time), and the album track “Stay By Me”.
Diva has lasted the test of time, many female songwriters and performers all cite Annie Lennox as an inspiration, and today we congratulate Annie Lennox on this the 25th Anniversary Of Diva.
FROM ALL OF US AT THE ULTIMATE EURYTHMICS WEBSITE – CONGRATULATIONS ANNIE!
DIVA 20th Anniversary: A Full Discography Of Singles And Albums From Annie Lennox’s DIVA Album
Today we give you full ccess for the first time to the new look discography, but only for the singles and albums related to DIVA. Basically you are a guinnea pig, and we will be checking that everything is working how it should be. Image uploads are not...
Steve Gayler Draws The 20th Anniversary Celebrations Of Annie Lennox’s Album DIVA To A Close
What DIVA Means To Me by Steve Gayler Eurythmics were part of my life as a young boy, my father introduced me to In The Garden when I was 11 years old, and something about the music struck me as being different about the music from Dave and Annie than the other...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: An Emotional Piece From Mark About How Diva Helped Him In Some Dark Times
The Gift I was 24 years old when Diva was released. Right from the beginning, the music and lyrics connected with me in ways I did not always understand. One song had a special connection but I never quite understood why. The Gift is so fragile and so...
DIVA 20th Anniversary – Ross Larkin Tells Us About How Annie Lennox Avoided Him In Australia
I was fifteen in the Australian fall of 1992. Living in a small country town - dreading school, resisting isolation and feeling lost, to say the least. One source of relief was the quarterly arrival of the DnA fanclub packet. Twenty years ago, it took...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Chris Fayol Presents His Alternative Video For Money Can’t Buy It By Annie Lennox
Chris Fayol from Belgium is a long time Eurythmics fan, and has brought over they ears many rarities to YouTube for fans to share. Chris decided that he wanted his contribution to our 20th Anniversay Celebrations to be this laternative video for Money Can't Buy...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Olga Sokolova From The Czech Republic Talks About Why And Diva
20 years ... like it was yesterday when I first saw the clip Why on television and heard this song, I looked at it with awe, and I thought gosh this is wonderful. after listening to the album I was lost, literally caught me in the heart and hold still. What...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Myler Edson Moss From Argentina Talks About How Diva Helped To Teach Him English
Diva means a lot to me, I met with this album around 1998, and changed my life in many ways One of them was that I have to learn another language, so I started to hear on the radio, also at that time an argentinian singer that I like from here Argentina, did...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: An Extra Instrumental Video On The DIVA DVD – Remember By Annie Lennox
A Surprise video featured on the DIVA video by Annie Lennox, Remember is an instrumental piece that leads into Primitive.
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Christian Wikstrom Talks About The Gift From Annie Lennox’s DIVA Album.
The Gift - A short reflection. If I was ever asked to pick my all time favourite Annie Lennox tune I would probably say "The Gift". I heard the song for the first time back in the early 90's and it has stayed with me ever since. "Take this gilded cage of pain...
DIVA 20th Anniversary – The Video By Annie Lennox For Primitive From The DIVA Album
A very bleak video, Primitive was filmed by Sophie Muller with Annie Lennox early morning on the canals of Venice in Italy.
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Brendan Holiday Creates A Remake Of The Little Bird Video By Annie Lennox
As an added bonus, over the weekend Brendan Holiday brought out the DIVA Dolls once again and has just sent us through his remake of the Little Bird video. Thanks Brendan, such fun!
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Michele Aversa Talks About His First Contact With Annie Lennox’s DIVA Album
My first contact with Diva took place in the early 2000s, when I was attending the first two-year period of high school: I already knew Eurythmics, but Annie's solo career was still quite unknown to me (except for Bare). A friend of mine, who was aware of my...
DIVA 20th Anniversary – Money Can’t Buy it Video By Annie Lennox
The simple yet elegant Money Can't Buy It Video from the Annie Lennox album DIVA. Once again directed by Sophie Muller.
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Wilma Goorden – Wilma Goorden Talk About Little Bird By Annie Lennox
Little Bird, how I love this song, the lyrics often come up my mind when I’m busy inside or outside and see birds fly wherever they want to go... Don’t you just want to do that..It makes me melancholic, but the tune of Little Bird cheers me up! I have a...
Diva 20th Anniversary: Video Of The Week – Legend In My Living Room By Annie Lennox
Today's Video of The Week is Legend In My Living Room, the second track on the DIVA album. https://youtu.be/9gd8QNraWB0/embed]
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Fan Art Banners By Eduardo Micet
Eduardo Micet who runs of several Eurythmics Annie Lennox Dave Stewart Facebook pages here created a stunning set of banners for the 20th Anniversary of DIVA. Here's his gallery of images for DIVA.
DIVA 20th Anniversary – Our Final Day Of Commemorating The 20th Anniversary Of Annie Lennox’s DIVA
Watch the posts today as we have quite a few lined up to wrap up our 20th Anniversary feature that has been running throughout April. It's been an amazing 4 weeks looking back at the whole period of DIVA, and of course, our friends in the USA still didn't have...
Diva 20th Anniversary: Interview Of The Week – Annie Is Interviewed By Phillipa Forrester For The O-Zone TV Show
Annie Lennox Diva is interviewed by Phillipa Forrester for the British TV show The On O-Zone. Annie talks a little about the video for Walking On Broken Glass and how she has to tone her acting down as she's such a drama queen! She also talks about songwriting in...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Michele Aversa Joins Us For A Lyrical Analysis Of The Tracks from Annie Lennox’s Album DIVA
Money Can't Buy...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Brendan Holiday’s Annie Lennox DIVA Dolls
As you may know, Brendan Holiday has a fantastic set of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart dolls that he has created over the years, we couldnt possibly run our DIVA 20 feature without featuring his DIVA Dolls!
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Stefan Grundlingh Talks About Annie Lennox’s Album DIVA
Diva always reminds me of an oasis of sorts. A resting place where I've found, to my surprise, that I share something special with individuals who I probably wouldn't have met had it not been for Annie Lennox. When I first heard Diva it was like tuning in to a...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Magazine Of The Week: Annie Lennox in Australia’s Western Review
This weeks Magazine Of The Week is from the Australian magazine Western Review. In it Annie is asked about whether Diva was everything she wanted it to be. "I guess the simplest explanation is that the record was never totally planned or scheduled. I had an...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: More Memorabilia Of The Week: DIVA Promo Holdall’s, Hats & Crystals
A few little extra promotional items that were used from around the world to promote the release of Annie Lennox's album DIVA. We have a Precious branded holdall (Does anyone actually own this, im yet to meet anyone who does!), A small Walking On Broken Glass...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Brendan Holiday Talks About DIVA & His First CD
The fact that Annie Lennox's album DIVA is 20 years old is extraordinary because I can remember the day I bought it, 20 years ago. It really does seem like it was only yesterday. I live in New York so DIVA was scheduled for a release date 6 weeks after its...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Memorabilia Of The Week: Annie Lennox Promotional Diva Manicure Set
This weeks Memorabilia Of The Week features this small manicure set that was issued by RCA BMG to various press and PR people to promote the release of the Diva album by Annie Lennox. This lovely package is an obvious nod to the video for Why where Annie...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Kieran White Talks About The Impact First Hearing Annie Lennox & DIVA Has Had On His Life
On January 28th 1995 a boy called Kieran White was born [Moi] and from my birth to 2008 I could never relate to music and due to parents wondering why I was so odd as to not like music I tried to dilute their worries by asking for my first CD for Christmas 2007....
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Advert Of The Week: Annie Lennox Brit Award Nomination For Diva
This weeks advert of the week is an advert placed in the Brits 1993 brochure by BMG RCA to congratulate Annie Lennox on her nomination for Best British Female, Best Album By A British Artist and Best Video By A British Artist. Annie won the Best British...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Extras Annie Lennox’s DIVA Album Credits
Annie Lennox brought together with the assistance of Stephen Lipson and amazingly talented group of people to help record the album DIVA. So today we thank all of thefollowing for their contribution to the album we all love! Who would have thought that...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Photo Of The Week: Annie Lennox – Diva Colour
Another nice BMG/Arista promo photo for Diva, this time in colour, by Satoshi Saikusa. For more photos please visit Norma's Gallery.
DIVA 20th Anniversary Extra: Andrew Richie Talks About What Annie Lennox’s Album Means To Him
Giving Me The Gift - Andrew Richie While I have been prone to the occasional bout of hyperbole, I can say with all sincerity that Annie Lennox changed my life - specifically, her album Diva, which set my soul on a new course of self-discovery. I can still recall...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Record Of The Week – Rare DIVA Promotional Releases
Today we bring you a set of hte most collectable promotional items from the DIVA album released by Annie Lennox in April 1992. Most of these were issued on cassette and are now fairly hard to find in mint condition. Approximate values and prices are next...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Extra’s: Wesley Milam’s Perspective On Annie Lennox’s DIVA
Happy Anniversary, Diva! The album we waited breathlessly for exceeded our expectations, lifted our spirits and gave us all a reason to dance like children with pure joy! Every track on the album was/is a stunning testament to the combination of...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Video Of The Week – A Video Postcard From Annie Lennox To Promote Diva
This weeks video of the week is this 8 minute film contained in this Video Postcard that was sent to journalists prior to the release of Diva. [nggallery id=5205] The case packaging includes quotes and information about the album and Annie is...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Interview Of The Week – Annie Lennox Talks To Vox Magazine
Annie Lennox Talk to VOX Magazine A DIVA ALONE Solo work has proved as successful for Annie Lennox as Eurythmics were, but it hasn't all been sweet dreams. After a most successful year, Britain's fave Diva speaks her mind about life, love and quitting music......
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Magazine Of The Week: Annie Lennox Talks To Australia’s Music Magazine
This weeks Magazine Of The Week is from the Australian magazine called Music featuring Annie Lennox. There's a nice advert included showing the release date almost 3 weeks after the initial UK release. In the article, Annie says: "I had doubts about my...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Memorabilia Of The Week: Annie Lennox DIVA Shop Display Items
This weeks Memorabilia Of The Week are some shop display boards given to record shops to promote the release of DIVA. Click on each one to see a full size image: The first is a 3D shop display from the UK with a clear plastic front with the details over printed, the...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Advert Of The Week: UK and USA Diva Press Releases And Reviews
This weeks Advert Of The Week, is slightly different, we bring a gallery below of press releases from both the UK and the USA for Diva, and the initial single release of Why.
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Photo Of The Week: Annie Lennox – Diva
Today's Photo Of The Week is another Diva photo of Annie Lennox taken by Anton Corbijn, this one was used in the Diva CD booklet. For more photos please visit Norma's Gallery.
DIVA 20th Anniversary Extras: Promotional Polish Lyric Booklet For Annie Lennox’s Album DIVA
Thanks to David Deearin, we can bring you another rare promtoional item from Annie Lennox's debut solo album DIVA. This piece of memorabilia is a promotional song booklet produced in Poland with the lyrics for all the tracks on DIVA translated into Polish, the...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Record Of The Week – All The Worldwide Editions Of Annie Lennox’s Single Why
This weeks record of the week is also a trial of our new look discography. Next week we'll bring you more, but for now, here's the listing of all the editions of Why in various formats, the first single taken from Annie Lennox's solo album DIVA. You can use the...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Video Of The Week Cold & Little Bird With The Little Bird Lookalike Entry Form
This weeks videos of the week are the final 2 videos that were produced for the singles released from Diva, Cold and Little Bird Little Bird was not included in either release of the video Diva or the repackaged edition Totally Diva as it hadn't been filmed at...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Kirstie Kay From The Annie Lennox DIVA Tribute Band Reminisces About Diva
Kirstie Kay, singer from the Annie Lennox DIVA Tribute band has taken time out to share with us some of her thoughts about the Annie Lennox album DIVA, 20 years ago and how she has connected with the album 20 years later in a different way. Watch out next week...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Interview Of The Week: Independent On Sunday Interview With Annie Lennox
This weeks Interview Of The Week is from the UK's Independent On Sunday magazine, and was one of the main newspaper interviews Annie gave to promote the album Diva. There's an interesting paragraph towards the end where Annie says: "The newspaper stuff is...
DIVA 20th Anniversary Extras: Worldwide Chart Information For The Singles Taken From Annie Lennox’s Album DIVA
Today we present for you a listing of all the know international chart positions for the singles taken from DIVA. Across the 5 singles, they accounted for 20 Top 10 positions, with No. 1's in Italay, Canada and the USA. We will be launching a full chart...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Magazine Of The Week – Annie Lennox In The Mail On Sunday March 1992
This weeks Magazine Of The Week is this interview with Annie Lennox the week before Diva was released in The Mail On Sunday Magazine. In the interview in Venice, Annie tells Hunter Davies a bit about the visuals for Diva. "I love bringing visual images out of a...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Extras – Rare French Promotional DIVA Biography Booklet
Our DIVA 20 extra item for today is this rare French promotional Annie Lennox Biography in a CD sized booklet. If anyone would like to translate it, drop me a line! Thanks to Dave Dearin for sharing this item with us. Check out Dave's Eurythmics...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Memorabilia Of The Week: US Annie Lennox Diva In Store Poster
This weeks Memorabilia Of The Week is this US In Store poster for Diva. As you can see the album was released over a month later in the US than it was in the UK. The poster is square in size measuring 36" x 36"
DIVA 20th Anniversary Extras: Norma Koning Talks About Her Favourite Track From Annie Lennox’s Album DIVA, Cold
Annie Lennox herself has chosen Cold as her video for today to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Diva, so what better time to feature long time Annie fan Norma Koning's piece about Cold. Thanks for sharing with us Norma! For me, "Cold" is a stand-out song...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Advert Of The Week: Adverts For The Singles From Diva Cold, Why & Little Bird
This weeks adverts of the week are all adverts taken from the international press for the singles that were taken from Annie Lennox's Diva album. of particular interest here is the Japanese advert for the Cold, Colder & Coldest 3 CD Box set. ...
DIVA 20th Anniversary Extras: Rare CD Booklets From Hong Kong And China
Todays DIVA 20 Extras are these 2 rare CD booklets from the Hong Kong and Chinese editions of DIVA. Diva China Booklet
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Photo Of The Week: Annie Lennox – Diva
One of the most well known promo photos for Annie Lennox's Diva. For more photos please visit Norma's Gallery.
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Worldwide Chart Positions For Annie Lennox’s 1st Solo Album DIVA
Annie Lennox's first solo album DIVA achieved worldwide success entering the Top 10 in 10 countries and reaching No. 1 in both the UK and Italy. The album also had a good showing in the official end of year charts in both 1992 and 1993, being placed in the Top 10...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Record Of The Week – Annie Lennox DIVA Anniversary Promo CD And Booklet
This weeks record of the week is this important collectors item that was actually issued a year after the release of DIVA and was sent to journalists and record industry people who had helped with the success of DIVA. It is an A5 card booklet featuring a...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Video Of The Week Annie Lennox’s “Precious” And “Walking On Broken Glass”
This week we have 2 videos of the week to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Diva. The second and third singles to be released from Diva, Precious and Walking On Broken Glass. Directed by Sophie Muller, the music video is based in part on the 1988 film...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Bedroom Design Inspired By Diva
When Bradley Stephens greeted me at the door of the darkest, hippest bedroom I’ve seen in ages, it struck me that Annie Lennox, the Scottish singer and activist who inspired this room, might have the perfect expression for her energy here. And, share the...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Interview Of The Week – BBC 2 Interview With Annie Lennox In The Week Diva Was Released
In 1992, the BBC filmed this documentary that was aired at the end of April 1992 at the time that Diva was released, Annie talks candidly about her life, Dave Stewart and the album Diva. Part 1 Part 2 Click here to see all of 20th Anniversary Of Diva ...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Magazine Of The Week: Musik Express Magazine Interview With Annie Lennox
This weeks Magazine Of The Week is from the Canadian Magazine called Musik Express Magazine that features an interview with Annie Lennox. The article starts "Diva is much more than the first solo album from Annie Lennox; it's also the means to express the...
DIVA 20 Extras – Fans Write About What DIVA Means To Them – David Wilkie
Today I am delighted to bring you this fabulous article written especially for us by David Wilkie. David for those of you who don't know started the www.annie-lennox.com website many years ago, and brought us news of Annie's activities long before Ultimate...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Diva Inspired Spiral Staircase Mosaic
Here's some fun Diva related artwork. This is from qthomasbower's flickr page and features a mosaic of Annie Lennox made up entirely of photographs of spiral staicases. Click to see a larger version, or visit the flickr page here to see a huge version....
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Memorabilia Of The Week: Annie Lennox Cold Counter Stand
This weeks memorabilia of the week is this record store counter stand for the single Cold taken from Annie Lennox's album Diva. The Single was issued in 3 editions called Cold, Colder & Coldest and will be featured later in the month. [gallery...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Happy 20th Anniversay Diva – A Few Words From Steve Gayler
In 1993 Diva, the first solo album to be released by Annie Lennox was met with critical acclaim from fans and new listeners alike, and broke the mould of other top charting acts of the time. SO many fans (me included) really did not know what to expect. A...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Advert Of The Week: Annie Lennox Diva Adverts From Around The World
This weeks Advert Of The Week features 4 different advert for Annie Lennox's debut solo album Diva. The middle 4 pictures are taken from a stunning UK A4 Glossy sales presenter sent to record stores and buyers to encourage them to stock the album for release day. The...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Photo Of The Week: Annie Lennox – Diva By Anton Corbijn
One of my favourite Annie Lennox photos for Diva, taken by world renowned Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn. Anton's photography also appeared inside the album booklet for Diva. For more photos please visit Norma's Gallery. Click here to see all of 20th...
DIVA 20 Extras – Fans Write About What DIVA Means To Them – Zezinho Santos
Primitive. Paul Bowles is one of my favourite authors ever — and The Sheltering Sky, his best known novel. By 1990, when Bernardo Bertolucci turned it into a movie starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich, I had already read Bowles’...
DIVA 20 Extras – Annie Lennox Diva Album Lyrics
Today we present all of the lyrics from Diva including Step By Step, the additiona ltrack included on the Japanese album, which was re-recorded by Whitney Houston Walking On Broken...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Record Of The Week – Annie Lennox Diva, US Deluxe Edition
To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Diva, we'll be featuring some of the rarer promos and editions of Diva that have been released over the years, but to start off with, we have to feature the superb deluxe edition of Diva that was released in the USA. The CD...
DIVA 20 Extras – Fans Write About What DIVA Means To Them – Rex Saldana
I was very happy to see the success of "DIVA" worldwide upon its release back in April and May of 1992. For me, it was a validation to the general public of Annie's songwriting abilities. In Eurythmics, all songs were written by both Dave and Annie,...
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Annie Lennox’s Diva UK CD Booklet
Todays DIVA extra is the full UK CD booklet for Diva featuring photography from both Satoshi and Anton Corjbin
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Video Of The Week – Annie Lennox Why
To start our month long celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of Diva, what better way to begin is there than bringing you the first video that we saw from Annie Lennox's debut solo album Diva. Sophie Muller directed this video, as well as all of the other...
DIVA 20th Anniversary Extras: – Dimitri Lan – Fan Art
Today to celebrate Diva's 20th Anniversary we feature some fan art produced by Dimitri Lan. You can view more of Dimitri's work in the gallery here
DIVA 20th Anniversary: Interview Of The Week – Annie Lennox Talks To Jackie Brambles
We start our 30 days of Diva celebrations today with this interview with British Radio DJ Jackie Brambles. The interview was used on some ltd edition releases of Why and Diva and helped to promote the album out to a wide audience. The interview was...
Ultimate Eurythmics Celebrates The 20th Anniversary Of Annie Lennox’s Album Diva
Ultimate Eurythmics Celebrates The 20th Anniversary Of Annie Lennox’s Album Diva #Diva20