Exene Cervenka - Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Artist

Exene is a singer, artist and poet whose work traverses virtually every aspect of those disciplines. Best known as the singer for X, one of the leaders of the late-'70s/early-'80s California punk explosion, Exene Cervenka has also issued solo albums, launched several side bands (The Knitters), and penned books.

X just announced plans to join their east coast comrades, BLONDIE, as a Special Guest on their fall U.S. “No Principals Tour.” Set to kick off September 5th, the bands will hit U.S cities including Atlantic City, Washington, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta and Philadelphia before wrapping October 4th in New York City at Roseland Ballroom. 

Three decades after the inception of X, songs written during the group’s inception are as relevant and inventive now as they were in 1977. The original line-up of X remains John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, and D.J. Bonebrake.

John Doe found her in Venice Beach at a poetry reading. He liked her poems so much he offered to perform them in his band. The poet, Exene Cervenka, had just moved to town from Florida and she told him, no offense, but if anyone was gonna perform her poems, it would be her, and she soon ended up in the band.

The band’s early albums, LOS ANGELES (1980), produced by Ray Manzarek of the Doors, WILD GIFT (1981), and UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN (1982) explored dark love and an even darker L.A. with the unflinching eye of a Raymond Chandler novel.

Doe and Cervenka would marry and later divorce, but they’d always remain soulmates. As they released each ensuing album, MORE FUN IN THE NEW WORLD (1983) and AIN'T LOVE GRAND (1985), the band continued to grow sonically and politically, fearlessly mixing genres without ever losing its center.