A Review/reaction to Neneh Cherry’s memoir “A Thousand Threads”

Neneh Cherry was, for a brief but unforgettable stretch, one of the most influential voices in British pop — a punk-rock-raised, hip-hop-fluent artist who fused genres before it was fashionable, and who famously performed “Buffalo Stance” on Top of the Pops eight months pregnant. Her 2024 memoir, A Thousand Threads, was shortlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, and on this episode, Ted shares his personal take on the book — one he first picked up at Powell’s Books in Portland.

The verdict, right up front: a B minus.

What works, and works well, is the book’s throughline about Cherry’s mother, Monika “Moki” Karlsson — a Swedish textile artist who lived an unconventional, bohemian life with jazz musician Don Cherry, running what amounted to an artist colony out of an old schoolhouse. The memoir is, at its heart, a daughter’s love letter to her mother, and that material is where the book comes alive.

What doesn’t work, at least for a longtime fan of her music, is how little space the book gives to the records themselves — especially Homebrew, Cherry’s excellent 1992 follow-up to her debut. Ted highlights the moment that best captures the problem: Cherry’s collaboration with Michael Stipe of R.E.M. on the song “Trout” gets exactly one sentence in the entire book (page 218). The long-rumored backstory behind “Buddy X” — reportedly inspired by Lenny Kravitz’s infidelity while touring together — goes unaddressed entirely.

Ted also touches on a pattern common to a lot of musician memoirs: artists who’ve told the story of their career a thousand times to press and interviewers end up skipping over it in their own books, in favor of the material they haven’t already talked to death — usually family, identity, and personal struggle. That’s very much the case here.

Is it worth reading? Yes — it’s a compelling, honestly told story about growing up between cultures and finding identity through family. Just don’t expect much insight into the music that made Neneh Cherry a household name.

Grade: B-

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This episode is sponsored by Steve Fox’s Old School — commercial-free 90s R&B, hip hop, and classic soul, streaming 24/7 at stevefoxoldschool.com.