Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me from Success: Rough Trade Book of the Year

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Steve Rippon left fairly early on, replaced on bass by Phil King, who seems to have always been something of an outsider in the band. She clearly adored her father Ivan Berenyi, even though he comes across as shiftless, unreliable and a consummate womaniser. Berenyi’s time in Lush is also put under the microscope, detailing the complexities of band life and how she coped with the increase in attention that came with it.

There is no ambiguity in Fingers Crossed and you won’t come away from it feeling like you know Miki Berenyi no better than when you started.I enjoyed their set, so I used ye olde coal-fired Internet to look into them, finding out that Sing-Sing were formed by Emma Anderson, formerly of Lush. A Rough Trade Book of the YearA Mojo Book of the YearA Times Book of the YearAn Irish Times Book of the YearA Financial Times Book of the YearA Stylist Book of the Year The extraordinary and searingly honest personal story of musician Miki Berenyi, revealing the highs and lows of navigating the madness of the '90s music industry. Lush ends in tragedy with the suicide of the band’s drummer Chris Acland in 1996, after which Berenyi opts for a career change and takes a course in proofreading.

There’s an amazing authenticity to having the story told by the author and certain of the phraseology sounds so right in Miki’s voice and accent.

Berenyi handles the emotional and practical complexities of all this dysfunction with a capable hand. I know quite a few people who were going, I can’t read it, she just seems such an unpleasant person. Lush were a great 90s band and the records they created have stood the test of time and still sound as good today as they ever had. As ever, just because I fell into it didn’t mean that once faced with the job I didn’t give it absolutely everything I had! I’ve no idea if Miki Berenyi has any interest in writing another book – perhaps a novel – but if she did, on the basis of Fingers Crossed, I’d certainly read it!

Neuware - The extraordinary and searingly honest personal story of musician Miki Berenyi, revealing the highs and lows of navigating the madness of the '90s music industry. Following their bitter divorce, she had to split the time between her father, sports journalist of Hungarian descent Ivan Berenyi, and mother, Japanese actress and producer Yasuko Nagazumi. Miki also explores her complicated relationship with Emma - one that has fluctuated between camaraderie and rivalry over the years - and addresses the devastating tragedy that led to the band's split.The book also features an interesting fresh perspective on being a woman on the guitar band circuit at this particular point in time. From the bohemian ways of her father's social circle to the privileged glamour of her mother's acting career, Miki's young life was a blur of travel, celebrities and peripatetic schooling.

I was quite late to the party with Lush; so late, in fact, that the party was over and all that remained were half-empty wine bottles and cheesy nibbles ground into the carpet. But here to disprove that notion is Fingers Crossed, a frank and captivating read from Miki Berenyi, late of 90’s indie group Lush. Miki doesn’t trash Lush; she looks back on it with with happiness and pride, but is keen to point out that it wasn’t always the glorious experience that some might think it was.Information was sparse, but it was clear that she had not had a good time in the closing days of Lush, eventually leaving the music business altogether and getting a ‘proper job’.