Miki Berenyi was guitarist, songwriter and singer in Lush (1987-1996).
In 1981, aged 14, Miki met and became friends with Emma Anderson who would six years later become the other guitarist, songwriter and vocalist of Lush. They were both students of Queen’s College in London when they met and they began their fanzine Alphabet Soup.
Miki’s Japanese mother is Yasuko Nagazumi who was an actor and is now a producer and manager responsible for print advertising campaigns on behalf of clients such as Armani, Donna Karan, Guess?, Pirelli and Vogue magazine.
Miki’s father was a Hungarian named Ivan Berenyi.
After Lush split in 1996 following the suicide of drummer Chris Acland, Miki enrolled on a proofreading course and was offered a job subbing TV listings on the ninth floor of King’s Reach Tower in Southwark, south London, the same building that housed NME.
“I could sense their discomfort when they recognised me,” she told The Guardian in an interview in 2022.
She carried on working as a sub editor at various publications, married musician K.J. “Moose” McKillop of indie rock band Moose and had two children.
She was made redundant during the Covid pandemic and decided to write her memoir Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me from Success which was published in September 2022.
She is also in a band with her husband, Piroshka. [Bandcamp]
Miki is the second cousin of the Japanese singer-songwriter Cornelius.
In 1991, Miki, Chris Acland, with Kevin McKillop, Russell Yates of Moose collaborated with Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and released a song under the name The Lillies, titled “And David Seaman Will Be Very Disappointed About That…” in commemoration of the 3-1 victory over Arsenal by Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semi-final in May 1991. It was released as a flexi-disc with the Tottenham Hotspur football fanzine The Spur (Issue 24, September 1991). David Seaman was the Arsenal goalkeeper. The title is inspired by the words spoken by BBC commentator Barry Davies during the match. [Listen Here] – it’s a wonderfully compelling slice of dreampop and the only discernible vocals are Miki chanting ‘”Three One”.
In 1999 Berenyi appeared on The Rentals’ album Seven More Minutes – performing guest vocals on “The Cruise” which is a reworking of the song “So Soon” [Listen here] originally released on the flip side of The Rental’s single Friends of P.
In 2010 she appeared as a guest vocalist on the absolutely beautiful song “We Will Drink Wine” by Seinking Ships on their album Museum Quality Capture. [Listen here]
Yeah Bagel 