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A metamorphosis is under way. A face, seemingly made of candle wax, takes shape beneath a flickering flame. It is Annie Lennox, provocative singer of Eurythmics, the British pop duo. Then, the video for Eurythmics’ latest single, “Missionary Man,” turns more sinister, with a scene in which a dark figure — Dave Stewart, the duo’s other half—is seen cooking potions in a laboratory. The video cuts back to Lennox’s face, now helplessly harnessed to a set of mechanical devices— communicating a strong message of struggle against others’ attempts at control. For Lennox and Stewart, veterans of contractual disputes with record and management companies, that message has special resonance. The pair ha...

When I first met her, she spoke in a whisper, protecting the gold-plated vocal cords that had made Eurythmics one of the top musical acts on the planet. Annie Lennox was staying in a quiet residential neighborhood near West Hollywood, while she and Eurythmic Dave Stewart rehearsed for the band’s Revenge tour. It was the summer of ’86 and Lennox looked every bit the striking pop icon, one whose theatrical, gender-bending and diva-vamping appearances had transformed the pop landscape. Dressed in a pink satin blouse and a brightly colored plaid suit, a variation on her native Scottish tartan, she spoke at length about music, image and Eurythmics’ battle for artistic control. Fast forward more t...

The second of his Nashville recordings, after last year’s The Blackbird Diaries, the ex-Eurythmic’s new one again features Joss Stone and plenty of country-tinged rock material as well as duets with Jessie Baylin and Diane Birch. Stewart is at his best on “Drowning in the Blues,” an exquisite fiddle-flecked duet with Alison Krauss.

From Cream to the Travelling Wilburys, supergroups are nothing new. But SuperHeavy, Mick Jagger’s side project with Joss Stone and Dave Stewart, of Eurythmics fame, is worlds away from Crosby, Stills Nash & Young. Rounded out by Bob Marley’s son Damian and Bollywood’s A.R. Rahman, the group sounds like a hip United Nations soundtrack. Clearly, they’re having fun: the video for reggae track “Miracle Worker” features Jagger as a neon-pink-suited witch doctor promising “love and laser” cures.