NENEH CHERRY : Transatlantic Dance Diva Stirs Up a ‘Home Brew’

London-based dance diva Neneh Cherry made such a splash with her debut album, 1989’s “Raw Like Sushi,” that the follow-up has been one of the most eagerly awaited albums in pop. And it’s been a long wait. The exotic African-Swedish beauty wasn’t about to be rushed.

“If you take yourself too seriously on the professional tip, where it’s ‘Gotta keep up, gotta be on top,’ you separate yourself from what you are and what might genuinely excite you and make you feel good,” Cherry says in a Bronx-meets-London accent that mirrors her transatlantic upbringing as stepdaughter of jazzman Don Cherry.

Instead of jumping on “Sushi’s” momentum, the mother of two took time out to enjoy the simpler pleasures--”friends, shopping, having a nice time and family.”

When Cherry finally did begin recording her new album, “Home Brew” (see review on Page 63), she simply stepped into her home-based Cherry $ Bear studio and got down to work with her boyfriend, writer-producer Booga Bear (Cameron McVey), and engineer Jonny Dollar.

“It’s a family affair,” Cherry says with a grin. “One of the reasons to make the album at home was to keep career and family in balance. Family and kids have to come first. That’s why we move in what might seem an untraditional way, as a posse of five to eight people.

“We recorded a lot of the album in England and then finished in Sweden, where I kind of grew up, and stayed in my family home. . . . It’s a weird madhouse. . . . We’re like a tribe, but there’s no hippie illusions. I just need to do things where I’m part of stuff with friends and people I really relate to.”

With her first album, Cherry’s persona became that of the I-can-do-it-all amazon. “Home Brew” is closer to her reality.

“I tried to put a kind of tenderness in this record, because there was this stigma around me as a strong woman that a lot of women get trapped with,” she explains. “They can’t just get up in the morning and say, ‘I feel really trashy,’ even to themselves. It was important to include the whole emotional cycle. It’s tender and hard and brutal.”