Ana Isabel Fernández, known artistically as Ana Curra and Ana Pegamoide (El Escorial, Madrid, 29 December 1958), is a Spanish keyboard player, singer and composer. In the 80's she was part of the "movida" in Madrid and some media have called her the queen of punk in Spain. She formed part of Alaska and the Pegamoides (1979-1982), Parálisis Permanente (1982-1983) and Los Seres Vacíos (1982-1984). She participated in the creation of Tres Cipreses (1982), the first independent music label in Spain.
Her mother, who had studied piano, brought her closer to classical music since she was a child. At the same time as she was going to school, she was taking piano lessons at the conservatoire. She was introduced to pop music by her brothers, one of whom was a big fan of Bob Dylan, the other of The Velvet Underground and the music of the 1950s. The first concert they took her to was Wilko Johnson's group, Dr. Feelgood. Then she became interested in Iggy Pop and Johnny Thunders. At the age of 17 she moved to Madrid to study pharmacy, during which time she already had seven years of piano lessons. There she connected with some members of the incipient "movida madrileña", of which she would become one of the referents.
She had just arrived in Madrid when through her brothers she connected in 1979 with the components of Kaka de Luxe and with Alaska, which was starting the group Alaska and the Pegamoides together with Carlos Berlanga, Nacho Canut and Eduardo Benavente. She joined the line-up, handled the keyboards and drum machine and recorded the entire discography. One of her contributions to the group is the second voice of the single La línea se cortó. The affinity between Ana and Alaska was such that they began to compose songs together, such as "Estrategia militar", "Redrum" or "Quiero ser santa" in the final stage of Pegamoides.
In 1982 Ana Curra joined the band Parálisis Permanente, which she had created in parallel in 1981 together with Eduardo Benavente. They barely gave concerts, some six before the accident that cost Eduardo Benavente his life. They released a sole album, "El acto" (Tres Cipreses, 1982), of which Ana Curra composed half of the songs. Her latest single, "Nacidos para dominar" (Tres Cipreses 1983), is also her work. It was released shortly after Benavente's death in a traffic accident. At this time also she participated in the creation of Spain's first independent label, Tres Cipreses, in which she and Eduardo Benavente took care of the artistic part (82-83).
Parallel to Parálisis Permanente, Ana and Eduardo Benavente formed Los Seres Vacíos, the name with which she recorded her first maxisingle as a solo voice in 1982, "Los celos se apoderan de mí" (Tres Cipreses). After Benavente's death, Ana Curra edited two more maxisingles with Seres Vacíos: "Luna nueva" (Tres Cipreses, 1983) and "Recuerda" (Tres Cipreses, 1984). The lack of commercial results led to a stage of reflection. In 1983 she made several collaborations, such as Negros S.A. with Alaska and Los Nikis, which released a single maxisingle with two songs: Sabana, sabana and Dr. Livngstone, I suppose. In 1984 she finished her piano studies and obtained a place at the Escorial Conservatory.
At the end of 2011 she carried out a new project called Ana Curra presenta "El acto", accompanied by José Battaglio (guitar), César Scappa (guitar), Manolo UVI (bass) and Rafa Le Doc (drums). The intention was to give a concert on March 9, 2012 interpreting the repertoire of Parálisis Permanente, an outstanding account of Ana since Eduardo's death and as a tribute to him and Toti. Rafa Balmaseda also went on stage. In addition, as a presentation, they release a double single with 4 songs re-recorded in the studio.
