How Annie Lennox Caused Apple To Dump Bing

Apple has dished on why it rejected choosing Bing as its primary search engine and instead opted for Google, revealing that it’s because of Annie Lennox.

According to a new report from The Register, Apple knocked back Microsoft’s approach to use the Bing search engine on Apple products after the wrong results showed up for “Annie Lennox first band”.

While Lennox is best known for her hits with the Eurythmics, she actually got her start with The Tourists, who released a cover of Dusty Springfield’s I Only Want To Be With You. The song got to
#4 on the UK Singles Chart.

The wrong answer about Lennox, lack of local language coverage in countries Apple was trying to connect with, and the search engine’s lack of improvement didn’t impress Apple’s Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, John Giannandrea.

Apple’s claims towards Bing surfaced last week (23 February) in a filing from Google in an antitrust case against the US government.

The filing also stated that Giannandrea said, “Microsoft was willing to sell Bing, which you wouldn't do if it was a strategic asset.”

Last June, Annie Lennox joined Joni Mitchell on the Big Yellow Taxi’s first concert in over 20 years at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington. 

Mitchell started the show with Big Yellow Taxi from Ladies Of The Canyon. Marcus Mumford accompanied her on Come in From the Cold, and Blake Mills sat it on Amelia.

Annie Lennox joined Mitchell on Ladies Of The Canyon, and Sarah McLachlan accompanied her on Blue. Other notable performances included A Case Of You with Mumford and Brandi Carlile, Cactus Tree with Lucius, Young At Heart with Allison Russell, and A Strange Boy with Wendy & Lisa.

In November, country music icon Dolly Parton covered the classic Eurythmics hit Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) on her Rockstar album. This release saw her pay tribute to everyone from Led Zeppelin to Elton John to Peter Frampton to Blondie.

Discussing the legacy of songs like Sweet Dreams and the nature of putting her own spin on them, Parton told The Music in a cover story interview, “I worked hard as a singer, trying to earn the rights to even sing these great, iconic songs.”