Susan Kay Suzi Quatro: (born 3 June 1950) is a British-based American singer-songwriter, bass guitar player, and actor. She is the first female bass player to become a major rock star. This broke a barrier to womens participation in rock music. In the 1970s Quatro scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland. But, following a recurring role as a female bass player on the popular American sitcom Happy Days, her duet Stumblin In with Chris Norman reached number 4 in the USA in 1979. Between 1973 and 1980 Quatro was awarded six Bravo Ottos. In 2010 she was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame. Quatro has sold over 50 million albums and continues to perform live, worldwide. Her most recent album was released in 2011 and she also continues to present new radio programmes. Quatro says she was influenced at the age of six by Elvis Presley, whom she saw on television. She also said she had no female role model but was inspired by Billie Holiday and liked the dress sense of Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las because she wore tight trousers and a waistcoat on top — she looked hot. Quatro received formal training in playing classical piano and percussion. She is a self-taught player of the bass and guitar.[citation needed] Her father gave her a 1957 Fender Precision bass guitar in 1964, which she still possessed in 2007. She played drums from an early age as part of her fathers jazz band, The Art Quatro Trio. Sources vary regarding whether her playing in the band began at the age of seven or eight, and whether the instrument played was bongo or conga drums. Subsequently, she appeared on local television as a go-go dancer in a pop music series. In 1964, after seeing a television performance by The Beatles, Quatros older sister, Patti, had formed an all-female band called The Pleasure Seekers with two friends. Quatro joined too and assumed the stage name of Suzi Soul; Patti was known as Patti Pleasure. The band also featured another sister, Arlene. Many of their performances were in cabaret, where attention was (initially) focussed more on their looks than their music. They sometimes wore mini-skirts and wigs, which Quatro later considered to be necessary evils in the pursuit of success. The Pleasure Seekers recorded three singles and released two of these: Never Thought You’d Leave Me / What A Way To Die (1966) and Light Of Love / Good Kind Of Hurt (1968). The second of these was released by Mercury Records, with whom they briefly had a contract before breaking away due to differences of opinion regarding their future direction. They changed their name to Cradle in late 1969, not long after another Quatro sister, Nancy, had joined the band and Arlene had left following the birth of her child. Quatro moved to England in 1971 after being spotted by the record producer Mickie Most, who had by that time founded his own label, RAK Records. Most had been persuaded to see Cradle by Michael, the brother of the Quatro sisters who had assumed a managerial role for the band. In common with many in the record industry at the time, Most was seeking a female rock singer who could fill the void that the death of Janis Joplin had created. According to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, his attention to Quatro was drawn by her comeliness and skills as bass guitarist, singer and chief show-off in Cradle. She had also been attracting attention from Elektra Records and subsequently explained that According to the Elektra president, I could become the new Janis Joplin. Mickie Most offered to take me to England and make me the first Suzi Quatro — I didnt want to be the new anybody. Most had no interest in the other band members and he had no idea at that time of how he might market Quatro. She spent a year living in a hotel while being nurtured by Most, developing her skills and maturing. Most later said that the outcome was a reflection of her own personality. Quatros first single Rolling Stone was successful only in Portugal, where it reached number one on the charts. This was a solo effort, although aided by people such as Duncan Browne, Peter Frampton and Alan White. Subsequently, with the approval of Most, she auditioned for a band to accompany her. It was also after this record that Most introduced her to the songwriting and production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote songs specifically to accord with her image. She agreed with Mosts assessment of her image, saying that his influence, at which some of his artists - such as Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart - baulked, did not extend to manufacture and that If he tried to build me into a Lulu, I wouldnt have it. Id say go to hell and walk out. This was the height of the glam rock period of the 1970s and Quatro, who wore leather clothes, portrayed a wild, androgynous image while playing music that hinged mostly on a hard rock chug beneath lyrics in which scansion overruled meaning. In autumn 1972, Quatro embarked as a support act on a UK tour with Thin Lizzy and headliners Slade. RAK arranged for her to use Thin Lizzys newly acquired PA system during this, incurring a charge of £300 per week that enabled the Irish band to effectively purchase it at no cost to themselves. In May 1973, her second single Can the Can (1973) - which Philip Auslander describes as having seemingly nonsensical and virtually unintelligible lyrics – was a number one hit in parts of Europe and in Australia. Can the Can was followed by three further hits: 48 Crash (1973), Daytona Demon (1973), and Devil Gate Drive (1974). Can the Can, 48 Crash and Devil Gate Drive each sold over one million copies and were awarded gold discs, although they met with little success in her native United States, where she had toured as a support act for Alice Cooper. RAK artists had generally not succeeded in the US and her first album, Suzi Quatro, was criticised by Alan Betrock for its lack of variety, for its Quatro-written second-rate fillers and for her voice, described as often too high and shrill, lacking punch or distinctive phrasing. Writing for Rolling Stone, Greg Shaw was also downbeat, saying that the album may be a necessary beginning. Musicians who acted as her backing band around this period included Alastair McKenzie, Dave Neal and Len Tuckey, with Robbie Blunt also being listed by some sources. Tuckeys brother, Bill, acted as tour manager. With the exception of Australia, her chart success faltered thereafter until a change to a more mellow style produced the 1978 single If You Cant Give Me Love that became a hit there and in the United Kingdom. Later that year, Stumblin In, a duet with Chris Norman of the band Smokie, reached number 4 in the U.S. Both tracks featured on the If You Knew Suzi... album. A year later, Quatro released Suzi...and Other Four Letter Words, which she called her favourite album. This featured the hits Shes in Love with You, which made number 11 in Britain, Mamas Boy (number 34), and Ive Never Been in Love (number 56). In 1980, after Quatros contract with Mickie Most expired, she signed up with Chapmans Dreamland Records. In the same year, she released Rock Hard; both the album and title single went platinum in Australia. Rock Hard was also used in the cult film, Times Square and appeared on the soundtrack album. 1980 also saw the release of Suzi Quatros Greatest Hits, which peaked at number 4 on the UK charts, becoming her highest-charting album there. After Chapmans Dreamland Records folded, Quatro was left without a label. Her last UK hit for some time was Heart of Stone in late 1982. In 1983 another single Main Attraction was released. It failed to chart but did become a sizeable[vague] airplay hit. She commented in an article in Kerrang! in 1983, after playing a successful slot at Reading Festival on 27 August, that she did not care about being in the charts, but was more interested releasing what she wanted; commenting that she started in 1964, and did not become famous for nine years I would never accept having my career moulded by other people... Ive kept working consistently even though Ive not been in the charts. In 1985, her Tonight I Could Fall in Love/Good Girl (Looking for a Bad Time) single reached number 140 in the UK charts. Quatro also collaborated with Bronski Beat and members of The Kinks, Eddie and the Hot Rods, and Dr. Feelgood on the Mark Cunningham-produced version of David Bowies Heroes, released the following year as the 1986 BBC Children in Need single. Can The Can/Devil Gate Drive were re-released in 1987 as a single and reached number 87 in the UK charts. She was also part of the Ferry Aid charity single Let It Be, which was a UK number 1, 13 years and 26 days after Quatros last UK number 1. In December 2005, a documentary chronicling Quatros life, Naked Under Leather, named after a 1975 bootleg album, recorded in Japan, directed by former member of The Runaways, Victory Tischler-Blue, appeared. In February 2006, Quatro released Back to the Drive, produced by Sweet guitarist Andy Scott. The albums title track was written by her former collaborator, Chapman. In March 2007, Quatro released a version of the Eagles song Desperado, followed by the publication of her autobiography, Unzipped. By this time, Quatro had sold 50 million records. On 11 June 2010, she headlined the Girls night out at the Isle of Wight Festival. Quatro was also inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame in 2010, following an on-line vote. In August 2011, Quatro released her fifteenth studio album, In the Spotlight (and its single, Spotlight). This album is a mixture of new songs written by Mike Chapman and by herself, along with cover versions. A second single from the album, Whatever Love Is, was subsequently released. On 16 November 2011, a music video (by Tischler-Blue) for the track Strict Machine was released onto the Suzi Quatro Official YouTube channel. The track is a cover of Goldfrapps Strict Machine, but Quatros version contains two lines from Can the Can, referencing the similarity of the tunes for the two songs. In April 2013, she performed in America for the first time in over 30 years, at the Detroit Music Awards, where she received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to her by her sister, Patti. September 2013 Suzi is currently working on an anthology 6-CD box set with her record company CherryRed records in the UK. This will have some new material on it, Suzi has said that Mike Chapman has written her another hit which will be nicely placed into the anthology of hits that he has already written for her with Nicky Chinn. The Anthlogy yet to be titled is scheduled for release in the first half of 2014./Trigger
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 18:59:16 +0000
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