Suzi Quatro

Not to be confused with Sussie 4.
Suzi Quatro

Quatro, playing bass guitar, performing in Australia.

Quatro performing live at the AIS Arena, in Canberra, Australia, in 2007
Background information
Birth name Susan Kay Quatro
Born (1950-06-03) June 3, 1950
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • multi-instrumentalist
  • record producer
  • actress
  • radio presenter
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • bass guitar
Years active 1964–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website suziquatro.com
Notable instruments

Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro[1]:2 (born June 3, 1950) is an American glam rock singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. She was the first female bass player to become a major rock star, breaking a barrier to women's participation in rock music.[2]:1–3[3]

In the 1970s Quatro scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in European and Australian territories than in her homeland. Following a recurring role as bass player Leather Tuscadero on the popular American sitcom Happy Days, her duet "Stumblin' In" with Chris Norman reached number 4 in the U.S., and became her only Number One hit in Australia in 1979.

Quatro released her eponymous debut album in 1973. Since then, she has released fifteen studio albums, ten compilation albums, and one live album. Her solo hits include "Can the Can", "48 Crash", "Daytona Demon", "Devil Gate Drive", and "Your Mamma Won't Like Me".

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[4] and continues to perform live, worldwide. Her most recent album was released in 2011 and she also continues to present new radio programmes.

Career

Music

Early years and The Art Quatro Trio

Quatro says she was influenced at the age of six by the American singer and actor Elvis Presley, whom she saw on television.[1]:26 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".[5]

Quatro received formal training in playing classical piano and percussion. She is a self-taught player of the bass[6] and guitar. Her father gave her a 1957 Fender Precision bass guitar in 1964, which she still possessed in 2007.[5]

She played drums from an early age as part of her father's 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 she played was actually percussion (bongo or conga drums).[7][8] Subsequently, she appeared on local television as a go-go dancer in a pop music series.[7]

The Pleasure Seekers and Cradle

Suzi Quatro, at far right, pictured, along with two of her sisters, Patti and Arlene, and Eileen Biddlingmeier (centre), in the Pleasure Seekers, 1966

In 1964, after seeing a television performance by The Beatles, Quatro's older sister, Patti, had formed an all-female garage rock band called The Pleasure Seekers with two friends.[8] Quatro joined too and assumed the stage name of Suzi Soul; Patti was known as Patti Pleasure. She would sing and play bass in the band. The band also later featured another sister, Arlene.[7] Many of their performances were in cabaret, where attention was (initially) focused more on their physical looks than their actual music. They sometimes had to wear mini-skirts and hair wigs, which Quatro later considered to be necessary evils in the pursuit of success.[9] However, they would become well-known fixtures in the burgeoning and exploding Detroit music community.[10]

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.[11]

Work with Mickie Most

A black and white photograph of Quatro and her unnamed backing band. Quatro is holding her bass guitar, standing, and wearing a black leather jacket; her three taller and long-haired male bandmembers are standing behind her wearing dark tee shirts.
Quatro and her supporting band in AVRO's TopPop, a Dutch television show, on 7 December 1973 (Left to right: Len Tuckey, guitar; Suzi Quatro, bass; Alastair MacKenzie, keys; Dave Neal, drums)

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.[8] 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.[9] 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."[7] 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 didn't want to be the new anybody."[8] Most had no interest in the other band members[11] 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.[9]

Quatro's first single "Rolling Stone" was successful only in Portugal, where it reached number one on the charts.[8] 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.[9][12] It was also after this record[13] 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 Most's 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 wouldn't have it. I'd say 'go to hell' and walk out."[14] 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."[7][lower-alpha 1]

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 Lizzy's 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.[15] In May 1973, her second single "Can the Can" (1973)  which Philip Auslander describes as having "seemingly nonsensical and virtually unintelligible lyrics"[2]:1  was a number one hit in parts of Europe and in Australia.[16]

"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,[16] although they met with little success in her native United States, where she had toured as a support act for Alice Cooper.[17] 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."[12] Writing for Rolling Stone, Greg Shaw was also downbeat, saying that the album "may be a necessary beginning".[18]

In 1973, Quatro played on the Cozy Powell hit "Dance With the Devil", a track written by Mickie Most while Cozy Powel was part of the RAK roster.

Musicians who acted as her backing band around this period included Alastair McKenzie, Dave Neal and Len Tuckey,[9] with Robbie Blunt also being listed by some sources.[19] Tuckey's brother, Bill, acted as tour manager.[9]

With the exception of Australia, her chart success faltered thereafter, as proven with her 1975 hit Your Mamma Won't Like Me, which proved to be a moderate success in the UK. Further singles I Bit off More I Could Chew and I May Be Too Young, both failed to reach the UK Top 50. Quatro recorded an album in 1976 and released a new single in 1977 called Tear Me Apart which reached the UK Top 30, her first hit to do so in three years. It would take another year for another big hit, this time with a change to a more mellow style[7] giving Quatro a 1978 single "If You Can't 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 US[17] Both tracks were featured on the If You Knew Suzi... album. A year later, Quatro released Suzi ... and Other Four Letter Words, but none of her other work had much US success. This featured the hits "She's in Love with You", which made number 11 in Britain, "Mama's Boy" (number 34), and "I've Never Been in Love" (number 56).[20]

Mike Chapman and Dreamland records

In 1980, after Quatro's contract with Mickie Most had expired, she signed up with Chapman's Dreamland Records.[21]:4

In that same year, she released the album 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. The single only reach 68 in the UK due to distribution problems, it was clear at this point that Quatro's hit single career was beginning to wane. 1980, did however see the release of Suzi Quatro's Greatest Hits, which peaked at number 4 on the UK charts, becoming her highest-charting album there.[17]

Independence

After Chapman's 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 moderate airplay hit.[17] She commented in an article for 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 to; 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... I've kept working consistently even though I've not been in the charts." Around this time Quatro recorded a new album that was shelved until 1997, when it was released under 'Unreleased Emotion' Quatro briefly returned to recording for two more singles I Go Wild in 1984 and in 1985, her "Tonight I Could Fall in Love"/"Good Girl (Looking for a Bad Time)" single reached number 140 in the UK charts.[22] 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 Bowie's "Heroes", released the following year as the 1986 BBC Children in Need single. Quatro also released a version of Wild thing in the November 1986. "Can The Can"/"Devil Gate Drive" were re-released in 1987 as a single and reached number 87 in the UK charts.[22] 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 Quatro's last UK number 1. In 1989 Quatro released a pre recorded backing track single Baby You're a Star, and was released in the UK though failed to chart. By the late 80's it was clear that Quatro's hit making days were over, though still recorded persistently despite lack of chart success. During the 1990's Quatro released four new albums though Unreleased Emotion had been recorded several years previously. What Goes Around was released in 1995 and consisted of mainly older hits re recorded, this proved a success in Denmark. Except for 1999's Free the Butterfly self help album it would take a further 11 years for Quatro to release a new album. Back to the Drive in 2006 showed a return to Quatro's harder rock roots rather than the smoother sounds of her previous albums. Back to the Drive also returned Quatro to the Worlwide charts her first album to do so since 1980's Rock Hard. Back to the Drive also produced a download only single 'I'll Walk Through the Fire with You'. Quatro has recently released Spotlight in 2011 with the lead single 'Whatever Love Is' Quatro marked her 50th Anniversary in the music industry with an anthology 'Girl From Detroit' in 2014 with two new tracks.[23][24]

In December 2005, a documentary chronicling Quatro's life, Naked Under Leather, named after a 1975 bootleg album, recorded in Japan, directed by a former member of The Runaways, Victory Tischler-Blue, appeared.[25][26] In February 2006, Quatro released Back to the Drive, produced by Sweet guitarist Andy Scott. The album's title track was written by her former collaborator, Chapman.[27] In March 2007, Quatro released a version of the Eagles song "Desperado", followed by the publication of her autobiography, Unzipped.[28] By this time, Quatro had sold 50 million records.[5]

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.[11]

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 some cover versions. A second single from the album, "Whatever Love Is", was subsequently released.[29][30] 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 Goldfrapp's "Strict Machine", but Quatro's version contains two lines from "Can the Can", referencing the similarity of the tunes for the two songs.[31][32]

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.

Acting and radio hosting

Quatro is possibly best known in the United States for her role as the bass player Leather Tuscadero on the television show Happy Days. The show's producer Garry Marshall had offered her the role without having an audition after seeing a photograph of her on his daughter's bedroom wall. Leather was the younger sister of Fonzie's girlfriend, hot-rod driver Pinky Tuscadero. Leather fronted a rock band joined by principal character Joanie Cunningham. The character returned in other cameo roles, including once for a date to a fraternity formal with Ralph Malph. Marshall offered Quatro a Leather Tuscadero spin-off, but she declined the offer, saying she did not want to be typecast.[33]

Other acting roles include a 1982 episode of the British comedy-drama series Minder (called "Dead Men Do Tell Tales") as Nancy, the singer girlfriend of Terry (Dennis Waterman).[34] In 1985, she starred as a mentally disturbed ex-MI5 operative in Dempsey and Makepeace – "Love you to Death".[35] In 1994, she made a cameo appearance as a nurse in the "Hospital" episode of the comedy Absolutely Fabulous.[36] She also was filmed in the 1990 Clive Barker horror film Nightbreed, but the studio cut out her character. In 2006, Quatro performed the voice of Rio in the Bob the Builder film Built to Be Wild,[37] and appeared in an episode of the second season of Rock School, in Lowestoft. She has also appeared in the episode "The Axeman Cometh" of Midsomer Murders in the role of Mimi Clifton.

Quatro has also performed in theatre. In 1986, she appeared as Annie Oakley in a London production of Annie Get Your Gun[22] and in 1991 she performed the title role in a musical about the life of actress Tallulah Bankhead. Entitled Tallulah Who?, this musical was co-written by her and Shirlie Roden, adapted from a book by Willie Rushton. It ran from 14 February to 9 March at Hornchurch, England, where it was billed as "You'll be amazed how Tallulah did it, and to whom  and how often!" The show received favourable reviews from the majority of critics.[38][39]

In more recent times, Quatro has hosted weekly rock and roll programmes on BBC Radio 2. The first one was titled Rockin' with Suzi Q, while her second programme was given the title Wake Up Little Suzi.[40]

Songwriting

She started writing songs alone, then collaborated with other songwriters (such as Len Tuckey and Shirley Roden), and now once again mainly writes songs alone.

Quatro's early recorded songwriting was deliberately limited to album tracks and the B-sides of singles. She said in late 1973, that "...  [the] album tracks are a very different story from [the] singles. The two-minute lo-and-behold commercial single will not come out of my brain, but ain't I gonna worry about it."[41]

She describes creating a new song: "From sitting at my piano in my front room, writing down a title (always first), picking up my bass, figuring out the groove, going back to the piano... working on the lyrics, playing electric guitar... and finally I type out the lyrics. Only then is it officially a song. Next it goes down on my tiny 8-track, [with] me playing everything... this is the version all muso's use to get into the tune... then into the studio and we go from there."[42]:2

Personal life

Quatro's paternal grandfather was an Italian immigrant to the US. His family name of "Quattrocchi" was shortened by the immigration authorities because they found it too difficult to pronounce.[43] Quatro's Catholic[44] family were living in Detroit, Michigan when she was born. She has three sisters and a brother, and her parents fostered several other children while she was growing up. Her father, Art, was a semi-professional musician and worked at General Motors. Her mother, Helen, was Hungarian. In this environment, Quatro grew to be "extrovert but solitary", according to Norman, and she only became close to her mother after leaving the US for Britain.[9]

Her sister Arlene is the mother of actress Sherilyn Fenn.[45] Her sister Patti joined Fanny, one of the earliest all-female rock bands to gain national attention.[46] Quatro has a brother, Michael Quatro, who is also a musician.[47]

Quatro married her long-time guitarist Len Tuckey in 1976. They had two children together (Laura in 1982 and Richard Leonard in 1984) and divorced in 1992. Before 1993, Quatro lived with her two children in a manor house in Essex that she and Tuckey bought in 1980. She married German concert promoter Rainer Haas in 1993. In 2006, her daughter and grandchild moved into the manor house again.[1] Towards the end of 2008, Quatro's children moved out of the house and she temporarily put it up for sale, stating that she had empty nest syndrome. Quatro continues to live in Essex, England.

On March 31, 2012, Quatro broke her right knee and left wrist while boarding an aircraft in Kiev, Ukraine, where she had performed the night before. She had to cancel her appearance at the Detroit Music Awards, where she was to be inducted into the Detroit Hall of Fame along with her sisters, scheduled for April 27. This would have been her first performance in America for over 30 years. Quatro also had to reschedule other concert dates, while some were cancelled altogether.[48]

Attitude

In a 2012 interview, Quatro was asked what she thought she had achieved for female rockers in general. She replied:

Before I did what I did, we didn't have a place in rock 'n' roll. Not really. You had your Grace Slicks and all that, but that's not what I did. I was the first to be taken seriously as a female rock 'n' roll musician and singer. That hadn't been done before. I played the boys at their own game. For everybody that came afterward, it was a little bit easier, which is good. I'm proud of that. If I have a legacy, that's what it is. It's nothing I take lightly. It was gonna happen sooner or later. In 2014, I will have done my job 50 years. It was gonna be done by somebody, and I think it fell to me to do because I don't look at gender. I never have. It doesn't occur to me if a 6-foot-tall guy has pissed me off not to square up to him. That's just the way I am. If I wanted to play a bass solo, it never occurred to me that I couldn't. When I saw Elvis for the first time when I was 5, I decided I wanted to be him, and it didn't occur to me that he was a guy. That's why it had to fall to somebody like me.[3][lower-alpha 2]

In a 1973 interview, Quatro sympathised with many of the opinions voiced by the women's liberation movement whilst distancing herself from it because she considered that the participants were

... completely hypocritical. Their leaders stand up there and say, 'We're individuals blab blab blab,' and yet they're all in a group following like sheep. For me, I cannot put the two together ... I'm talking about the masses that follow [the movement's leaders who get press attention] and who have nothing at all to say. It gives it all a very phoney light. I hope they can find a way to apply it to their own lives, because grouping together takes away the whole idea of Women's Lib.[41]

The interviewer, Charles Shaar Murray, considered her viewpoint to be "... somewhat anomalous, because unless the woman in question happens to be well known, she has no way of letting people hear her unless she unites with other women and then elects a spokesman." He also noted the apparent contradiction that Quatro seemed proud that girls were writing to her saying that they were emulating her look and her attitude.[41] In 1974, Quatro believed that, unlike men, women were burdened with emotional responses and that it was more difficult for them to succeed in the music industry because they are more prone to jealousy and thus female audiences tend not to buy the recordings of female artists.[49]

Her unusually free use of swear words in conversation was often picked upon by interviewers in the 1970s,[49] as have been her diminutive stature and boy-ish nature. In 1974, Philip Norman said that

Of all female rock singers, she appears the most emancipated: a small girl leading an all-man group in which she herself plays bass guitar. The image is of a tomboy, lank-haired, tight-bottomed and (twice) tattooed; a rocker, a brooder, a loner, a knife-carrier; a hell-cat, a wild cat, a storm child, refugee from the frightened city of Detroit.[9][lower-alpha 3]

By October 1973, she had featured as a centrefold for Penthouse.[41] Unusually for that role, she was fully clothed, although the feature did include risqué anecdotal captions. Frith noted that while any publicity was a bonus, "Tit-talent spotters don't buy many singles and record buyers aren't yet that frustrated."[13]

Awards, Honors

October 20, 2016, it was announced through Cambridge online news,, that Suzi Quatro received an Honorary Doctorate in Music, along with Wilko Johnson. Anglia Ruskin University presented the Honorary Music Doctorates to Quatro and Wilko: . In 2011, Suzi Quatro was inducted to The Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame:.

Legacy and Influence

Views of journalists and reviewers

In August 1974, Simon Frith spotted a problem with the formula that was working outside the US, saying that

Suzi's facing a bit of a [commercial] crisis: Chinn and Chapman, having proved their point, are losing interest in her. She's never had their best material (they don't play many games with her) and each of her singles has been less gripping than the one before. Unless they suddenly imagine a new joke, she's in danger of petering out and she lacks the resources to fight back. None of her own musical talents has been needed and so they've been ignored (except on the throwaway B-sides) and while Sweet and Mud have their histories and themselves to draw on for support, Suzi's present has nothing to do with her past and her group was formed only to play Chinnichap music. Mud may become a top cabaret act and Sweet a respected rock group, but Suzi will only be a memory. Mickie Most's skill in the '60s was to make pop music out of British blues and R&B and folk; Chinn and Chapman's skill in the '70s has been to make pop music out of an audience. As this audience ages and changes, so will its music and Suzi Quatro will have been just an affectionate part of growing up.[13]

In 1983, journalist Tom Hibbert wrote that Quatro may have overstated her role as a leading light among female rock musicians. He said that

... it was in the wake of the 1977 punk revolution that the traditions of rock were turned upside down and female musicians truly came to the fore. But Suzi Quatro, with her tomboy sneers, her bass guitar and her stompingly persuasive teen-tunes, had at least laid down a challenge to the male-dominated rock orthodoxy. On stage in the Eighties, Quatro was still conveying energy and excitement  and she still lacked class."[51]

Views of scholars

In his 2008 paper Suzi Quatro: A prototype in the archsheology [sic] of rock, Frank Oglesbee writes that "The rebellion of rock music was largely a male rebellion; the women—often, in the 1950s and '60s, girls in their teens—in rock usually sang songs as personæ utterly dependent on their macho boyfriends...". He describes Quatro as "... a female rock pioneer, in some ways the female rock pioneer, ..., a cornerstone in the archsheology of rock." He said she grew up to become "the first female lead singer and bassist, an electric ax-woman, who sang and played as freely as the males, inspiring other females."[52]

Philip Auslander says that "Although there were many women in rock by the late 1960s, most performed only as singers, a traditionally feminine position in popular music". Though some women (like Quatro herself) played instruments in American all-female garage rock bands, none of these bands achieved more than regional success. So they "did not provide viable templates for women's on-going participation in rock".[2]:2–3 When Quatro emerged in 1973, "no other prominent female musician worked in rock simultaneously as a singer, instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader".[2]:2 Auslander adds that in 2000 Quatro saw herself as "kicking down the male door in rock and roll and proving that a female musician ... and this is a point I am extremely concerned about ... could play as well if not better than the boys".[2]:3

People and bands influenced by Quatro

Quatro has influenced various female musicians. Musician Tina Weymouth, who played bass guitar in the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, among other bands, first learned to play bass by listening to Quatro albums.[53]

Quatro had a direct influence on The Runaways[54] and Joan Jett[54] and Girlschool.[55]

Mid-1990s American indie rock band Tuscadero was named after Quatro's Happy Days character Leather Tuscadero, and their song "Leather Idol", from their 1994 album The Pink Album, was an ode to both Quatro and her TV character.[56]

On the cover of Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall's 2007 album Drastic Fantastic, Tunstall is dressed like Quatro, as a deliberate homage.[57][lower-alpha 4]

On 24 October 2013, Suzi received the Woman of Valor Award from the organisation Musicians for Equal Opportunities for Women (MEOW) for her role inspiring and influencing generations of female musicians.[59] The award was bestowed by Kathy Valentine (formerly of The Go-Go's) at a dinner in her honour in Austin, Texas, at the Austin Renaissance Hotel. Suzi performed five songs with a local band that included her sister Patti and Tony Scalzo of the band Fastball on "Stumblin In".

Satire

A Spanish rock band called Suzy & los Quattro released two studio albums on the label No Tomorrow in 2006 and 2008; in the tradition of Ramones and the Donnas, all of the bandmembers except for Suzy Chain list their last name as Quattro.[60]

A Danish band called Suzi & Quadratrødderne released two albums: Glimrende (Excellent) and Absolut Nødvendigt..! (Absolutely Necessary ..!). Suzi was played by Ricky Rocket. Unlike Quatro and her band, Suzi & Quadratrødderne dressed in glam rock style.[61][62]

Musical style

Quatro's music covers several genres. Her primary genres are hard rock,[63] glam rock[64][65][66] and female cock rock. (Auslander analysed Quatro's live performances of "Can the Can" plus "Breakdown" and concluded that she performed as a cock-rocker.[2]:1–2 He writes that "she has appeared on occasion just as a bass player, not a singer, and [also] demonstrates her instrumental prowess with an extended bass guitar solo during her own concerts. By foregrounding her status as a rock player, not just a singer, Quatro declares ownership of the symbolic rock cock.")[2]:3

With The Pleasure Seekers, their musical styles and genres included power pop,[67] garage rock[68] and Motown.[69] Suzi also performs musicals.[70]

Discography

Studio albums

[17]

Live albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Year Title B-side UK Singles Chart[80] Australia US[71] Portugal Ireland Germany
1966 "Never Thought You'd Leave Me" (in The Pleasure Seekers) "What A Way To Die"
1968 "Light of Love" (in The Pleasure Seekers) "Good Kind of Hurt"
1972 "Rolling Stone" "Brain Confusion" 1
1973 "Can the Can" "Ain't Ya Something Honey" / "Don't Mess Around" (US) 1[81] 1 56 5 1
1973 "48 Crash" "Little Bitch Blue" 3[81] 1 2
1973 "Daytona Demon" "Roman Fingers" 14[81] 4 2
1974 "All Shook Up" "Glycerine Queen" 85
1974 "Devil Gate Drive" "In The Morning" 1[81] 1 1 2
1974 "Too Big" "I Wanna Be Free" 14[81] 13 12 6
1974 "The Wild One" "Shake My Sugar"

(Aust B Side – "The Wild One (slow)")

7[81] 2 11 15
1975 "Your Mamma Won't Like Me" "Peter, Peter" 31[81] 14 27
1975 "I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew" "Red Hot Rosie"

(Aust B Side – "Michael")

54 34
1975 "Michael" "Savage Silk" N/R 100 N/R
1975 "I May Be Too Young" "Don't Mess Around" 52 50
1977 "Tear Me Apart" "Same as I Do (UK – YRAK RAK 248B)" / "Close Enough to Rock 'n' Roll" 27[81] 25 17
1977 "Make Me Smile" "Same as I Do" N/R N/R N/R N/R N/R N/R
1977 "Roxy Roller" "I'll Grow on You"
1978 "If You Can't Give Me Love" "Cream Dream" / "Non-Citizen" (US) 4[81] 10 45 2 5
1978 "The Race Is On" "Non-Citizen" 43[81] 28 11 15
1978 "Stumblin' In" (with Chris Norman) "A Stranger with You" 41[81] 2 4 13 2
1979 "Don't Change My Luck" "Wiser Than You" N/R 72
1979 "She's in Love with You" "Space Cadets" / "Starlight Lady" (US) 11[81] 30 41 5 8
1980 "Mama's Boy" "Mind Demons" 34[81] 27 19
1980 "I've Never Been in Love" "Starlight Lady" / "Space Cadets" (US) 56[81] 44 38
1980 "Rock Hard" "State of Mind" 68[81] 9 26
1981 "Glad All Over" "Ego in the Night" 70
1981 "Lipstick" "Woman Cry" 46 51
1982 "Heart of Stone" "Remote Control" 60[81]
1983 "Down at the Superstore" "Half Day Closing (Down at the Superstore) "
1983 "Main Attraction" "Transparent"
1984 "Can the Can (re-release)" "Devil Gate Drive"
1984 "I Go Wild" "I'm A Rocker"
1985 "Tonight I Could Fall in Love" "Good Girl (Looking for a Bad Time)" 140
1986 "Heroes" "A Long Way To Go"/"The County Line"
1986 "I Got Lost in His Arms" "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun"
1986 "Wild Thing" "I Don't Want You"
1987 "Can the Can" (re-release) "Devil Gate Drive" 87
1987 "Let It Be" (one of about fifty singers in the chorus) "Let It Be (Gospel Jam Mix)" 1
1988 "We Found Love" "We Found Love" (Instrumental) N/R
1989 "Baby You're a Star" "Baby You're A Star" (Instrumental)
1991 "Kiss Me Goodbye" "Kiss Me Goodbye" (Instrumental)
1991 "The Great Midnight Rock 'n' Roll House Party" "Intimate Strangers"
1992 "Love Touch"
"Love Touch" (Single Version)
"We Found Love"
1992 "Hey Charly"
1992 "I Need Your Love" "The Growing Years"
1993 "Fear of the Unknown" (Radio Version) "And so to Bed"
1994 "If I Get Lucky" (Radio Version) "If I Get Lucky" (Long version)
1994 "Peace on Earth" (Radio edit)
"Peace on Earth" (Album Version)
"Frosty the Snowman"
1995 "What Goes Round" (Radio Edit)
"What Goes Round" (Album Version)
"Four Letter Words" (Remix version)
1996 "If You Can't Give Me Love (remix)" "Empty Rooms"
2006 "I'll Walk Through the Fire with You"
2010 "Singing with Angels" (Australian September tour limited edition)
2011 "Whatever Love Is"
2014 "The Girl From Detroit City"

[17]

Filmography

Television

Acting
Guest appearances

Cinema

Honours and awards

Bravo Otto

Bravo is the largest magazine for female teenagers in German-speaking Europe. Each year, the readers of this magazine select the Bravo Otto award winners.

Quatro has won the following Bravo Otto awards:[86]

Queens of British Pop

In April 2009, BBC TV selected Quatro as one of twelve Queens of British Pop.[87]

Awarded Honorary Doctorate at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK on Wednesday 19 October 2016.

See also

References

Notes

  1. Quatro appears to have changed her look after the failure of Rolling Stone. Simon Frith wrote in August 1974 that when Most had first introduced him to her, she was "... a musician and not a glamour girl. ... Her press photos showed a thoughtful, natural, healthy girl in jeans and a singlet; she was sitting in a field and looking at the sky, clearly a singer-songwriter – sexy, but in an adult sort of way" and that this image was changed after "Rolling Stone": "Underwear is what Suzi Quatro doesn't wear anymore. Since May 1973, she's never been seen in anything but soft leather cat suits with zips down the front. No bra, no panties, but lots of chains and big boots. She put her band together. It's got three men in black vests and biceps."[13]
  2. Quatro actually had her "Elvis moment" on 6 January 1957, when she was six years old, not five. With her older sister Arlene, she was watching the third (and final) appearance of Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show. Arlene was screaming as Elvis sang "Don't Be Cruel". When he sang "Mmmmmm", Quatro had her first sexual thrill (but did not know what it was). Then their father (Art) entered the room, said "That's disgusting", and switched off the television. At this point Quatro decided that she wanted to be Elvis. Art later brought home a copy of Elvis singing "Love Me Tender" and conceded "OK, dammit  so the kid can sing!"[1]:26[3]
  3. Quatro has a tulip tattoed on her shoulder and a star on her wrist.[50]
  4. In March 2011, Quatro suggested that KT Tunstall would be an ideal person to play the lead role in any theatre show based on Quatro's own life.[58]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Quatro, Suzi (2008) [2007]. Unzipped. London: Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 334–335. ISBN 978-0-340-93751-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Auslander, Philip (28 January 2004). "I Wanna Be Your Man: Suzi Quatro's musical androgyny" (PDF). Popular Music. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 23 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1017/S0261143004000030. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Callwood, Brett. "Glycerine queen, forever! – Music – Detroit Metro Times, page 3". Metro Times. Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  4. Pukas, Anna (25 July 2013). "Suzi Quatro: the original rock chick". Daily Express.
  5. 1 2 3 Jeffries, Stuart (2 August 2007). "'I'm kinda different'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  6. "Glycerine queen, forever!". metrotimes.com. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Quatro, Suzi". Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Oxford Music Online. 7 April 2006. Retrieved 28 January 2013. (subscription required)
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Quatro, Suzi". Gale Musician Profiles. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Norman, Philip (1974). "Suzi Quatro: The Girl in the Gang". The Sunday Times. (subscription required)
  10. Moser, Margaret. "The Pleasure Seekers: Patti and the Quatro Band." The Austin Chronicele. Fri. 29 July 2011.
  11. 1 2 3 "Michigan Rock and Roll Legends – SUZI QUATRO". Michigan, United States: Michigan Rock and Roll Legends. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  12. 1 2 Betrock, Alan (March 1974). "Suzi Quatro: Suzi Quatro". Phonograph Record. (subscription required)
  13. 1 2 3 4 Frith, Simon (August 1974). "Suzi Quatro in England". Phonograph Record. (subscription required)
  14. Stewart, Tony (2 June 1973). "This Is Suzi Quatro. She's Heavy". NME. (subscription required)
  15. Byrne, Alan (2006). Thin Lizzy. SAF Publishing. pp. 48, 51. ISBN 978-0-946719-81-5.
  16. 1 2 Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 334–335, 349. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 785–786. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
  18. Shaw, Greg (6 June 1974). "Suzi Quatro: Suzi Quatro". Rolling Stone.
  19. Plummer, Mark (9 June 1973). "Silverhead Savage". Melody Maker. (subscription required)
  20. "Suzi Quattro". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  21. Hendriks, Phil; Tim Smith (February 2011). Rock Hard (CD booklet). Suzi Quatro. London, United Kingdom: 7T's Records. GLAM CD 126.
  22. 1 2 3 "Suzi Quatro Timeline, Gunta Anderson, via Wayback". Web.archive.org. 20 January 2008. Archived from the original on 20 January 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  23. McAllister, Emery. "No.1 facts and feats from ukcharts.20m.com, Longest Gap Between Number One Hits". Scottsdale, Arizona, United States: ukcharts.20m.com. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  24. Selvin, Joel (7 March 2004). "All-Star Charity Albums: From Good Cause to the Bargain Bin". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, United States. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  25. Dwyer, Michael (21 March 2005). "Eternity in Black". The Sunday Herald. Melbourne.
  26. "Naked Under Leather (2004)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  27. Allmusic: "Back to the Drive" review/credits
  28. "Suzi Quatro Official website: News". Suziquatro.com. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  29. Patrick Doonan. "Suzi Quatro News". Suziquatro.com. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  30. O'Brien, Jon. "AllMusic review, Overview". Ann Arbor, USA: AllMusic. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  31. O'Brien, Jon. "AllMusic review". Ann Arbor, USA: AllMusic. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  32. Victory Tischler-Blue (video producer), Suzi Quatro (actress, lead vocals, bass guitar), Mike Chapman (record producer) et al. (16 November 2011). Suzi Quatro Strict Machine Official Video.mp4 (Trailer). SUZI QUATRO OFFICIAL YouTube channel. Retrieved 23 November 2011. From the studios of the brilliant Victory Tischler Blue – here is the official video for Suzi Quatro's Strict Machine. It includes live footage from Suzi's recent Rocks The Spotlight Tour (Sept/Oct 2011) of Australia. Suzi's version of the Goldfrapp song is on her new album In the Spotlight.
  33. "Suzi Quatro Rocks On!". abc-mallorca.com. 6 March 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
  34. "Minder (1979) – Season 3, Episode 1: Dead Men Do Tell Tales". San Francisco, USA: tv.com. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  35. "Dempsey and Makepeace – Season 2, Episode 3: Love You to Death". San Francisco, USA: tv.com. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  36. "Absolutely Fabulous". BBC America.
  37. "Bob the Builder: Built to be Wild". Toonhound.com. 8 July 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  38. "The Queen's Theatre listing of Quatro's performance in Tallulah Who? (via Wayback)". Hornchurch, UK: The Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch. 2003. Retrieved 16 December 2004.
  39. "Tallulah Who?". Accrington, UK: The Guide to Musical Theatre. 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  40. "Suzi Quatro homepage". BBC. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  41. 1 2 3 4 Murray, Charles Shaar (13 October 1973). "Suzi Quatro: Quatro Lib". NME. (subscription required)
  42. Quatro, Suzi; Mike Chapman, Holly Knight, Gered Mankowitz, Daryl Smith, Steve Kitchen (2012). In the Dark (CD booklet). Suzi Quatro. London, United Kingdom: Cherry Red Records. CR CDBOX8.
  43. Quatro, Suzi (2008) [2007]. Unzipped. London: Hodder & Stoughton. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-340-93751-8.
  44. Danziger, Danny (10 August 2007). "Relative Values: Suzi Quatro and her daughter, Laura Tuckey". The Sunday Times. London.
  45. "Sherilyn Fenn". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  46. Anderman, Joan (20 April 2007). "Rocking the Boat". Boston Globe.
  47. "Michael". Quatrophonic.com. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  48. Lynn & Skip of the Suzi Quatro Official Fan Club (video producer), Suzi Quatro (presenter). (8 April 2012). Suzi Quatro accident - broken wrist & leg.wmv. SUZI QUATRO OFFICIAL YouTube channel. Retrieved 13 April 2012. Suzi Quatro filmed today (8th April 2012) at home in Essex. A message to fans about her accident on 31st March in Kiev while making her return journey following her gig in Kiev on Friday March 30th 2012.
  49. 1 2 Coon, Caroline (20 July 1974). "Suzi Quatro & Olivia Newton-John: Dolly Mixture". Melody Maker. (subscription required)
  50. Frith, Simon (August 1974). "Suzi Quatro in England". Phonograph Record. (subscription required)
  51. Hibbert, Tom (1983). "The History of Rock: Oh, Suzi Q!!". (subscription required)
  52. Oglesbee, Frank W. (24 July 2008). "Suzi Quatro: A prototype in the archsheology of rock". Popular Music and Society. 23 (2): 29. doi:10.1080/03007769908591731. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
  53. Isola, Gregory. "Tina Talks Heads, Tom Toms, and How to Succeed at Bass Without Really Trying (via Wayback)". San Bruno, CA, USA: bassplayer.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  54. 1 2 Unterberger, Richie. "Suzi Quatro". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  55. "Girlschool interview". photogroupie.com. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  56. "Leather Idol" lyrics, LyricsMania
  57. "andPOP Interviews KT Tunstall". Thornhill, Ontario, Canada: andPOP. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  58. Walker, Tim (2 March 2011). "Suzi Quatro: 'What a show my life could make'". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  59. Moser, Margaret Austin Chronicle "Suzi Quatro Coming to Austin" 10 April 2013
  60. Archived 5 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  61. "Picasa Web Albums – Varde Open Air". Google. 28 July 2003. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  62. "Google Translate". Google. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  63. Unterberger, Richie. "Suzi Quatro: Music Biography, Credits and Discography: AllMusic". San Francisco, California, USA: AllMusic. Retrieved 6 January 2014. Unterberger describes Quatro as: "An iconic, leather-clad hard rocker who gained fame for her glam-inspired songs and her stint on TV's Happy Days as Pinky Tuscadero."
  64. Sibary, Shona (17 July 2013). "In a painfully honest interview, a regretful Suzi Quatro reveals the woman behind the public persona". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  65. McCormick, Neil (27 July 2013). "Suzi Quatro interview: 'When I zip up, it just feels like me.'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  66. Auslander, Philip (2006). Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music. University of Michigan Press. p. 195. ISBN 0472068687.
  67. Shake Some Action - The Ultimate Guide To Power Pop. Shake Some Action - PowerPop. 2007. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-9797714-0-8.
  68. Angela Smith (10 April 2014). Women Drummers: A History from Rock and Jazz to Blues and Country. Scarecrow Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8108-8835-7.
  69. Lucy O'Brien (16 October 2003). She Bop II: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul. A&C Black. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-8264-3529-3.
  70. Giulio D'Agostino (1 January 2001). Glam Musik: British Glam Music '70 History. iUniverse. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-595-16563-6.
  71. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Unterberger, Richie. "Suzi Quatro – Awards : AllMusic". Ann Arbor, USA: AllMusic. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  72. 1 2 "Suzi Quatro – Suzi...And Other Four Letter Words". Dietikon, Switzerland: norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  73. "Annie Get Your Gun – 1986 London Cast". London, United Kingdom: First Night Records. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  74. Ruhlmann, William. "AllMusic review, Annie Get Your Gun (Original London Cast Recording), Suzi Quatro". Ann Arbor, USA: AllMusic. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  75. "Gramophone magazine, December 1986 issue, page 138, Stage and Screen section". Gramophone magazine. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  76. "WJO Distribution, Suzi Quatro – Spotlight". NSW, Australia: WJO Distribution. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  77. O'Brien, Jon. "AllMusic review, Overview". Ann Arbor, USA: AllMusic. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  78. "Cradle, The History, CD Baby". Portland, Oregon, United States: CD Baby. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  79. "The Pleasure Seekers, What a Way to Die, CD Baby". Portland, Oregon, United States: CD Baby. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  80. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 444. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  81. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "SUZI QUATRO / Artist / Official Charts". London, United Kingdom: The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  82. "ACTUAL ARTICLE TITLE BELONGS HERE!". Countdownwiki.com. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  83. Suzi Quatro (interviewee) (2011). Suzi Quatro Interview on 4BC Brisbane's News Talks 1116AM (wmv) (Radio broadcast). Brisbane, Australia: Fairfax Radio. Event occurs at 4:09. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  84. "RocKwiz Episode 123 Chris Cheney and Suzi Quatro". sbs.com.au. Australia: Special Broadcasting Service Corporation. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  85. "Spicks and Specks Series 8 Episode 2". www.abc.net.au. Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 12 February 2014.
  86. Müller, Christian. "BRAVO OTTO Sieger". Rosdorf, Germany: bravo-archiv.de. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  87. "BBC Queens of British Pop, Episode 1 2009". London, UK: BBC News. Retrieved 25 February 2012.

External links

General

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Suzi Quatro.

Music videos

"Back to the Drive" at time 0:00
"15 Minutes of Fame" at time 4:15
"I'll Walk Through the Fire with You" at time 8:26
"No Choice" at time 13:17
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.