Suzi Quatro
124 Shouts - 966,064 Scrobbles
Biography
It's pretty far-fetched, as some revisionists are now claiming, to view Suzi Quatro as a precursor to the "riot grrrl" of the '90s. Her brand of mid-'70s pop was far more innocuous and, in any case, often supplied by professional songwriters. What she did prove was that it was possible for a petite woman to play bass, sing, and wear leather with a reasonable degree of raunch and pride. That, with enough musical hooks to draw in the pop crowd, was enough to reel off a series of big British hit singles just before the advent of punk, although she remained virtually unknown in her native U.S.
Read More...To the British audience, it seemed as if Quatro emerged out of nowhere in 1973, but in fact she'd been playing professionally for nearly a decade. While still in her early teens, she joined the Pleasure Seekers, a Detroit band also featuring her sisters Arlene and Patti. One of the few all-girl garage rock bands who played their own instruments, they recorded a fine, gritty single for the local Hideout label, "Never Thought You'd Leave Me"/"What a Way to Die" (both sides were reissued in the 1980s on the What a Way to Die '60s garage rock compilation). Another single followed for Mercury, and the group even toured Vietnam to entertain troops. In 1968, though, Arlene quit the band to raise her kids (one of whom is actress Sherilyn Fenn), to be replaced by yet another sister, Nancy.
The Pleasure Seekers became Cradle, which placed more emphasis on rock and original material. In the early '70s, British producer Mickie Most (The Animals, Lulu, Donovan, Herman's Hermits) happened to see Cradle while he was in Detroit to work on an album with Jeff Beck at Motown's studios. Most let Quatro know he was interested in working with her as a solo act; six months later, Cradle split, and Suzy was on her way to London (Patti joined the all-woman rock band Fanny in Los Angeles).
After her first single flopped, Most hooked her up with songwriters Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, who were also supplying material to Sweet. The Tracy Chapman-Chinn-penned "Can the Can" went to number one in the U.K. in 1973, and over the next few years the same team would write about ten other British chart hits for her, including four Top Ten entries. These fused glitter and bubblegum in much the same way as Sweet did, though Quatro was perhaps a tad raunchier (without ever getting downright scary). Quatro and her guitarist (and husband) Len Tuckey did write some of her material, though these efforts were usually confined to albums. In the U.S., though, she could barely get into the Top 100, though she did get on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Her American fortunes changed in the late '70s, when she had a short-lived, semi-regular stint on the sitcom Happy Days as the guitar-playing, sassy Leather Tuscadero. In 1979, she made the American Top Five with "Stumblin' In," although this was a duet with Chris Norman. Undoubtedly an influence upon The Runaways and Joan Jett, and thus by extension a mild influence on a subsequent generation of female rockers, she's kept a low profile in the '80s and '90s, although she's done some television and theatrical work in Britain. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
Top Tracks
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Can The Can - (3:32) - 7,680 playsLyricsWell, you call your mama Tiger
And we all know you ain't lying
And your boyfriend's name is Eagle
And he lives up in the sky - watch out
Watch out the tiger don't go claw the eagle's eye
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48 Crash - (3:54) - 5,866 playsLyricsWell, you got the hands of a man
And the face of a little boy blue, ooh
And when you stand, you're so grand
There's a case just for looking at you, ooh
You're so young
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If You Can't Give Me Love - (3:50) - 6,620 playsLyricsWell I've seen you before on that discotheque floor
you were driving me out of my mind
Oh
but I could've sworn that I saw something more in your eyes
Oh though you were surrounded by beauty unbounded
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The Wild One - (2:51) - 8,293 playsLyricsAll my life I've wanted to be somebody and here I am
I know what I've got and there ain't nobody
Gonna take it away from me
So let me tell ya what I am
I'm a red hot fox, I can take the knocks
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Devil Gate Drive - (3:48) - 4,966 playsLyricsWell at the age of five they can do their jive
down in Devil Gate Drive.
And at the age of six they're gonna get their kicks
down in Devil Gate Drive.
Well your mama don't know where your sister done go
- She's In Love With You - (3:33) - 2,622 plays
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- All Shook Up - (3:49) - 1,980 plays
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- Daytona Demon - (4:01) - 1,816 plays
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- I've Never Been In Love - (3:02) - 1,346 plays
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- Too Big - (3:20) - 1,288 plays
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- Keep A Knockin' - (3:13) - 1,353 plays
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- Stumblin' In - (3:28) - 1,642 plays
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- The Race Is On - (3:56) - 1,227 plays
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- Mama's Boy - (3:36) - 1,080 plays
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- Glycerine Queen - (3:49) - 1,041 plays
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- Tear Me Apart - (2:58) - 1,133 plays
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- Rolling Stone - (2:45) - 801 plays
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- Wake Up Little Susie - (2:51) - 863 plays
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- Fever - (3:39) - 1,002 plays
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- Your Mamma Won't Like Me - (3:59) - 1,017 plays
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From Radio.com
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Rock Flashback: Suzi Quatro
January 31, 2012


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