Suzi Quatro "Quatro" LP Orig OOP EX+ Joan Jett The Runaways

$

25

Suzi Quatro "Quatro" LP Bell Records (US)

Vinyl is EX+, Jacket is VG!

Original Press

Out of Print!

Track Listing:

A1 Devil Gate Drive Songwriter – Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn* 3:46 A2 Keep A-Knockin' Songwriter – Richard Penniman 3:12 A3 Too Big Songwriter – Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn* 3:20 A4 The Wild One Arranged By – Phil Dennys Songwriter – Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn* 3:46 A5 Savage Silk Songwriter – Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn* 3:32 A6 Move It Songwriter – Ian Samwell 3:36 B1 Hit The Road Jack Songwriter – Percy Mayfield 3:52 B2 Trouble Songwriter – Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller 3:44 B3 Cat Size Songwriter – Len Tuckey, Suzi Quatro 4:34 B4 Shot Of Rhythm And Blues Songwriter – Terry Thompson (2) 4:50 B5 Klondyke Kate Songwriter – Len Tuckey, Suzi Quatro 3:28

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 women's 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.

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

The Pleasure Seekers and Cradle

In 1964, after seeing a television performance by The Beatles, Suzi's older sister, Patti, had formed a band called The Pleasure Seekers with two friends. Suzi joined soon after and the band billed themselves as Suzi Soul and The Pleasure Seekers, with Patti assuming the stage name of Patti Pleasure. This all-female band, which also featured another sister, Arlene, performed at various venues, including army bases in Vietnam. Many of their performances were in cabaret, where attention was focussed more on their looks than their music. They were required to wear mini-skirts and wigs, which Suzi later considered to be necessary evils in the pursuit of success. All-girl rock bands were virtually unknown at the time and were rarely booked by rock venues.

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.

Work with Mickie Most Quatro and her unnamed band in AVRO's TopPop (a Dutch television show) on 7 December 1973

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 didn't want to be the new anybody."[7] 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.

Quatro's 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 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." 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 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. 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 throughout Europe and in Australia. It was the first UK number 1 by a female artist in five years.

"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. Tuckey's brother, Bill, acted as tour manager.

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

Suzi's facing a bit of a 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.

With the exception of Australia, her chart success faltered thereafter until a change to a more mellow style produced the 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 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 "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).

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