Female bands or artists in the male universe of rock, hard or punk rock, it was not common. Here at MiscelAna, I love to rescue the most iconic women who overcame prejudice and other even greater challenges to stand out, such as the Wilson sisters from the band Heart, the Go-gos, Siouxsie Sioux, Blondie, or Pat Benatar, among others. One of the pioneers and most influential is not always remembered often enough: Suzi Quatro. So when making the new playlist for World Rock Day 2023, I started with it and the song The Wild One. On July 14, 2023, he released a new single with KT Tunstall, Truth is My Weapon.

Susan Kay Quatro is now 73 years old (born June 3, 1950) and still active. In addition to being a vocalist, she was the bass player in her band, but although she is American, her career has been bigger abroad than in her home country. His first album hit stores 50 years ago, in 1973. Since then, another 26 have come with classics like The Wild One, Stumblin’ In, and Your Mama Won’t Like Me, among others. As an actress, she was cast in the sitcom Happy Days (and is the aunt of actress Sherilynn Fenn, from Twin Peaks), and even without being gigantic in the US, in 2010 she was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Suzy has always cited Elvis Presley as her biggest influence, after seeing him on TV when she was just six years old. Having received classical training to play piano and percussion, she taught herself to play bass in order to join her sister’s band. She also played drums and percussion in her father’s jazz band, and no one ever doubted her aspiration to be an artist.

One of her biggest hits is the song The Wild One, from her second album, which was also successful in the United States. The song was used on the soundtrack of the film The Runaways precisely because it was one of the main musical influences of the band and Joan Jett.

Written and produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, who was inspired by Suzi’s attitude on stage to write it. “I was part of the glam rock scene, but I don’t think glam rock transferred to the US. I got a lot of radio play with ‘All Shook Up’ and ‘Skin Tight Skin’ and ‘Can The Can’ was on the lower end, but my biggest hit was a country rock record, ‘Stumblin’ In’,” she acknowledged years later. I recommend ‘discovering her’!

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