Rock music was and is a male domain, but in the seventies numerous talented 'Queens Of Noise' entered the male world and shook up the seemingly progressive rock world.
Suzanna 'Suzi' Kay Quatrocchi , born on June 3rd, 1950, grew up in the USA, in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe with four siblings and joined her father's band at the age of eight. Let Suzi tell the story herself (BRAVO issue 29 from 1973): "My father played jazz in the 'Art Quatro Trio' and placed a lot of value on a good musical education. When I was eight, I joined the group and played bongos. For me, it was natural back then - just like for my brother Mike and my three sisters Patti, Nancy and Arlene. But when I was 15, I'd had enough of jazz and wanted to play rock 'n' roll. Together with my sisters, I founded 'Suzi Soul & The Pleasure Seekers'.
We mostly played in nightclubs and got good wages. That's where we were discovered by the English producer Mickie Most. He offered me a contract, I immediately accepted and Mickie even paid for my flight to London because I didn't have enough money.
If it hadn't been for Mickie Most, I would have given up immediately. I couldn't find an apartment in London, couldn't get a work permit and didn't know anyone.
I was initially disappointed with the musicians in London. Only a few played rock 'n' roll as hard and hot as I imagined, and almost half of them wore make-up like girls. And I don't like that in boys at all!
When I finally found three lively boys who were a good fit for me, we went on tour with Slade. After that I recorded my first record. It came out on May 5th and was already number one in the charts after two weeks.
At this point, Suzi fails to mention that she had already released the single “Rolling Stone” the year before, but that it remained under the radar of pop fans – except in Portugal.
BRAVO describes Suzi like this: "Suzi is 1.65 meters tall but she is a sensation on stage. She sings, plays bass, puts on a show like no other, basically only wears black leather suits and has almost a dozen chains wrapped around her neck." She is usually stark naked under her leather suits. A documentary about the life and career of Suzi Quatro , which premiered on December 25, 2005, is called "Naked Under Leather". In it, Suzi Quatro plays herself.
The first record Suzi talks about is called "Can The Can" and it is at the top of the charts in Great Britain for one week and in BRAVO for six weeks before it takes the top spot with the follow-up "48 Crash". In 1974, she had another top hit in her adopted home of Great Britain and in the BRAVO charts with "Devil Gate Drive". In her home country of the USA, Suzi did not enter the Billboard charts until 1979 and then only as a duet with Smokie singer Chris Norman with "Stumblin' In". She landed 13 hits in the BRAVO readers' hit list and was at the top for a total of eight weeks with three titles!
Just six issues after her interview, BRAVO started her 18-part star cut ; by 1980 she had received six BRAVO-OTTOs. After her musical career, Suzi devoted herself to acting on TV and in musicals, but also continued to make music. In 2009, she released the single "Singing With Angels" with Elvis Presley's former backing band, The Jordanaires .