The Orchids

The Orchids were a pop/rock band verging slightly on New Wave and featured Laurie McAllister, Sunbie Sinn, Che Zuro, Jan King and Laurie Bell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band was formed from two Bomp Records Kim Fowley was producing at the time, Vampires From Outer Space and Hollywood Confidential. Drummer Laurie Bell had recorded the track ‘If You’re Gonna Change Your Heart’ for Vampires. The album also featured Laurie McAllister playing bass and singing lead in the group Baby Roulette And The Rave Ons on a tune entitled ‘Black Orchids’. Laurie McAllister was also featured as lead vocalist on a tune called ‘On Suburban Lawns’ on Hollywood Confidential, that was billed as The Runaways. Laurie Bell had actually worked with Fowley previously on his Sunset Blvd album, appearing on the improvised title track. Joining forces with Laurie Bell and Laurie McAllister were vocalist / guitarist Jan King (from Stingray and The Wads) and guitarists Sunbie Harrel and Che Zuro, who Fowley recruited from Backstage Pass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Orchids as they became known, released an EP on Kim Fowley’s Mystery Records and signed to MCA Records for self-titled album in 1980. One single was released entitled ‘When Does Love Turn Out Right?’. A promotional video of ‘Blame It All On The Night’ aired one time on the pre-MTV video program called ‘Hollywood Heartbeat’ in the summer of 1980. The final Orchids gig was in December of 1980 in the San Fernando Valley.

Shortly after The Orchids break-up Laurie Bell formed the short-lived all girl metal band Tantrum. Jan and Che recorded a demo under the name Valentine and soon after Che Zuro flew off to the UK to replace singer Wendy Wu in The Photos. When the label passed on the demos that were recorded, Che returned to Los Angeles. Laurie Bell and Che Zuro both appeared in the 1984 film ‘Get Crazy’ and shortly thereafter formed ‘Puss n Boots’ with singer Jan King. Both Jan and Che have continued music careers, Che in the Los Angeles area and Jan in Chicago.

Marie France

Marie-France Garcia (born 9 February 1946 in Oran) is a French singer and actress. She is a Parisian pop icon of the 1970s. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marie-France was hired in 1969 by the Alcazar in the Latin Quarter, where she became as famous a celebrity as Marilyn Monroe. She remained one of the celebrities of that music-hall until 1987. She became a member of FHAR (Homosexual Front of Revolutionary Action), alongside Guy Hocquenghem. As a member of FHAR, she was interviewed in the magazine Recherches (special issue "Trois milliards de pervers" (3 billion perverts), 1973). She was a member of a small group, the Gazolines, with Hélène Hazera. The two performed in "Les Intrigues de Sylvia Couski" by Adolfo Arrieta (1974).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She appeared as a singer in Barocco by Andre Techine in 1976, where she produced «On se voit se voir», a song written by Philippe Sarde. She pursued her acting career in theater, notably in Le Navire Night by Marguerite Duras in 1979. She recorded the album 39 de Fièvre (39 °C Fever) in 1980, performing several renditions of 1960s pop (Gillian Hils, Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Vartan, Rocky Volcano). She appeared in the film Les Innocents, directed by Téchiné in 1987. In 1993, she recorded a song by Édith Piaf with Marc Almond. Daniel Darc and Mirwais collaborated with her in 1997 on her eponymous album. Dave then invited her on his album Doux tam tam in 2003. Frédéric Botton wrote several songs for her in 2005. At the end of 2006, Léonard Lasry and Marie France sang a duet titled "Du désir au bout des doigts". This song is featured on the first Léonard Lasry album Des Illusions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marie France also published a duet with Hélèna Noguerra on her last album, released in October 2007. In 2008, Marie France recorded a rock'n'roll garage album entirely written by Jacques Duvall and composed by Miam Monster Miam. The album is titled Phantom feat. Marie France.

Wanda's

Wanda's was a punk band from Alkmaar than later on moved to Amsterdam. There has been a lot of speculation about the name Wanda's. Rumours were that was named after an SM heroine, or that it stood for the English word Wonder. The truth is that Wanda's is the drunken pronunciation of Rondo's, a Rotterdam punk band of the time.

 

 

 

 

 

In Alkmaar, a group of punks started organizing gigs in the recently squatted Parkhof, a former school building in the Victoria Park. Six girls were active in it and soon they decided to use one of the classrooms as a rehearsal space. After a year or two, most of the members moved to Amsterdam. They rehearsed in squats, first in Tetterode and later in a shed in the eastern harbor. They were  Geralda Geertsma (guitar), Lies van Duijl (vocals, flute),  Arie de Jong (drums),  Josée Ris (singing), Anne de Jong (bass) and  Marleen Kamminga (guitar and singing).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By 1981 Geralda Geertsma (guitar, antropofoon*) and Lies van Duijl (vocals, flute) had left. First album The Ideal was released in 1982. The music was very rambunctious punk. It was adolescent and was recorded on a four-track in the legendary Joke's Cowshed.
 

 

 

 

 

After some changes in line-up including the introduction of some men A State Of No Mercy was released in 1986. The music is still somewhat rooted in punk but clearly influenced by new wave and rock. The lyrics were as socially critical as ever and were completely in tune with the doom and gloom of the eighties.

 

 

Arie and Marleen later played together in a band called Godzilla.

The Miller Sisters

The Miller Sisters were an American singing duo of the 1950s. Elsie Jo Miller and Mildred Miller (Wages) were actually sisters-in-law; Elsie married Mildred's brother, guitarist Roy Miller, and the three of them worked as the Miller Trio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Miller Trio were on WTUP Radio in Tupelo, Mississippi, for about a year before auditioning for Sun Records in 1954. Producer Sam Phillips believed that the Millers' vocal harmonies, complemented by the steel guitar solos of Stan Kesler and the percussive electric guitar of Quinton Claunch, would translate into significant record sales. However, the group did not score a hit. Elvis' first record was released a week after Jo and Milly recorded their first session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around that time the music genre was shifting more away from country and toward the rockabilly style. Phillips decided not to release their 1957 recording of the R&B song "Got You on My Mind", but the Miller Sisters still sang at various places and events before splitting up around 1960. 

The CD Sun's Singing Sweethearts, a collection of Miller Sister's songs, was released in 1996 by AVI Entertainment. The compilation rounds up at least one extant take of every song Milly and Jo recorded at Sun, their backup work behind Cast King and Glenn Honeycutt and as a special bonus, an early demo by the original Miller Trio.

Sophisticated Boom Boom

There were two bands with the same name, taken from a song by The Shangri-Las; one in Switzerland and the other one in Glasgow, Scotland. The Swiss band was formed by Monique, Marianne and Esther, who together with Netz and his younger brother Buzz and Pasquale, are also responsible for the musical backings.

Sophisticated Boom Boom transported the girl group sound from the Sixties into the New Wave year of 1982. They released one self-titled album on Off Course Records and then has been recently re-issued on Tapete Records. After the end of the band, the Power Pop band Chin Chin emerged from the ashes and released a compilation.

The Scottish girl group from Glasgow, also active in the early 1980's, was formed by Irene Brown, Jacqueline Bradley, Laura Mazzolini, Libby McArthur and Tricia Reid. The band was influenced mainly by Siouxsie and the Banshees and Dolly Mixture. They released 'The Only One' on a 1984 compilation album called The Girls Can't Help It - A Modern Girl Group. The group later changed their name to His Latest Flame and released several singles in the late 80's before calling it a day. 

The Bobbettes

The Bobbettes were an American R&B girl group who had a 1957 top 10 hit song called "Mr. Lee". The group initially existed from 1955 to 1974 and included Jannie Pought (1945–1980), Emma Pought (born 1942), Reather Dixon (1944–2014), Laura Webb (1941–2001), and Helen Gathers (1942–2011). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The group, which originally formed in East Harlem, New York, in 1955, was first known as "The Harlem Queens". They met while singing at the Glee Club at P.S. 109 in Spanish Harlem. They were soon discovered by James Dailey, a record producer, who also became their manager, while playing a concert at the Apollo Theater's amateur night, and were signed to a recording contract on the Atlantic label.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1957, the girls released their first hit single, "Mr. Lee", an uptempo song in which the narrator proclaims her devotion to her crush - her school teacher. The girls actually disliked the real-life Mr. Lee and the original lyrics to the song were something of a put-down, but Atlantic insisted the group revise the lyrics before recording the song. The single, backed by "Look at the Stars", became their biggest hit recording, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Pop singles chart and spending four weeks at #1 on the R&B chart. This made the Bobbettes the first girl group to release a #1 R&B hit that also made the pop top 10. The personnel on "Mr. Lee" included Jesse Powell on tenor sax, Allan Hanlon and Al Caiola on guitar, Ray Ellis on piano, Milt Hinton on bass, and Joe Marshall on drums. Billboard named the song #79 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a series of novelty songs for Atlantic that were unsuccessful, they recorded the original recording of "I Shot Mr. Lee". Atlantic refused the song and the group left the label and signed with Teddy Vann and a new version was issued on the small Triple-X label. It started to climb the charts rapidly, eventually reaching #52 on the Billboard Hot 100, whereupon Atlantic released their own version of the song. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the next few years they followed up that single with such other recordings as "Have Mercy Baby", "You Are My Sweetheart", "You Belong to Me", and "Dance with Me Georgie". They then signed with End Records and released the songs "Teach Me Tonight" and "I Don't Like It Like That" (answer to Chris Kenner's "I Like It Like That"). Although the recording of "I Don't Like It Like That" was the girls' last chart record, they continued to record for a series of record labels, including Diamond, RCA Victor and Mayhew, before disbanding in 1974. They also toured the oldies circuits for many years having reformed after their initial breakup. Other recordings by the Bobbettes include, "Oh My Pa-Pa", "Speedy", "Zoomy", and "Rock and Ree-ah-Zole (The Teenage Talk)". Their single of "I've Gotta Face The World" on RCA Victor is a Northern soul single. 

 

 

In 1980, Jannie Pought was stabbed to death at age 34 by a stranger in New Jersey. Reather Dixon (born on May 1, 1944 in Bamberg, South Carolina) died on January 8, 2014, at age 69. The Bobbettes were nominated for induction in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

The Nixe

The Nixe were an early punk band from Utrecht, The Netherlands. They gained worldwide notice in collector circles during the Killed by Death explosion, particularly with their appearance on the Killed by Epitaph double LP, as a photo of one of the members looking rather menacing appeared on the sleeve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band was formed by Ilva Poortvliet singing, Marian De Beurs on guitar, Nikki Meijerink on bass and Simone Luken on drums. Initially they played with the Lullabies and other punk bands from Utrecht like Rakketax, Bizon Kidz,Noxious and The Ex. In 1981 they releases an EP with 7 tracks that had hand painted sleeves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band eventually call it a day because they had no time to do new songs. In 2008 the french label Polly Magoo Records released a compilation LP with all the tracks from the EP, some outtakes and some live songs.

Okuno Atsuko - Juicy Fruits

Okuno Atsuko, also known by the nickname Illya, after the character from the '60s TV action show The Man from U.N.C.L.E., is the  frontwoman and guitarists of the Japanese band Juicy Fruits. The band represents an important turning point in the development of Japanese pop music. Formed by the backing members of producer and musician Chikada Haruo's band Beef, the group took the then new techno-pop sounds pioneered by P-Model, the Plastics, and Hikashu, and combined them with a songwriting sensibility that drew from Japanese kayoukyoku (postwar, Western-influenced mainstream pop) and group sounds ('60s and '70s bands inspired by the Beatles). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Together with Okuno Atsuko, guitarist Shibaya Toshihiko, bassist Okiyama Yuji, and drummer Takagi Toshio completed the lineup. Juicy Fruits' hit debut single was swiftly followed up by the albums Drink! and Juicy a la Mode, both released the same year, and while the band never followed up with another song to match the enduring popularity and influence of "Jenny wa Gokigen Naname," the main songwriting partnership of lyricist Okiyama and composer Chikada remained prolific; they released one album a year until 1984's Come on Swing. The group split after this, with Okuno embarking on a brief solo career and Chikada continuing his work as a producer.

Nevertheless, the emergence of Juicy Fruits in the early '80s foreshadowed the increasing use of synthesizers and electronic instruments in mainstream Japanese pop music, as well as signalling the decline of techno-pop as an underground phenomenon. The large number of cover versions of "Jenny wa Gokigen Naname" and the variety of different kinds of artists who have recorded them attests to Juicy Fruits' enduring influence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Neptunas

The Neptunas are an American trio playing stripped-down surf instrumental and garage-pop vocal songs with a modern twist. 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 1994 in Los Angeles, bassist Pamita Neptuna mailed out flyers looking for girls to join a surf. She recruited guitarist Leslita Neptuna and original drummer Toastita Neptuna. They recorded their first album “Scratch and Surf” for infamous punk rock label Sympathy for the Record Industry, and their lo-fi sound was solidified. Touring across the US commenced, and along with San Francisco’s Trashwomen and Japan’s 5-6-7-8s, they became one of the few all-female bands to attack the surf instro sound. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1996, drummer Laura Bethita Neptuna replaced Toastita and by 1998 they released a second album for Sympathy called “Let Them Eat Tuna.” On the cover of the album, the three Neptunas are dressed as mermaids with Marie Antoinette wigs. By 2000, the band were on a quiet hiatus as they began other musical projects but would get together for the occasional one-off show. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2014, after several years off, the band was approached by the Breeders asking if they would they like to open for them on a West Coast tour. They got back together, proceeded to relearn their old set, and played fairytale shows in storied venues like the Showbox in Seattle and the Fillmore in San Francisco. Buoyed by the encouraging reception they received on the Breeders tour, they were invited by their friend Danny Amis of Los Straitjackets to play the Wild-O Fest in Mexico City in 2017. Their experience with the amazing surf music scene in Mexico was so positive that they made plans to return to Mexico City to record a new album with Danny producing. The result of that recording is “Mermaid a Go Go” a brand new album with 12 tracks of pure surf and garage goodness to be released by Altered State of Reverb in 2020.

Lucille Hegamin

Lucille Nelson Hegamin (November 29, 1894 – March 1, 1970) was an American singer and entertainer and an early African-American blues recording artist.

 

 

 

 

 

Lucille Nelson was born in Macon, Georgia. From an early age she sang in local church choirs and theater programs. By the age of 15 she was touring the US South with the Leonard Harper Minstrel Stock Company. In 1914 she settled in Chicago, Illinois, where, often billed as "The Georgia Peach", she worked with Tony Jackson, Jelly Roll Morton and the pianist-composer Bill Hegamin.

In November 1920, Hegamin became the second African-American blues singer to record, after Mamie Smith. Hegamin made a series of recordings for Arto Records and then Paramount in 1922. One of her biggest hits was "Arkansas Blues", recorded for Arto and released on many other labels, including Black Swan. She recorded one of Tom Delaney's earliest compositions, "Jazz Me Blues", in 1921, and it went on to become a jazz standard.

On January 20, 1922, she competed in a blues singing contest with Daisy Martin, Alice Leslie Carter and Trixie Smith at the Fifteenth Infantry's First Band Concert and Dance in New York City. Hegamin placed second to Smith in the contest, which was held at the Manhattan Casino. From 1922 through late 1926 she recorded over forty sides for Cameo Records; in this association she was billed as "The Cameo Girl". In 1926, she recorded with Clarence Williams's band for the Columbia label. She sang with a band that was led by George "Doc" Hyder in 1927 for a show in Philadelphia. Further into the decade she performed in further revues with Hyder that were staged in Harlem theaters. She performed in Williams's Revue at the Lincoln Theater in New York and then in various revues in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey, through 1934. In 1929 she performed on the radio program Negro Achievement Hour, on WABC, in New York. In 1932 she recorded two sides for Okeh Records.

In 1934, she retired from music but then she came out of retirement in 1961 to record four songs, accompanied by a band led by Willie "The Lion" Smith, on the album Songs We Taught Your Mother, for Bluesville Records. In 1962 she recorded Basket of Blues for Spivey Records. She performed at a benefit concert for Mamie Smith at the Celebrity Club in New York City in 1964. Hegamin died in Harlem Hospital, in New York City, on March 1, 1970.