Biography
Early life
Quatro was born into a Catholic[2] musical family. Her father, Art, a part time jazz musician, was of Italian descent,[3] while her mother, Helen Sanislay, was Hungarian.[4] She is the aunt of actress Sherilyn Fenn, whose mother is Quatro's sister Arlene.[5] Quatro began her musical career at the age of fourteen.[6] She played the bass guitar in the all-female band Pleasure Seekers and Cradle with her sisters Patti, Nancy, and Arlene. Her first bass guitar was a 1957 Fender Precision, given to her by her father. Patti Quatro later joined the band Fanny, one of the earliest all-female rock bands to gain national attention.[7] She has a brother, Michael Quatro, who is also a musician.[8]
Quatro moved to the United Kingdom in 1971 after being discovered in Detroit by the record producer Mickie Most, who produced The Animals, Jeff Beck, Lulu, and Donovan.[9] By this time he had started his own label RAK Records, which made stars of Hot Chocolate and Mud.[10]
[edit] Career
Music
Quatro's first single "Rolling Stone" did not achieve popularity anywhere except in Portugal, where it hit number one on the charts. Most introduced Quatro to the songwriting and production team Nicky Chinn/Mike Chapman.[11] Her second single "Can the Can" (1973) was a number one hit throughout Europe and in Australia. It was followed up by three further hits: "48 Crash" (1973), "Daytona Demon" (1973), and "Devil Gate Drive" (1974) on RAK Records. Her first two albums were also European and Australian successes.
These recordings, however, met little success in her native United States, despite tours in the mid-1970s supporting Alice Cooper. Also, except in Australia, the popularity of Quatro's rocking glam rock declined from 1975 onwards. In the interim, she did enjoy some success as a session player.
Quatro's fortunes did not change until 1978 when "If You Can't Give Me Love" became a hit in Great Britain and Australia. This did nothing to prompt Stateside success, but "Stumblin' In", a duet recorded that same year for RSO Records with Chris Norman of the band Smokie reached a #4 peak 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. She called it her favourite album. This featured singles, such as "She's In Love With You", which made number 11 in Britain, "Mama's Boy" (34), and "I've Never Been In Love" (56). In 1980, her song "Rock Hard" was featured on the soundtrack of the cult film Times Square, along with some punk and new wave bands like Talking Heads, Ramones, XTC, and The Pretenders. This success period proved brief however, and her last British hit was "Heart of Stone" in late 1982. In 1985, Quatro collaborated with Bronski Beat and members of The Kinks, Eddie and the Hot Rods, and Dr Feelgood on the Mark Cunningham-produced version of David Bowie's classic "Heroes", released the following year as the 1986 BBC "Children In Need" single.[12]
In December 2005, a documentary chronicling Quatro's life, "Naked under leather" directed by former member of the The Runaways Victory Tischler Blue appeared.[13][14] In February 2006, Quatro released "Back To the Drive", produced by Sweet guitarist Andy Scott. The album's title track was written by her former collaborator Mike Chapman.[15]
In March 2007, Quatro released a version of the Eagles song "Desperado", followed by the publication of her autobiography, Unzipped.[16]
Suzi Quatro has sold over 45 million records.[17]
Acting and radio hosting
She is known in the United States for her role as Leather Tuscadero on the TV show Happy Days. Show producer Garry Marshall offered the role without an audition after seeing her on his daughter's bedroom wall. Leather was the younger sister of Fonzie's girlfriend, hot-rod driver Pinky Tuscadero. Leather fronted an all-girl rock band joined by principal character Joanie Cunningham. The character returned in other cameo roles, including once for a date to a fancy fraternity formal with Ralph Malph. Marshall offered Quatro a Leather Tuscadero spin-off, but she refused saying she did not want to be typecast.[18]
Other acting roles include a 1980 episode of British comedy-drama series Minder called "Dead Men Do Tell Tales", as the singer girlfriend of Terry's (Dennis Waterman). In 1985 she starred as a mentally disturbed ex-MI5 operative in Dempsey and Makepeace - "Love you to Death". In 1986, Quatro appeared as Annie Oakley in a 1986 London production of Annie Get Your Gun.[12] In 1994, she made a cameo appearance in an episode of the comedy Absolutely Fabulous. She also was filmed in the 1990 Clive Barker horror film Nightbreed, but the studio drastically cut the film and cut out her character all together.[19]
In 2006, Quatro performed the voice of Rio in the Bob the Builder film Built To Be Wild,[20] and appeared in an episode of the second season of Rock School, in Lowestoft. She also appeared in the episode "The Axeman Cometh" of Midsomer Murders alongside Phil Grainger.[19]
In October 2006, Quatro was a contestant on the British reality television show Trust Me - I'm A Beauty Therapist'.[21]
The following year, she appeared on Irish television show The Podge and Rodge Show, in March 2007. Later that year, Quatro released her version of The Eagles' "Desperado", and her autobiography entitled Unzipped.[16]
In addition to touring, Quatro has hosted weekly Rock and Roll programmes on BBC Radio 2. The first one was Rockin' with Suzi Q. Her current programme is called "Wake Up Little Suzi". It airs on Thursdays and can also be found on the BBC Radio web site [22].
Personal life
Quatro married her longtime guitarist Len Tuckey in 1976. They had two children together (Laura in 1982 and Richard Leonard in 1984) and divorced in 1992. She married German concert promoter Rainer Haas in 1993. Prior to Haas, Quatro lived in a manor house in Essex that she and Tuckey bought in 1980, with her two children and grandchild. Towards the end of 2008, Quatro's children moved out of the house, and she put it up for sale, but later she decided to remain in England. She explained that she had empty nest syndrome. Quatro continues to live in Essex, England.
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