11 of the most pioneering women in rock-and-roll history
Throughout rock history, there have been numerous pioneering female musicians.
Memphis Minnie and Sister Rosetta Tharpe inspired the genre and some of its biggest musicians.
Generations of female listeners picked up the bass guitar because of Suzi Quatro and Kim Deal.
When looking back at the classic rock era, it's easy to point to musicians like Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, or Bob Dylan as the pioneers of the genre.
But there were countless female musicians who were just as talented and equally important. In fact, many famous male musicians and bands were inspired by female musicians, even going so far as to record covers of their songs.
And while there are household names like Stevie Nicks or Pat Benatar, some female musicians have historically been overlooked, but their importance is undeniable.
In honor of Women's History Month, here are 11 pioneering female rock stars - some of whom you might not know - who changed the course of rock-and-roll history.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe has been named "the Godmother of rock and roll" for her groundbreaking influence on the genre.
Before Elvis, Aretha Franklin, and Chuck Berry, there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Known for her picking and gritty singing, Tharpe single-handedly shaped the future of rock and roll while proving that women could play the guitar just as well as, if not better than, men.
The gospel music, delta blues, and New Orleans jazz Tharpe was exposed to as a child helped form her unique style, according to NPR. By her late 30s, Tharpe was playing at the famous Cotton Club and collaborating with some of the biggest male musicians of the time like Duke Ellington.
Tharpe not only influenced music in the states but in England and Europe too — she played in a famous concert outside Manchester in 1964 where she introduced Brits to electric blues. Basically, any male musician who has been named a pioneer of the blues, rock and roll, or funk was influenced by Tharpe. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
Ruth Brown helped turn a budding Atlantic Records into a powerhouse label.
During the 1950s, Atlantic Records was referred to as "the House That Ruth Built" thanks to Ruth Brown's success and influence in the industry. Brown was one of the first artists signed to Atlantic Records and of the more than 100 sides she cut for the label, 24 of them made Billboard's R&B chart.
Brown sang jazz ballads with ease and her R&B prowess won her a Bessie Smith Award for Best Blues Singer, according to Goldmine Magazine. But it was her ability to sing rock and roll on tunes like "Sweet Baby of Mine" that pushed the genre forward. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Also a champion for musicians' rights, Brown fought tirelessly — and won her own legal battle against Atlantic Records — for artists to have the rights to their royalties.
Memphis Minnie's songs have been covered by the likes of Led Zeppelin and Jefferson Airplane.
Cultural critic Steven Hyden recently named "When the Levee Breaks" Led Zeppelin's best song in a ranking for Uproxx. But the tune wasn't written by Robert Plant or Jimmy Page. It was penned by Memphis Minnie, one of the most prominent blues guitarists and singers of the early 20th century.
Known as the "Queen of the Country Blues," she once beat guitarist Big Bill Broonzy in a picking contest judged by guitar legend Muddy Waters. Broonzy once said Minnie "can pick and sing as good as any man I've ever heard; she can make a guitar cry, moan, talk and whistle the blues."
Carol Kaye played on over 10,000 studio sessions, laying down bass tracks for some of rock and roll's most iconic artists.
You may not visually recognize her, but put on almost any popular song from the '50s through the '70s, and chances are Carol Kaye played bass on it.
Known rightfully so as the Queen of Bass or the First Lady of Bass, Kaye has appeared on tracks by artists including Frank Zappa, Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, Simon and Garfunkel, The Supremes, and many, many more.
Kaye started as a jazz guitarist and even played on an album for Sam Cooke. But, according to her website, the story goes that in 1963 when a bassist failed to show up for a Capitol Records studio session, Kaye picked up the bass to fill in and, unbeknownst to her, changed her life and career forever.
Kaye told Louder Sound in 2018 that being a female musician in the LA club and studio circuit wasn't an issue, because she had the chops to prove she could hang with the other, predominantly male, musicians.
"It was just like it was when I was playing gigs: If you could play, you could play — that's all there was to it," she said.
In addition to her successful solo career, Carole King wrote some of the biggest hits of the '60s.
Together with her husband Gerry Goffin, King penned more than 100 hit singles for ABC-Paramount including Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." The duo was so iconic that John Lennon once said he and Paul McCartney wanted to be "the Goffin-King of England."
Then in 1971, King dropped the landmark album "Tapestry" and the world was immediately better off for it. The album has sold more than 13 million copies and hits like "It's Too Late" and "So Far Away" have been immortalized as some of the best songs of the '70s. In 2016, 65,000 fans turned out to London's Hyde Park to see King perform the album.
Joni Mitchell is one of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time.
From the unique modulations of her voice to her sharp, cerebral lyrics, Joni Mitchell is one of a kind. From the moment she released her first album in 1967, she developed a growing fanbase and continually pleased critics with her innovative songwriting.
Though she occasionally performed with other folk giants of the '60s like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, during the formative years of her career Mitchell mostly performed solo, just her and her guitar or piano, resulting in deeply intimate and affecting performances. Later in the '70s, Mitchell meshed her folk roots with jazz and rock, enlisting the likes of Jaco Pastorius and the LA Express to help bring her visionary songs to the electric age.
Mitchell influenced numerous artists including Prince, Taylor Swift, and Bonnie Raitt.
Although her career spanned just three years, Janis Joplin left an indelible mark on rock and roll.
Janis Joplin proved that girls could be rock stars too. Joplin hit it big during the countercultural movement in San Francisco during the late 1960s, and while she mesmerized crowds with her unique voice and energetic showmanship, her off-stage persona was equally as important to her legacy.
From the DayGlo-painted Porsche to the drugs and alcohol that ultimately cost Joplin her life, the singer embraced the rebellious atmosphere of the time and broke the mold of how society viewed female musicians.
Suzi Quatro was one of the first successful female bass players.
Countless female musicians had risen to fame playing the guitar or piano, but the bass guitar? Before Suzi Quatro, it was almost unheard of. Often decked out in head-to-toe black leather outfits and wielding a voice that could toe the line of musical and banshee screaming, Quatro instantly found a niche for herself in the emerging hard rock arena of the '70s.
While most Detroit bands of the decade like KISS, Alice Cooper, and Bob Seger found success in the US, Quatro hit it big in the UK with hits like "Can the Can" and "Devil Gate Drive." In addition to proving that women had a place in the punk and hard rock realms, Quatro taught female listeners — who weren't familiar with Carol Kaye, that is — that it was cool to play the bass guitar.
Debbie Harry led Blondie to become one of the first bands to mix punk and new wave.
In 1987, Debbie Harry told the Associated Press she didn't see herself as a pioneer. But more than four decades after Blondie's first album, it's hard to deny the singer's impact on rock and roll.
Harry emerged from the New York punk scene in the mid-'70s with the band Blondie and embraced the burgeoning new wave sound. Drawing from both influences, Blondie created a fresh new unison of pop and rock and paved the way for the pop-punk genre.
Additionally, the former Playboy bunny used her fashion and beauty to promote feminism in the male-dominant world of rock and roll. Harry inspired countless artists and her songs are still being covered today, like Miley Cyrus' 2020 cover of "Heart of Glass."
Chrissie Hynde is a feminist icon and punk trailblazer.
Chrissie Hynde has never been one to back down from a fight. For her entire career she's fought the sexism and discrimination women in the music industry faced through her merciless lyrics — with songs like "Bad Boys Get Spanked" — and her bada-- image.
Madonna told Q Magazine's Paul Du Noyer in 1994, "I saw her play in Central Park: she was amazing. The only woman I'd seen in performance where I thought, 'Yeah, she's got balls, she's awesome!' ... It gave me courage, inspiration, to see a woman with that kind of confidence in a man's world."
As frontwoman of The Pretenders, Hynde helped create some of the most critically acclaimed albums of the late '70s and '80s and cemented her place as a punk and new wave pioneer.
Kim Deal was an integral part of the alt-rock wave in the '80s ad early '90s.
Whether it be her bass playing for the Pixies or as the frontwoman of The Breeders, Kim Deal has repeatedly been a harbinger of fresh sounds and ideas in rock music. Her bass playing is simple but punchy and, unlike other bassists who take the back seat, Deal made sure to stand out in each song with catchy bass lines. In fact, her bass lines start some of the Pixies' biggest hits, like "Debaser" off "Doolittle."
Like Quatro, Deal inspired a generation of female listeners to pick up the bass guitar.
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