Suzi Quatro - Daytona Demon (1978)

Susan Kay Quatro was born on 3rd June 1950 in Detroit, and being the descendant of an Italian immigrant to the US, her family name of 'Quattrocchi' was shortened to Quatro. She has three sisters, a brother, and one older half sister, and her parents also fostered several other children while she was growing up. She was influenced at the age of six by seeing Elvis Presley perform on television, and received formal training in playing classical piano and percussion, but she taught herself how to play the bass and guitar. She played drums or percussion from an early age as part of her father's jazz band, the Art Quatro Trio, but in 1964, after seeing a television performance by the Beatles, Quatro's older sister Patti formed an all-female garage rock band called the Pleasure Seekers with two friends, and she invited her sister to join, singing and playing bass under the name of Suzi Soul. Later on another sister Arlene joined the band, and their performances were mainly in cabaret, where attention was initially focused more on their physical looks than their actual music, but eventually they became well-known fixtures in the burgeoning Detroit music community. The band recorded three singles and released two of them, 'Never Thought You'd Leave Me'/'What A Way To Die' in 1966 and 'Light Of Love'/'Good Kind Of Hurt' in 1968, although other recordings later turned up and were compiled on the 'What A Way To Die' album. Towards the end of their career their songs took on a more progressive element, of which 'Mr Power' is a good example, and in 1969 the band changed their name to Cradle and pursued a heavier style of music. Quatro moved to England in 1971, after being spotted by the record producer Mickie Most, who was at the time running his Rak Records label and was looking for new talent. Most had been persuaded to see Cradle by Suzi's bother Michael, as he was seeking a female rock singer who could fill the void that the death of Janis Joplin had created. Most had no interest in the other members of the band, and he also had no idea at that time of how he might market Quatro, so her first year in the UK was spent in a hotel, with Most nurturing her while she developed her skills. 
Her first single was released in 1972, with 'Rolling Stone' reaching number 1 in the Portuguese charts, but failing everywhere else. This was actually a solo single, with the backing coming from Duncan Browne, Peter Frampton and Alan White among others, but after the failure of the single Most allowed her to audition for a band to accompany her. At the same time he introduced her to the songwriting and production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who could write songs specifically to align with her image, which at the height of the glam rock period of the 1970's was leather clothes, a wild androgynous persona, and chugging hard rock music. In May 1973, her second single (and first Chinnichap composition) 'Can The Can' was a No. 1 hit in parts of Europe and Australia, and this was followed in quick succession by three further hits in '48 Crash', 'Daytona Demon' and 'Devil Gate Drive', all charting within an eight month period. By 1975 her chart success had started to falter, with 'Your Mamma Won't Like Me' only being a moderate success in the UK, while both 'I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew' and 'I May Be Too Young' failed to reach the UK Top 50. It would be 1978 before the more mellow 'If You Can't Give Me Love' returned her to the charts, and later that year a duet with Smokie's Chris Norman on 'Stumblin' In' gave her a No. 4 hit in the US. She has continued to record and release albums, right up to 'No Control' in 2019, but she also has parallel careers as a stage actress in shows like 'Annie Get Your Gun' and 'Tallulah Who?', and as a radio DJ with her own rock and roll radio show on BBC Radio 2. Like many artists for whom Chinnichap wrote hit singles, Quatro was allowed to write the songs for the b-sides of her singles (so as not to waste another potential Chinnichap hit), and these tended to be very different from the glam-rock A-sides, showing her own songwriting skills, either on her own or with her band. This overview of her career takes in tracks from The Pleasure Seekers and Cradle, a 1971 demo that she recorded for Mickie Most, both sides of that Portuguese Number 1, three big UK hits that never appeared on her albums, and numerous self-penned b-sides.   

Track listing

01 Mr Power (by The Pleasure Seekers 1968)
02 Living Machine (by The Cradle 1969)
03 Curly Hair For Sale (demo 1971)
04 Rolling Stone (single 1972)
05 Brain Confusion (For All The Lonely People) (b-side of 'Rolling Stone')
06 Ain't Got No Home (previously unreleased)
07 Can The Can (single 1973)
08 Ain't Ya Somethin' Honey (b-side of 'Can The Can')
09 Little Bitch Blue (b-side of '48 Crash' 1973)
10 Daytona Demon (single 1973)
11 Roman Fingers (b-side of 'Daytona Demon')
12 Devil Gate Drive (single 1974)
13 I Wanna Be Free (b-side of 'Too Big' 1974)
14 In The Morning (b-side of 'Devil Gate Drive')  

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Peter Frampton - ...and on guitar (1975)

Peter Kenneth Frampton was born on 22 April 1950, and first became interested in music when he was seven years old, having discovered his grandmother's banjolele in the attic, and teaching himself to play it, going on to later teach himself guitar and piano as well. His early influences were Cliff Richard & the Shadows, especially guitarist Hank Marvin, and American rockers Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. By the age of 12 he was playing in The Little Ravens, while both he and David Bowie, who was three years older, were pupils at Bromley Technical School, where his father Owen Frampton was Bowie's art instructor. By the age of 14 he was playing with The Trubeats, followed by The Preachers, who were produced and managed by Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones. In 1966 he became a member of the Herd, where he was the lead guitarist and singer, and the band scored several British hit singles, at the same time as Frampton was named 'The Face of 1968' by teen magazine Rave. In 1969, while still only 18 years old, he joined with recently departed Small Faces guitarist Steve Marriott to form Humble Pie, going on to record one live and four studio albums with them, and while playing with Humble Pie he also did session recordings with other artists, including Harry Nilsson (and his alter ego Buck Earl for the 'I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City' single), John Entwistle, Andy Bown, Lon & Derrek Van Eaton and Suzi Quatro. Frampton left Humble Pie in 1971 and embarked on a solo career, with his debut album 'Wind Of Change' coming out in 1972, and featuring guest artists Ringo Starr and Billy Preston. This was followed by 'Frampton's Camel' in 1973, which featured Frampton working within a group project, then 'Something's Happening' in 1974, and 'Frampton' in 1975.

He had little commercial success with his early albums, but this all changed when he released his live album 'Frampton Comes Alive' in 1976, from which the hit singles 'Baby, I Love Your Way' and 'Show Me The Way' were extracted, and the album was on the Billboard 200 for 97 weeks, of which 55 were in the top 40, and 10 were at the top, becoming the best selling album of 1976. His following-up 'I'm In You' contained the hit title single and went platinum, but fell well short of expectations compared to its predecessor, with all subsequent releases being unfavourably compared to that high-point. Frampton suffered a near-fatal car accident in the Bahamas in 1978 which marked the end of this prolific period of his career, returning to the studio in 1979 to record the album 'Where I Should Be', and releasing records fairly regularly since then. Although his albums generally met with little commercial success, he achieved a brief, moderate comeback of sorts in 1986 with the release of his 'Premonition' album, and the single 'Lying' was a big hit on the mainstream rock charts. His heyday, though, was undoubtedly the early to mid 70's, not only with his own albums, but also with guest appearances on records by fellow artists. The Johnny Halliday track has an interesting story, as by the end of 1968 the original Small Faces were in the middle of breaking up, with Steve Marriott going on to form Humble Pie, and the rest of the band morphing into The Faces. In late December the group were asked to collaborate with French pop legend Johnny Halliday on an album that was to showcase his attempt at hard-rock, and Marriott dragged his chum Frampton along to the recording sessions. Marriott and Lane donated three songs to the project, two of which were later recorded by Humble Pie under different titles, so this track is something of a curiosity to start this showcase of Peter Frampton's guest appearances in the first half of the 1970's.

  

Track listing

01 Regarde Pour Moi (from 'Riviere Ouvre Ton Lit' by Johnny Halliday 1969)
02 Girl From Denver (from 'Don't Freak Me Out' by Jimmy Stevens 1972)
03 The Blues In England (from 'Feel Your Groove' by Ben Sidran 1971)
04 Open Your Eyes (from' Gone To My Head' by Andy Bown 1972)
05 Sweet Music (single by Lon & Derrek Van Eaton 1972)
06 Rolling Stone (single by Suzi Quatro 1972)
07 I Guess The Lord Must Be Tn New York City (single by Buck Earl 1972)
08 Perfection (from 'Painted Head' by Tim Hardin 1973)
09 Ten Little Friends (from 'Whistle Rymes' by John Entwistle 1972)
10 Life Goes On (from 'Essence To Essence' by Donovan 1973)
11 Celebration (from 'First Of The Big Bands' by Tony Ashton & Jon Lord 1974)
12 The Serf (from 'Everything Changes' by Leslie Duncan 1974)
13 Daybreak (from 'Son Of Dracula' by Harry Nilsson 1974)
14 Slow Down (from 'Get Off Of My Cloud' by Alexis Korner 1975)