The Beauty of Song, Part Three: Suzi Quatro

I think it goes without saying that Suzi Quatro is the sexiest bass player in all of rock - though if you want to suggest Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go's, be my guest. :-D 

The Detroit-born Ms. Quatro had to go to England to make her mark in seventies rock, and there she was a leading figure in the glam scene, coming up with such British hits as 1973's "Can the Can," 1974's "Devil Gate Drive" (her signature song), and the provocatively titled "Your Mamma Won't Like Me," from 1975. Her sex appeal and her hell-raising attitude were daring for their time, and she paved the way for strong women in rock.

She parlayed her fondness for the early rock and roll of the fifties into a recurring guest role on the American TV series "Happy Days" as rock singer Leather Tuscadero, and as a result she got her first hit single in her native country - "Stumblin' In," a duet with British rock singer Chris Norman, which reached number four on the Billboard charts in 1979. In the twenty-first century, she has hosted oldies shows on BBC Radio 2.

The journalist Tom Hibbert summed her up best: "Suzi Quatro, with her tomboy sneers, her bass guitar and her stompingly persuasive teen-tunes, had at least laid down a challenge to the male-dominated rock orthodoxy."

Fun fact: Actress Sherilyn Fenn is Suzi Quatro's niece.