Every now and then, the unsung heroes of rock and roll get their due—but being a groundbreaking woman in music is like being unsung twice. Despite their incredible contributions and influence, legendary woman musicians from Etta James to Joan Jett to Chrissie Hynde are often resigned to generic “Women in Rock” stories, despite superstar status. Great as they are, they only barely scratch the surface of the great music cranked out by women since the birth of blues and rock and roll. The same can be said of this story—for every amazing woman artist we could think of, there were dozens of others that we left out. It’s a start, though. Here—in no particular order, so don’t write in all mad that you don’t like the ranking because there isn’t one—are some incredible artists who deserve some due credit. Check ‘em out, and let us know who we left out by writing to editor@gibson.com. The only way we can justify leaving out people like Wanda Jackson, Suzie Quatro, and Melanie is to promise a Part II.
Bessie Smith
Billed as the “Queen of All Torch Singers,” Bessie Smith is generally regarded as the greatest female blues vocalist America has ever produced. In addition to recording with some of the finest musicians of the 1920s, Smith wrote much of her own material—a rare thing in those years. When she died in a car crash in 1937, more than 10,000 mourners paid tribute to the singer as she lay in state.
Ruth Brown
With the notable exception of Ray Charles, Ruth Brown was the artist most responsible for putting Atlantic Records on the map in the late ’40s. By the time she left the label in 1963, Brown was the best-selling artist in the company’s history. Broadway stardom soon followed, but her early gospel and swing recordings helped shape American rhythm and blues.
Marianne Faithfull
The spate of strong-willed female artists who emerged in the early ’90s owe an incalculable debt to Marianne Faithfull. Shedding her late ’60s doll-like image, Faithfull emerged in the ’80s as an audacious songwriter and as one of the most gifted interpretative singers of her time. Janis Ian once described Faithfull as one of the few artists capable of “using liberal helpings of obscenities in a brilliant way.”
Laura Nyro
To get a sense of Laura Nyro’s impact on the music of the ’60s and ’70s, one need only look at the names of the artists who recorded her songs. Frank Sinatra, Three Dog Night, Aretha Franklin, and the 5th Dimension are just a few who heeded the beck and call of Nyro’s distinctive compositions.
Judee Sill
The very first artist signed to David Geffen’s Asylum Records label, Judee Sill made two albums that established the “Laurel Canyon sound” subsequently embraced more fully by Carole King and Carly Simon. Her signature song, “Jesus Was a Cross Maker,” was covered by Warren Zevon on his 1995 album, Mutineer. Deeply troubled and prone to substance abuse, Sill died in 1979, at age 35, from a cocaine overdose.
Maureen Tucker
As a founding member of the Velvet Underground, Maureen Tucker ushered in a newfound respect for the role of women in rock music. Although vastly different in style, her Olajunti-influenced drumming was every bit as distinctive as that of Ringo Starr. Former bandmate John Cale summed up Tucker’s contribution to the Velvets with a single word: monumental.
Jessie Mae Hemphill
A pioneering blues artist, Jessie Mae Hemphill defied male-dominated traditions in the ’60s and ’70s by singing original material, accompanying herself on electric guitar, and playing tambourine with her foot. Foregoing the standard 12-bar blues style of her day, the Mississippi native favored open tunings that gave her playing a hypnotic, droning quality. French filmmaker Marc Oriol produced a documentary about Hemphill—titled Me and My Guitar—that was shown on France’s TV Cannes in 2001.
Penelope Houston
Penelope Houston has essentially enjoyed two careers: one, as the frontwoman for San Francisco’s best-ever punk band; the other, as a gifted solo artist who helped shape the West Coast’s “New Folk” movement. It’s in the first role that she made her most formidable impression. As vocalist for the Avengers, Houston established the template for the likes of Brody Dalle with her strong-willed, aggressively intelligent punk songs. The Avengers’ sole full-length album—released in 1983, after the group disbanded—remains an under-appreciated classic.
Susan Tedeschi
Blues music will remain malleable and vibrant as long as the genre keeps spawning the likes of Susan Tedeschi. Like Bonnie Raitt, to whom she’s often compared, the Boston native grew up devouring the work of Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, and Freddie King—all of whom are detectable in her guitar playing. Not beholden to traditional expectations, Tedeschi blurs the lines between gospel, rhythm and blues, and straight-up blues-rock.
Exene Cervenka
X frontwoman Exene Cervenka was a poet first and a rocker second, which probably goes far toward explaining why Jim Morrison’s band mate Ray Manzarek produced X’s first four albums. At her best, Cervenka evoked vintage Grace Slick in the way she anchored X’s quixotic blend of revved-up rockabilly and knife-sharp punk songs. Among her X-tra curricular activities are several spoken-word albums, and in 2005 her journals and mixed media collages were featured in a one-person exhibit at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
Wendy O. Williams
The late Plasmatics frontwoman was the most obvious cog in the lineage that eventually spawned Courtney Love. Blessed with a voice that sounded like crushed glass, Williams was among the first women to fuse punk rock with performance art. Her appearance on Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow Show—during which she blew up a car—remains one of the most memorable moments in TV history. Williams died in 1998 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Lunachicks
Giving the oh-so-serious New York rock scene a much needed does of humor, and estrogen, the Lunachicks were a visually striking powerhouse. Fronted by the towering and bellowing Theo Kogan, flanked—often in matching vinyl cheerleader outfits that sported the words “Luna” and “Chicks”—by guitarist Gina Volpe and bassist Squid. With Volpe’s screaming Zeppelin and Sabbath-influenced guitar lines and Squid’s rapid-fire Dee Dee Ramone attack, the band were a ferocious live experience, from tiny New York clubs to the Warped Tour. Throughout the '90s the group reveled in songs filled with scatological, tongue-in-cheek lyrics delivered in a punk-metal style. Is there any better song title than "Fallopian Rhapsody"? Or better album title than Babysitters On Acid?
Karen O
Karen O was honored with Spin magazine’s annual “Sex Goddess Award” in both 2004 and 2005. Truth is, however, the Yeah Yeah Yeah frontwoman’s vocal talents make that assessment all the more superficial. In addition to being art-punk’s premiere trendsetter, Ms. O can turn on a dime from screeching banshee to cooing seductress. At her most feisty, she comes off as a more amped-up (and taller) version of vintage Polly Jean Harvey.