When we ran our Incomplete Tribute to Unsung Women in Music story this past February, we struck a nerve with readers. The response was huge, because for every amazing woman artist we could think of, there were dozens more that we left out. The same can be said of this second installment of under-appreciated women artists. Here we look at 10 more singers and songwriters whose pioneering impact flew mostly under the radar. 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.
Missed Part I? Click here to check it out.
Mary Margaret O’Hara
Canadian singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O’Hara has just one full-length album to her credit―1988’s Miss America―but the impact of that album is staggering. Countless artists have cited O’Hara’s brilliant compositions and spine-tingling performances as prime inspirations. Michael Stipe extolled her as one of Canada’s national treasures, and as a performer, she’s been described as “like Judy Garland, with flashes of Janis, Ella, Aretha, and Joan Baez.”
Melanie
Her name will forever be linked to the Woodstock generation, but the woman who gave us “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” was much more powerful singer-songwriter than her “flower-girl” image would suggest. One of rock’s first “indie” artists, she also started her own record label, Neighborhood Records, back in 1971. No less a songwriter than Vic Chesnutt once said that, as a vocalist, Melanie could “smoke” Janis Joplin.
Sam Phillips
During the past two decades, Sam Phillips has quietly crafted some of contemporary music's finest pop songs. Her 1994 album, Martinis and Bikinis, is one of the most underrated albums of that decade. Without being strident, Phillips wrestles with philosophical matters having to do with faith and spirituality. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss covered Phillips’s recent song, “Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us,” on their Raising Sand album. Her latest album is titled “Don’t Do Anything.”
Donna Summer
Though deemed the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer forged a sound that extended far beyond the confines of dance music. Partnering with producer Giorgio Moroder, the multi-talented Summer created European-derived, electronica-based arrangements that later impacted the work of David Bowie and the ’80s New Romantic movement. The current crop of techno-inclined acts owes an immeasurable debt to Summer as well.
Josephine Baker
From dire beginnings, Josephine Baker went on to become not only the epitome of European chic, but also a Renaissance woman whose influential recordings made in Paris in the ’20s and ’30s were overshadowed by her reputation as a dazzling performer. America rarely takes kindly to its expatriates, but Baker deserves credit as a pioneering artist who broke down color barriers both here and abroad.
Poly Styrene
Poly Styrene's voice was once colorfully described as powerful enough to drill holes through sheet metal. As frontwoman for the vintage punk band X-Ray Spex, Styrene penned send-ups of everyday life with songs like “The Day the World Turned Day-Glo” and “Warrior in Woolworths.” The band's sole album, 1978's Germ Free Adolescents, directly foreshadowed the riot grrrl movement. In an extreme career switch, Styrene eventually joined the Hare Krishna movement.
Ari Up
Ari Up was 14 years old when she teamed up with drummer Palmolive in 1976 to form the Slits. Enthralled with dub reggae, the band was championed by the Clash, who even featured Up briefly in their cult film, Rude Boy. Giving credence to the theory of predestination, Up eventually became the step-daughter of John Lydon. The Slits reformed in 2006 and undertook a world tour, at one point opening for Sonic Youth. Fittingly, the EP the band released that same year was titled Return of the Giant Slits.
Suzi Quatro
A clear precursor to Joan Jett and other tough-as-nails women rockers, Suzi Quatro won the respect of Elvis himself on the basis of her no-holds-barred version of “All Shook Up.” Her role as Leather Tuscadero on the TV series Happy Days ushered her into the public eye, and in 1975 she became one of the earliest women rockers to make the cover of Rolling Stone. Naked Under Leather, a film documentary about Quatro’s extraordinary life, is expected to be released later this year.
Karen Dalton
An acclaimed cult figure, Karen Dalton has been hailed by Bob Dylan as someone who sang like Billie Holiday and played guitar like Jimmy Reed. An integral figure in the early ’60s Greenwich Village folk scene, Dalton possessed a mystique that deeply impacted such literary-minded songwriters as Patti Smith and Nick Cave. Hounded by personal demons, Dalton died of AIDS-related illness in 1993.
Wanda Jackson
As the “First Woman of Rockabilly,” Wanda Jackson dated Elvis Presley, toured with Buddy Holly, and later recorded with psychobilly rockers the Cramps. Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, and Patti Scialfa are among those who’ve credited Jackson with smashing gender barriers with her fiery blend of country music and rock and roll. At age 70, Jackson continues to tour Europe and Scandinavia on a regular basis.