Suzi Q

I am always bitterly disappointed

that women's rock groups are so bad.

Although there are rock groups coming up in the states

who are trying to lay down a kind of heavy feminist rock.

But it's nothing like the explosion of creativity

that happened among the boys.

You know, everybody had a guitar.

The girls just somehow never picked them up.

Most of the girls we lost along the way

because they got bored with it,

or they didn't want to take time off for the dating,

or they went to do something else.

You know? I mean, I gave up most of my early life

to the business, and a

lot of women aren't prepared to do that.

Mm. Rightly so. Probably. I mean, very few make it.

And, and gentlemen, miss Suzy tro,

that's Susie Quatro on American Band.

Yes, she can. It's Suzy Quattro.

Here's Suzie.

Oh, she was the first

And broke the ice and kicked the

Door for us gals. She

Was such a pioneer in the

quintessential rock and roll chick

Back when we were first starting at 64, 65, 66.

The girl bands were few

and far between. Few and far between.

Of course, there were early trailblazers

who were musicians, female musicians

playing instruments in rock bands.

They were making great music.

But in the shadows, Susie was the one

who really smashed it wide open

and broke into the mainstream with that string

of top 10 hits around the world.

She was the first.

Did you start something nobody else did?

Did you actually succeed at it?

How long did the career last?

Was there quality to what you did? Were you an innovator?

Susie was an innovator. Absolutely.

It was just unbelievable.

It was like, you know, that thing where your chills go

through your body and you're just, um, freaking out

because it's like, did I really just hear this?

Susie was authentic.

When that young lady was in her leather with her guitar,

that audience got crazy and she's still doing it.

Young kids these days, you know, unfortunately for them,

they don't really know Susie.

And that's a shame

because they should, especially anybody that wants

to get into this business, they should study Susie Cuatro.

Most any successful artist would,

would only see it in hindsight.

But, um, knowing the cost of fame

and success, there's always a trade off.

A massive trade off. Huge. Um,

Huge. How, I

mean, do you, how does one reconcile themselves

with that knowing that you do pay a price

that the public just don't see?

You have to say goodbye to a very comfortable,

perfect existence.

And I knew it, taking it out.

I knew it the first time I went on the road with the

Tell you, I'm hot

streak.

I gonna, again,

I got my food on.

And the gone When you

and you push me, I'm the,

I'm get outta my way.

Hey, hey, Suzy Q what's cooking with you?

WJ Estate Detroit.

I was born Susan k Quatro.

My father's name was Arthur Quatro.

My mother's name was Heaven Quatro.

You know, I just don't think my father wanted four

dependent daughters.

So he brought us all up, very ballsy,

and he loved my mom very much.

They were together over 50 years.

But my mom was more the strict one.

I'm very close to my mom.

I think she's the only one that really knew me.

I mean, she knew me, knew me, knew me, could never fool her.

If I came in like 13, 14 after being out with some people

and I'd had a beer or a cigarette

or something, she'd be sitting six rooms away

and she'd say, Susan, come here.

I can smell smoke and I can smell the drink.

And I couldn't lie. I am very much my

mother's daughter, morally.

She was a Catholic lady and very strict.

She gave me the tracks to run on for the rest of my life.

So there's that part of me.

And then there's the performer part I get from my dad.

I love that melody. I love that melody. Heart of my heart.

Love my, brings back a memory.

Brings back when we were kids,

I was in a very musical family with five kids,

and my father played various instruments in various bands.

So we all grew up with a million music lessons.

I took drums, I took piano.

We had a joyous life with our family.

It was always, uh, singalongs

around the organ, all that stuff.

Mickey had his own stardom,

and he was young, you know, he was a teenage prodigy.

And on national television,

Susie got that entertainer, gene.

She had that charisma to draw people and tell jokes

and be upfront.

Dad was very thrilled that we all went into music

and followed his dream.

He was January in 1956,

the whole family were watching the, uh, ed Sullivan show.

He brings out Elvis.

And when he went well,

and I had my first light bulb moment at the age of five

and a half, I'm going to do that.

She never was told not to.

You know, she, no one ever said,

you can't do this 'cause you're a girl.

You just thought like, I wanna be Elvis. It's rad.

You know, let's go for it.

And I, I think that's, that kind of spirit is

what makes rock, rock, rock and roll, rock and roll.

And it was right after watching the Beatles,

us neighborhood Girls got on the phone talking about

how great they were every babbling at the same time.

And Patty suggested, what about an all girl band?

And we all went, yay.

That first band was the neighborhood kids with the,

uh, two sets of sisters.

And I remember it exactly.

Nan went, I'm gonna play the drums.

Mary Lou said, I'm gonna play rhythm guitar.

Patty said, I'm playing lead. And I went, hello?

She said, you're gonna play bass? I went, okay.

And I went and asked my dad, did he have a bass?

And he gave me this, and I really did literally plug it in

and just said, yeah, it was for me,

the real sort of, uh, pivotal point of my life starting

that band and being on

that stage the first time playing the three songs

that we knew, three chords, three songs same, three chords.

Um, and I was up there with the bass and I looked down

and I remember going, that's it.

Here I am. This is it for the rest of my life.

The guitar always looked too big because she was so small.

I'm surprised she didn't get a smaller guitar.

Here's this little woman, you know, petite

playing this enormous heavy bass

and just making it look like it was a feather.

As it went on, we got more and more popular.

We had our little single out. Susie was 14, I was 16.

What a way to die. The girls from the garage arriving

pre punk before punk,

I mean five Catholic girls singing a beer and drinking song.

So it was very popular, as you can imagine.

We read a gig and we round the, um, on the floor

of the gymnasium because they didn't have a stage for us.

And somebody said, we can't see the

singer put her up on a table.

So I was up on top of the table looking down at the crowd.

So I was looking down at the people,

and I just was got, all of a sudden I went, wow.

And they went like that. And I went, oh, okay.

You like that?

I left school very young.

My dad let me go. I went on the road.

So I've, I've gone away from the normal school attitude,

you know, with your girlfriends

and the sleepovers and this and that. I'm on the road.

Wow, what away to die.

I'm playing in nightclubs, doing five shows a night,

not even supposed to be in there.

And I remember thinking, oh my God,

all my friends are at school

and I'm not part of that life anymore.

Wow. And there's a whole chunk of growing up

that got missed out, which

probably explains why I've got a big vulnerable streak in

me, even though I'm a tough girl.

That part never got, never grew up.

And there was almost like a nostalgic that I wanted

to go back and be with them,

but at the same time, I couldn't go back

because I found what I wanted to do. Wow.

Wow.

I am suitcase Lizzie from Detroit City

out to try my wings.

I'm suitcase Lizzie from Detroit City. I can do anything.

They have an advantage over other groups

because they not only play so well, but they look so fine.

The pleasure seekers.

When my eldest sister's husband started