Bass guitarist and vocalist Suzi Quatro, best known for a series of hit singles in the 1970s and for her recurring role as “Leather” Tuscadero on the popular sitcom, Happy Days, is the subject of a new documentary, Suzi Q. Subtitled, The Queen Has Come to Claim Her Crown, the film is currently scheduled to be released by Utopia in North American theaters for one night only on July 1, followed by DVD and digital release on July 3.
Suzi Q comes from Australian filmmakers Liam Firmager and Tait Brady, and features Quatro, plus Alice Cooper, Deborah Harry, Joan Jett, the Runaways’ Cherie Currie, Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth, Donita Sparks (L7), her Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler, the Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, KT Tunstall, members of the Quatro family, and many more.
Watch the Suzi Q trailer
The film opened in theaters in the U.K. and Australia in October 2019. It was to be shown at several U.S. film festivals this spring, but they were canceled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Quatro released a studio album, No Control, on March 29, 2019, via SPV/Steamhammer, her first solo studio LP since 2011. Listen to several songs below.
She turns 70 on June 3 and has a typically extensive tour calendar for 2020. Tickets for many of the shows are available here and here.
Watch the video for “No Soul/No Control” from the album
Quatro had a busy 2019 schedule including U.K. dates as part of a “Legends Live” lineup that also included David Essex and Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers.
Watch the video for “Macho Man”
The classic rock artist, who turns 70 on June 3, has successfully worked as a musician for more than 50 years. Though she’s from Detroit, Quatro’s initial success was overseas. Her big breakthrough occurred in a two-year span, from 1973-74, with a series of singles, two of which – “Can the Can” and “Devil Gate Drive” – reached #1 in the U.K. and several other European territories.
Though “Can the Can” and a cover of “All Shook Up” charted in the U.S., it wasn’t until her 1978 duet with Chris Norman, “Stumblin’ In,” that Quatro achieved a hit at home when the song reached #4 on the Hot 100.
Related: When Quatro “stumbled into” a pop hit
On her continuing to record and perform, Quatro says: “I’ll retire when I go onstage, shake my ass, and there is silence.”
The majority of the material on No Control consists of collaborations with her son from her first marriage, Richard Tuckey. In the 2019 album announcement, Quatro said: “This was our first attempt at writing and recording something together. And, through this unusually beautiful English summer of 2018, we sat outside, acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, iPad recording app, and lots of paper, throwing ideas back and forth.”
2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationI think Suzi is a great performer and great person off and on the stage. She really knows what rock n roll is all about. She’s really a straight up person .I admire her about that. Her breakout hit stumbling in was great. But believe it or not I loved that song suicide. The drum beat got me hooked. And it’s 60s hippy touch of music.. all I can say is if you knew Suzi’s music you would fall in love. In turn she’s in love with you..her fans.
Why is this woman not in the Rock and roll hall of fame? She was incredibly influential! Nice to see somebody finally gets it and made a doco about her.