Goldie & the Gingerbreads: Первая женская рок-группа Америки

American all female rock band

Goldie & the Gingerbreads was an all female American rock band from 1962 to 1967. They were the first all female rock band signed to a major record label. Whereas most female bands were ignored by the big record labels and their live performances rarely attracted more than gimmick seeking crowds, the quartet consisting of three musicians and a singer: Ginger Bianco, Margo Lewis, Carol MacDonald, and Genya "Goldie" Zelkowitz (later Genya Ravan), were among the first to break into a domain dominated by men. They were signed to Decca in 1963 and to Atlantic in 1964.

In 1962, local musician Genya Zelkowitz (later known as Genya Ravan) was introduced to drummer Ginger Bianco (née Panabianco), in the New York City club where Zelkowitz was the lead singer of Richard Perry's band The Escorts. Panabianco was on stage, drumming for a friend of Perry's. This acquaintance with a female drummer inspired in Genya the idea of an all female rock and roll band. When the summer concert season ended, Genya and Ginger began to look for a pianist and soon recruited Carol O'Grady. Finding a female guitarist turned out to be much harder. Various ad hoc recruits filled in as and when required, but when they accompanied Chubby Checker on his 1962 concert tour of West Germany and Switzerland, they performed without a guitarist. Organist Margo Lewis, who turned out to be the group's third permanent member, replaced O'Grady and performed with the group on the Chubby Checker tour. The following year, Goldie and the Gingerbreads found guitarist and vocalist Carol MacDonald, who at the time was signed to Atlantic/Atco Records, and she became the fourth permanent band member. The group's first release on the Spokane Records label was titled "Skinny Vinnie". Although credited to Zelkowitz and Stan Green, the song was, in fact, the Bill Haley composition "Skinny Minnie" with slight lyric changes.

In 1964, fashion photographer and director Jerry Schatzberg threw a party for the Warhol superstar Baby Jane Holzer that was later referred to by writer Tom Wolfe as "the Mods and Rockers ball, the party of the year." Goldie and the Gingerbreads were booked to provide the musical entertainment and impressed the assembled attendees with both their music and their inimitable presence. Among the guests at this fashionable and well attended event were the Rolling Stones and Ahmet Ertegün, the chairman of Atlantic Records, who promptly signed them to the label. After supporting the Kinks on their 1965 UK tour, the Gingerbreads recorded several songs with the Kinks' producer Shel Talmy, including a cover of "Look for Me Baby", though it went unissued. Troubles with British working visa requirements led to the band performing dates in West Germany (where many UK and US troops were then stationed as part of the NATO defences) at venues including the Star Club in Hamburg while they waited for their British work permits to come through. A subsequent appearance in Paris at the Olympia earned Goldie & the Gingerbreads a favourable introduction to the French music scene, despite technical difficulties that arose during the performance.

Throughout the early 1960s, Goldie and the Gingerbreads toured extensively throughout North America. Here, the club and venue promoters were not so much interested in their music as in presenting the novelty of an all female musical group.

Over the course of 1967 and 1968, the group began to fragment as various members came and went. Carol MacDonald and Ginger Bianco later formed the nucleus of jazz fusion band Isis. Margo Lewis is owner and president of Talent Consultants International, Ltd., a talent booking agency in New York, and a partner in Talent Source, Ltd, which manages the estate of Bo Diddley. Lewis toured with Diddley as his personal manager and as his keyboard player for the last 10 years of his life. In 2011, Goldie and the Gingerbreads were recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame as part of its "Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power" exhibit.

On November 13, 1997, the Gingerbreads performed once more to mark their 30th anniversary and to commemorate the release of The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock. This distinction is given to women who "have the courage and inspiration to make a difference in the music industry and whose work has set new standards.". At the awards ceremony, the statuettes were presented to each member of the group by music legend Ahmet Ertegun.