FANNY was a truly pioneering rock band, the first of its kind. Their career broke down the barriers for female musicians in rock. In fact, they were pretty much the original “godmothers of women who rock!”
FANNY was the first all-female rock act to sign a four-album contract with a major record label. They were four young women who were accomplished rock instrumentalists and singers… who never depended only on their sexuality to sell the music… who were self-described as being musicians first and women second. But the fact that they WERE women, and that they reached a level of success previously unheard of for a rock band composed solely of women, was a remarkable achievement.
The four original members of FANNY were June Millington (guitar, vocals), Jean Millington (bass, vocals), Alice de Buhr (drums, vocals), and Nickey Barclay (keyboards, vocals).
June and Nickey were the primary songwriters for the band, but Jean and Alice made significant contributions to FANNY’s repertoire and all four participated in arranging the songs and crafting their stage performances.
FANNY was able to reach real prominence in the US and Europe. Acknowledged by both the press and their many fans as an awesome live act. FANNY toured tirelessly for up to nine months of every year. In a career that stretched from 1970 to 1974, they had a string of hit singles and also played on the studio recordings of some legendary artists. In addition to their many live gigs, they performed on top music and variety television shows of the time, including The Old Grey Whistle Test, the Sonny and Cher Show, American Bandstand and The Beat Club, Germany’s most famous band program.
Some of the biggest music stars of the time, from David Bowie to Deep Purple to George Harrison to the Kinks, were so blown away by these four teenaged rockers that they went out of their way to promote the band and to book them as an opening act.
David Bowie wrote about FANNY in Rolling Stone Magazine – 12/29/99:
“One of the most important female bands in American rock has been buried without a trace. And that is Fanny. They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time, in about 1973. They were extraordinary: They wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time. Revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done.”
That endorsement of FANNY says it all.