Fanny | |
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 Fanny on the cover of their 1972 albumFanny Hill (clockwise from left: Jean Millington, June Millington, Alice de Buhr, Nickey Barclay) | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
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| Years active |
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| Labels | |
| Spinoffs | Fanny Walked the Earth (2018–2021) |
| Past members |
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| Website | www |
Fanny was an American rock band, active in the early to mid 1970s. They were one of the firstall-female rock groups to achieve critical and commercial success, including twoBillboard Hot 100 Top 40 singles.
The group was founded by sistersJune and Jean Millington (on guitar and bass respectively), who had been playing music together since they moved from thePhilippines toCalifornia in the early 1960s. After playing through several variations of the band, they attracted the interest of producerRichard Perry who signed them toReprise Records in 1969 as Fanny. The band recorded four albums together before June quit the group, leading to the original line-up splitting. Following a final album, Fanny disbanded in 1975. The Millington sisters have continued to play music together since the split, and with a former drummer,Brie Howard-Darling, formed the spin-off group Fanny Walked the Earth in 2018.
The group attracted critical acclaim for rejecting typicalgirl group styles and expectations of women in the rock industry, and emphasizing their musical skills. Later groups such asthe Go-Go's,the Bangles, andthe Runaways cited Fanny as a key influence.
 Fanny billboard,Sunset Boulevard[1][2] |
SistersJune and Jean Millington moved with their family from thePhilippines toSacramento, California, in 1961. They began to play music together onukuleles, which helped them gain friends. In high school they formed anall-female band called the Svelts with June on guitar, Jean on bass, Addie Lee on guitar, andBrie Brandt on drums. Brandt left to get married and was later replaced by Alice de Buhr.[3]
Lee and de Buhr later formed another all-female band, Wild Honey.[1] The Millington sisters later joined this band as well. Wild Honey playedMotown covers and eventually moved toLos Angeles.[3][4][5][6] Frustrated by a lack of success or respect in the male-dominated rock scene, Wild Honey decided to disband after one finalopen-mic appearance at theTroubadour Club in Los Angeles in 1969.[4] They were spotted at this gig by the secretary of producerRichard Perry, who had been searching for an all-female rock band to mentor.[7]
Perry convincedWarner Bros. Records to sign the band, still known as Wild Honey, toReprise Records.[4] The group won the contract without the label hearing them play, on the grounds of being a novelty act, despite their genuine musical talent.[8] Warner Bros. installed the band in a rented mansion formerly owned byHedy Lamarr, onMarmont Lane near Sunset Boulevard.[3] Prior to recording their first album, the band recruited keyboardistNickey Barclay while bringing in early Svelts member Brie Brandt.[9]
The band was then renamed Fanny, not with asexual connotation but to denote a female spirit.[7] The initial lineup consisted of June on guitar, Jean on bass, de Buhr on drums, Barclay on keyboards, and Brandt on lead vocals and percussion. Perry dismissed Brandt because he wanted the group to be a self-contained four-piece band likethe Beatles.[10] The Millingtons and Barclay all assumed lead vocal duties on alternating songs, while de Buhr sang lead occasionally on later albums.[11]
Perry produced the band's first three albums, beginning withFanny in 1970.[12] Because of the connection to Perry and Reprise Records, Barclay was invited to tour withJoe Cocker as a backing singer, and consequently appeared on the albumMad Dogs and Englishmen.[13] The group's cover ofCream's "Badge" from the first album earned significant radio airplay.[14] The follow-up album,Charity Ball, was released the following year and its title track reached number 40 on theBillboard Hot 100.[15] The members of Fanny also worked as session musicians, and played onBarbra Streisand's 1971 albumsStoney End andBarbra Joan Streisand,[9][16][17] because Streisand had wanted to record with a small band.[3]
The group continued to pick up well-known fans;David Bowie sent the group a letter admiring their work and invited the band to a post-show party where he showed themmime techniques.[3] With young engineerLeslie Ann Jones as their road manager and live sound mixer,[18] Fanny toured worldwide, opening forSlade,Jethro Tull andHumble Pie,[9] gaining widespread popularity in the United Kingdom. A 1971 article inSounds remarked that the group "seems that they are thesupport group to everyone these days".[19] The group made several live television appearances during tours, includingThe Sonny and Cher Show,American Bandstand,The Old Grey Whistle Test andBeat-Club.[20]
The group's third album,Fanny Hill (1972) featured the Beatles' engineerGeoff Emerick in addition to Perry's production. It included covers of the Beatles' "Hey Bulldog" (with a new verse) andMarvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar". The latter featured regularRolling Stones saxophonistBobby Keys, and was released as a single, reaching number 85 on theBillboard Hot 100.[21][22] Fellow Stones sidemanJim Price also played brass on the album.[23]Rolling Stone wrote a rave review of the album, praising the group's musical skills and particularly June's ability to play both lead and rhythm guitar.[24]
Their fourth album,Mothers Pride (1973), was produced byTodd Rundgren.[4] By the timeMothers Pride was released, June was feeling constrained by the group format. The record label wanted her to wear certain designer clothes and adopt ahard rock image, which she resisted. She decided to quit the group, later saying "I needed to figure out who I was"[3] while she regularly clashed with Barclay due to conflicting personalities.[13] June moved toWoodstock, New York to studyBuddhism, but insisted that the group continue without her.[3]
De Buhr also left the band, with a returning Brandt replacing her on drums. Patti Quatro (sister ofSuzi Quatro) replaced June on guitar. This lineup signed withCasablanca Records and released the final Fanny album,Rock and Roll Survivors, in 1974.[4] The first single, "I've Had It" reached number 79 on theBillboard Hot 100.[25] Brandt left the band shortly after the album's completion when she married composerJames Newton Howard, and was briefly replaced by Cam Davis. During this time, Fanny backedKeith Moon on his cover of their "Solid Gold" for his albumTwo Sides of the Moon. Another recording they did with Moon, "I Don't Suppose", was not released until a years later reissue of the album. Barclay quit the group at the end of 1974 to pursue other interests.[26] Concurrently, the album's second single, "Butter Boy", written by Jean about Bowie, became their biggest hit, reaching number 29 on theBillboard Hot 100 in April 1975.[3][15] By the time that single was released, the group had split.[26][3]
After the breakup in 1975, the Millington sisters put together a new line-up of Fanny for a short tour, though no older Fanny material was played. This group ultimately morphed into a renamed all-women band called the L.A. All-Stars. Some interest was shown by record labels who stipulated that the band tour as Fanny and play only Fanny songs, which June opposed. This ended the chance of a Fanny reunion.[4]
June subsequently released three solo albums in the 1980s and has had a career as aproducer for artists includingHolly Near,Cris Williamson andBitch and Animal. She operates the Institute for Musical Arts, a non-profit organization supporting girls and women in music.[27][28] Jean was married to Bowie's guitaristEarl Slick for a time and later became anherbalist.[9] The Millingtons continued to record together after Fanny as well, most recently on the 2011 albumPlay Like a Girl on June's label Fabulous Records.[29] Nickey Barclay released a solo album titledDiamond in a Junkyard in 1976[30] then withdrew from the music industry. De Buhr later worked in marketing for several major record labels, and promotedthe Go-Go's, who cited Fanny as an influence.[14][31] She collaborated with Real Gone Music in a reissue program for the group's albums.[32]
Patti Quatro continued to work as a session musician for her sister Suzi and was involved in the reissue of material by the Quatro sisters' early bandthe Pleasure Seekers.[33]Brie Brandt, later known as Brie Howard-Darling and currently as Brie Darling, had an active post-Fanny career, fronting the bandsAmerican Girls, which released one album in 1986,[34] andBoxing Gandhis, which has released four albums since the mid-1990s.[35] She has also acted in films such as 1982'sAndroid[36] and is the mother ofPlayboy PlaymateBrandi Brandt.[35] Quatro and Brandt both toured withElectric Light Orchestra and appeared on the albumA New World Record in 1976.[37][38]
In 2002,Rhino Records released the limited edition 4-CD box setFirst Time in a Long Time, which collected Fanny's first four studio albums along with live recordings, outtakes, and promotional items. A reunion concert featuring the Millington sisters and de Buhr (Barclay declined to appear for health reasons) was held atBerklee College of Music on April 20, 2007,[9] where the band members received theROCKRGRL Women of Valor award for their achievements.[39] The first four original Fanny albums are available on Real Gone records, with updated liner notes, pictures, and new mixes.[40]
In 2016, Brie Howard joined a live performance by the Millington sisters. This inspired the formation of a new band called Fanny Walked the Earth.[41] An album also titledFanny Walked the Earth was released in March 2018. The album marks the first time June, Jean, and Brie all recorded at the same time in nearly 50 years.[42][43]
Fanny were the subject of the documentary filmFanny: The Right to Rock, released in 2021 and directed byBobbi Jo Hart.[44][45] Fanny performed atYerba Buena Gardens on May 20, 2023.[46]
Fanny was not the first all-female rock band to sign with a major label, coming afterGoldie and the Gingerbreads andthe Pleasure Seekers. However, the earlier groups released only singles, so Fanny were the first all-female ensemble to release a full-length album on a major label[9] and one of the first to achieve top 40 success on theBillboard Hot 100.[15] Fanny's music was influenced bythe Beatles and theFunk Brothers, the loose studio musician collective onMotown records.[47]
The band resisted suggestions by the record company to dress in a typicalgirl group style or emphasize any sex appeal; the band also rehearsed regularly, wanting to acquire a reputation based on their musical talent.[13][32] Jean later said that Fanny had to have a strong live presence in order to overcome audience's perceptions that women could not play rock music well.[48] June added, "We knew we had to prove we could play and deliver live. Otherwise, no one would believe it."[47]
The group were more successful in the UK and Europe, where audiences appreciated their music and respected their work, than in the US. De Buhr was disappointed to discover that some record company executives merely treated Fanny as a gimmick that should not be taken seriously.[32] PromoterBill Graham was reluctant to give the group a headlining slot at venues, for fear the group would split up as the members got married and had children, though the group have stressed this was due to business pragmatics and not chauvinism. During tours, female fans would ask the group how to form a band.[49] Later all-female bands such asthe Runaways andthe Bangles cited Fanny as a key influence.[42]
A retrospective review of the group's career inRebeat stressed that Fanny were simply a good band, irrespective of gender.[21] June has been praised for her guitar skills, and was described byGuitar Player as the hottest female guitar player in the music industry.[50] During her time in Fanny, she initially favored the Gibson ES-355 andFender Twin Reverb amp, before acquiring aGibson Les Paul Junior guitar andTraynor amplifiers. She used the Les Paul primarily forslide guitar playing. Jean's main instrument in Fanny was a 1963Fender Precision Bass, which is still in her possession.[47]
Little Feat bandleaderLowell George was a fan of Fanny and jammed with the group when they were in Los Angeles.[47] In a 1999 interview withRolling Stone, David Bowie revealed his respect for the band:[24]
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.
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