Suzi Quatro Biography

Though officially a native of Detroit, MI (where she was born in 1950) rocker-cum-actress Suzi Quatro reaped the most widespread stardom in Great Britain, both as a musician and a thespian. Music was undoubtedly Quatro's strongest suit, and after enduring a several-year stint in a low-level band called the Pleasure Sisters opposite her siblings (later renamed Cradle), her path intersected with that of British producer Mickie Most. He caught Cradle performing in the early '70s while working with Jeff Beck at Motown Studios in Detroit, and though he felt disinterested in signing the group as a whole, he immediately expressed interest in tapping Quatro as a solo act. She achieved stardom in the U.K. thanks to a creative partnership with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, including an extensive series of Top Ten hits. Quatro's style fused high-energy glitter pop and bubblegum pop with slightly (though not overtly) raunchy lyrics and predated the punk revolution by several years.Quatro briefly returned to the United States in 1977 for a multi-episode run as guitar-playing rocker Leather Tuscadero on the ABC sitcom Happy Days, then kept a somewhat low profile during the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, despite occasional television and stage roles in Britain. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi