Top Punk Rock Female Singers

Punk rock female singers of the past are part of the reason that female rock singers of today receive large audiences and respect. These were women who broke into a club reserved for men. While Katy Perry gets kudos from men's magazines, if female punk rock singers of the past showed off some skin, it wasn't to get a thumbs up from men. Punk rock female singers of the past screamed as loud as men, banged on their guitars, threw things, and did it whether their legs were shaved or not. These were intelligent feminists who proved that punk is not for men only.

Mia Zapata

Mia Zapata was the frontwoman for the punk rock band The Gits. Zapata had a deep, soulful sound strengthened by her influences, such as Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. When Mia and the men in the group relocated to Seattle, Washington is when they really took off. Groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were known for grunge rock in Seattle, but The Gits were distinctly punk and they became one of the most influential punk rock groups on the scene. Released in 1992, Frenching The Bully was their first album. But in 1993, just when they were really getting going, off a successful tour in Europe and about to sign with a major label, Mia Zapata was brutally raped and murdered, by a stranger, while she was walking outside in Seattle, when she was just 27-years-old. Her murderer got 36 years in prison, but not enough justice for the loss of one of the most gifted women of punk rock. The Gits story was told in a documentary by Kerri O'Kane. "She was an old soul, and wasn't the typical punk rocker like Darby Crash from The Germs or Exene Cervenka from X. There was a specific element that Mia had. She was so charismatic and fiery and I was really drawn to that," says O'Kane on Mia Zapata.

Kathleen Hanna

Kathleen Hanna was the frontwoman for the punk rock band, Bikini Kill, a major influence of the Riot Grrl movement, an undergound feminist punk scene. Bikini Kill was formed in Olympia, Washington. Grit TV's Laura Flanders says Bikini Kill and Kathleen Hanna, "Brought feminism out of the universities and into the mosh pits and basement concert halls."

It was difficult being a woman of punk, even in the 90's. Back then, punk rock female singers performing on stage were often verbally abused and physically and sexually assaulted. For women who used to be asked to "pull up their tops" while trying to perform, rock fans can now find more diversity and women in shows, Kathleen Hanna reports. The politically active Hanna is the author and producer of a variety of zines and formed the dance punk group Le Tigre.

Ari Up

Ari Up, who died in October of 2010 at the age of 48 from cancer, was a frontwoman for the punk rock band The Slits. The stepdaughter of John Lyndon, also known as Johnny Rotten of the Six Pistols, Ari Up was born in Germany and was one of the founders of The Slits when she was just 14. Their debut album, Cut, was listed at the Guardian as one of the top 100 British albums. "I have the Ari Up sound. It's very street and very down to earth," said Up. Ari Up, who wore long dreads and who also called herself Medussa, had a Jamaican accent and feel developed by her time in Jamaica and her years in Brooklyn among Jamaican people.

Wendy O. Williams

The late Wendy O. Williams, who died in 1998, looked bizarre to the mainstream crowd, but was actually known as down to earth and nice. Like Ari Up, she died at the age of 48. But unlike Ari Up, Wendy O. Williams, an ardent animal rights advocate, committed suicide. In her suicide note, Williams wrote,

"The act of taking my own life is not something I am doing without a lot of thought. I don't believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time. I do believe strongly, however, that the right to do so is one of the most fundamental rights that anyone in a free society should have. For me much of the world makes no sense, but my feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner ear and a place where there is no self, only calm. Love always, Wendy,"

"You don't have to do what everybody else tells you to do," said Wendy O. Williams as a guest of the Sally Jessy Raphael Show. The lead singer of the punk rock and metal band Plasmatics, Wendy O Williams was one of the most controversial singers of her time. Williams favored shocking on stage performances that included performing in only shaving cream and a bikini bottom, chain sawing guitars and blowing things up. But Williams became part of popular culture and was even nominated for a Grammy award in 1985 for Best Female Rock Vocal.

Sources:

Infamous Fifteen: Rock Stars Dead at 27, Hub Pages

The Gits Movie

VIVA ZAPATA! Kerri O'Kane's "The Gits" mixes history, tragedy, and hope, The Hollywood Interview

Le Tigre Interview - Better Propoganda

Kathleen Hanna on TV: 'I Wish There Were More Feminist Leaders'...,The Daily Swarm

By Colin Moynihan, Ari Up, a Founder of the Slits Punk Band, Dies at 48, New York Times

Sabrina Brody, RIP Ari Up, Examiner

The list in full, Guardian

Ariane Forster aka Ari Up: the tributes , Dummy

Wendy O Williams (The Plasmatics) - 1984 interview , You Tube

James Sullivan, Shock Rocker Wendy O. Williams Hated People, Loved Animals -- Twisted Tales , Spinner

Wendy O. Williams

Wendy O William obituary , Bway.net