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JOAN JETT Still Flying High as Rocker, Label Owner
from: news10.net
Written for the web byPosted By: Landon Lee, Sales Creative Producer
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In some ways, JOAN JETT has lived three rock 'n' roll lifetimes.
In the '70s, she was a guitarist in the RUNAWAYS, one of the first all-women hard rock bands in the world. Then in the '80s, she was a pop music star with nine Top 40 hits and eight gold or platinum albums. Now she's both a live attraction and a label owner.
Jett and her longtime backing band, the BLACKHEARTS, play a show Dec. 30 at the Silver Legacy Resort Casino.
Jett's BLACKHEART RECORDS label is home to three woman-fronted bands - the Dollyrots, Girl in a Coma and the Eyeliners. Jett told Billboard magazine in 2006 that giving support to women artists in rock 'n' roll is something she aspires to, even if the rest of the industry still is playing catch-up.
"For some reason, women playing rock 'n' roll seems threatening," Jett said. "I guess it implies owning your own sexuality and you're in control of it, so I don't know why that's threatening."
The rocker's own musical journey started in Los Angeles when her parents bought her a Sears electric guitar in the early 1970s, according to an interview with Jett in the U.K. newspaper the Guardian.
"Initially, I tried to take guitar lessons," Jett told the Guardian. "I went to a guitar teacher and said, 'I wanna play rock 'n' roll.' When you're a kid, you think everything can happen right away, and you don't realize you have to go through a process of actually learning it.
"So he tried to teach me 'On Top of Old Smokey,' and I said, '(Forget) this,' and went and got one of those 'Teach Yourself To Play Guitar' books. I just sat in my room and taught myself basic barre chords and played along with my Led Zeppelin and T. Rex records," she said.
Around the same time, Jett met Kim Fowley, a rock manager who put her in touch with another teen named Sandy West. The two of them found other like-minded women and formed the RUNAWAYS in 1975. The band released three albums but didn't find great commercial success, although songs such as "Cherry Bomb" and "Queens of Noise" eventually became touchstones for both hard rock and punk bands.
After the band splintered in 1979, Jett met still-current manager and producer KENNY LAGUNA, who convinced her to launch a solo career.
"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" was her biggest hit, spending eight weeks at No. 1. She continued to have both MTV and radio hits throughout the '80s and early '90s, including "Bad Reputation," "Crimson and Clover" and "Do You Wanna Touch Me." She's always been a strong live act and able to tour even when she was not on the charts. Her latest CD is "SINNER," released in 2006.
Who: JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
When: 8 p.m. Dec. 30
Where: Silver Legacy Resort Casino, Grande Exposition Hall
Cost: $35, $45 and $55
Details: 325-7401 or 800-687-8733
Web: silverlegacy.com
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