Genya Ravan (born Genyusha Zelkovicz; April 19, 1940) is an American rock singer and producer. She was lead singer for The Escorts, Goldie & the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive. (More from Wikipedia)
After Goldie and the Gingerbreads broke up, bandleader Goldie Zelkowitz changed her name to Genya Ravan and joined a brass-heavy rock band called Ten Wheel Drive in 1969, where Ravan was accompanied by 10 male musicians. Before long, comparisons began to be drawn between Ravan and Janis Joplin.
In the New Wave era, Genya Ravan released Urban Desire in 1978; as is apparent from one look at the cover, this is a no-nonsense album from a no-nonsense woman.
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Ginger Bianco and Carol MacDonald of Goldie and the Gingerbreads formed a second all-woman rock band in 1972 called Isis. This band also had a strong horn section. They were signed to Buddah Records in 1973 and released two well-received albums plus a third for United Artists Records, though they failed to reach a wide audience.
Following a one-time reunion of Goldie and the Gingerbreads in November 1997 that featured Ginger Bianco and Carol MacDonald plus Genya Ravan, Bianco and MacDonald organized a new line-up of Isis in 2001.
(October 2013)
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These Are the Days by Certain General was produced by Genya Ravan, the former lead singer of perhaps the very first all-female rock band Goldie and the Gingerbreads. She was also in the band Ten Wheel Drive and has released several solo albums; I have Urban Desire (1978) myself. Among her other production credits are the Dead Boys’ first studio album, Young, Loud and Snotty (1977). That’s two important punk rock albums that I know of which were produced by women, the other being the 1979 album by the Germs, (GI), which was produced by Joan Jett (a veteran of another all-female band the Runaways).
(March 2015)
