June Millington and Alice de Buhr left Fanny after the fourth album; they were replaced by guitarist Patti Quatro (who was also a bandmember in the Pleasure Seekers) and Brie Brandt, who had drummed in their earlier band the Svelts. They came up with a final album in this line-up, Rock and Roll Survivors.
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The Pleasure Seekers were formed by Patti Quatro and were basically a Quatro family project: Bandmembers in their initial incarnation were Patti Quatro (guitar), Suzi Quatro (vocals and bass guitar), Nancy Ball (drums), Mary Lou Ball (guitar), and Diane Baker (piano). Baker’s father was in the jazz band led by Art Quatro, who was the father of the Quatro sisters. Diane Baker was later replaced on piano by another sister, Arlene Quatro; while Nan Ball left the band in late 1965 and was replaced on drums by Darline Arnone.
The first single by the Pleasure Seekers came out in 1964 on Hideout Records – which was associated with a popular Detroit nightclub called the Hideout – and is truly remarkable. At that time, Suzi Quatro was only 15, and Patti Quatro was 17. I first heard the excellent “A” side, “Never Thought You’d Leave Me” – one of my all-time favorite 1960’s songs by anyone – on Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 6, and it has been anthologized several more times. At an earlier time or in another context, the Pleasure Seekers might have been a “girl group”, with strong harmony vocals. But they are a band, not a vocal group, and this gives the song a completely different sound.
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