The Pleasure Seekers was a 1960s-era, all-female garage rock band from Detroit, Michigan. The band morphed into Cradle, changing direction musically. They are known due in large part to the later prominence of bandmember Suzi Quatro. (More from Wikipedia)
If Goldie and the Gingerbreads were the first all-woman rock band to be signed to a major label, and Fanny was #3, who was the second? That would be the Pleasure Seekers, which was Suzi Quatro’s first band In her memoir Unzipped, Suzi said that she and her sisters searched through the dictionary for a name for their band. They found the word “hedonist” and took their name for one of the definitions for that word, “pleasure seeker”.
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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I didn't hear the “B” side, “What a Way to Die” until I picked up a retrospective of the Hideout Records label, called Friday at the Hideout. The theme of this song is incredible: The singer seems intent on drinking herself to death with beer (however unlikely that would be in practice). At a later date, the Pleasure Seekers were signed to Mercury Records and released a second single in 1968, “Light of Love” b/w “Good Kind of Hurt”.
Several fine rock bands are featured on the Friday at the Hideout CD; one of them, Doug Brown and the Omens released a promotional flexidisc in support of the candidacy of Republican Senator Robert P. Griffin during his first Senate campaign in 1966. The song, “Give Bob the Ball” – which championed his “youth and experience” – is included on this CD under the name “Youth and Experience”.
The Pleasure Seekers reorganized as a band called Cradle in 1969, after a fourth sister, Nancy Quatro joined as vocalist and percussionist. Cradle toured extensively through the U.S. and closed their career with a tour in Vietnam. A retrospective album of music by Cradle came out in 2011, and an album highlighting the Pleasure Seekers was released in 2012.
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Suzi Quatro was signed by Mickie Most to RAK Records in 1971 and moved to England, where she embarked on a successful solo career. She is the first female bass guitarist to become a rock star. Her albums presented Suzi Quatro alternately as confrontational – Your Mama Won’t Like Me – and girl-next-door cute – If You Knew Suzi . . . . Suzi Quatro is probably best known to American audiences for her role as Leather Tuscadero on the TV series Happy Days; the character was the younger sister of Fonzie’s girlfriend, Pinky Tuscadero. On occasion, Suzi Quatro gave a musical performance on the TV show.
In 1974, Patti Quatro joined Fanny and appeared on their album, Rock and Roll Survivors. Arlene Quatro and her husband Leo Fenn – who was the manager of the Pleasure Seekers – are the parents of actress Sherilyn Fenn.
