1. Kelley Deal
Born in 1961, Kelley has played in the Breeders, The Amps and The Kelley Deal 6000 and performed duets with Kris Kristofferson and Supersuckers. She is the twin sister of Kim Deal, the bassist for the Breeders and the Pixies. Kelley was thrown in the deep end without really knowing how to play when she joined the Breeders in 1992 for the Safari EP, getting a crash course in the bands songs from her sister. For those who think it is too late to learn guitar, Kelley was already 30 when she started to play. A high point for the band she says was opening for Nirvana in 1994. Kelley plays a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe and occasionally Fender Strats and Jaguars.
Kelley has had her addictions and convictions, but is a survivor and turned to knitting as a distraction in order to stay sober and sells her knitted bags on her website. She even wrote a book about her knitting designs; Bags That Rock: Knitting on the Road with Kelley Deal.
2. Orianthi Panagaris
Born in Adelaide, Australia in 1985, Orianthi (named by her Greek grandmother) is a singer, songwriter and killer guitarist. In fact, Carlos Santana said, “If I was going to pass the baton to someone, she would be my first choice.” Check out the video of her covering Hendrix’s Voodoo Child (Slight Return). She started young, heck she’s still young – her dad handed her a guitar when she was 6 and by 11 she had gone electric. By 14 she was playing in bands and began writing songs the next year, starting her professional career as a musician.
When she was just 18 she jammed with Carlos Santana during a sound check at a concert in Adelaide in 2003 and was invited to perform on stage with him that night. Inspired by watching her on Youtube videos, the late Michael Jackson asked her to play on his comeback tour after meeting her for rehearsals. She played the solo to 'Beat It' for him and he was sold. She’s also played with Steve Vai and this year she opened for Adam Lambert on the Glam Nation Tour. She’s into 80s style rock and big, long solos, but hey she knows what she wants! She plays Paul Reed Smith guitars. Check out her version of Voodoo Child (Slight Return) on the video below.
3. Juliana Hatfield
Born in 1967, Juliana has played in alternative rock bands, The Blake Babies, The Juliana Hatfield Three, and Solo and has worked with (and played around with) fellow Bostonian, Evan Dando of the Lemonheads. She was introduced to the LA punk scene by her babysitter and at the same time loved The Police and even Olivia Newton-John. This strange cocktail of affections comes through in her music which has ranged from sweet, melodic pop to hard rock. She is most often found playing a Les Paul Standard or an SG.
4. Joan Jett
Born in 1958, Joan Jett is the archetypal rock chick. American singer, songwriter, and guitarist she is best known for her band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Her first band was The Runaways in which she played rhythm guitar, sang and wrote or co-wrote most of the songs.
In 1979, she recorded with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols, covering a song by The Arrows called ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’ which became a rock anthem for her as predicted by her manager. The song was re-recorded in 1982 with her new band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks. A steady streams of songs followed making it into the top 40 and her band enjoyed sell out tours with Queen, The Police, and Aerosmith. Her band released eight albums with ‘Up Your Alley’ going multi-platinum in 1988. Joan has also made film, stage and TV appearances and was executive producer for 'The Runaways', a film that chronicled the bands career. Joan’s chosen ax is a Gibson Les Paul.
5. Miki Berenyi
I have always found that Eurasian women have a special appeal and half Japanese, half Hungarian, Miki, plus guitar is very hot. From London and born in 1967, Miki, formed a friendship with Emma Andeson who was to become her future bandmate in ‘The Bugs’. In 1988 she joined the band “Lush’ which produced several albums and toured Australia, North America, UK and Japan. Lush broke up when the drummer killed himself.
She now works as a magazine editor and says of her days in Lush,"I miss the excitement and energy of playing live and the camaraderie of touring – being with the band and crew in a foreign country is like going on holiday with your mates but even more fun because it’s free. I enjoyed being in the band immensely, I’m glad I did it." Miki played a Gibson 335 and a Gibson Firebird.
Miki left behind a loyal fan base that started to campaign for a comeback, to which she comically responded, “I guess it’s flattering that anybody gives a shit. Not sure how enthusiastic the support would be if they realized that bringing back Miki Berenyi would deliver a 40-year-old office employee with graying hair who's still struggling to shift the weight from her last pregnancy."
6. Lita Ford
Born Septmeber, 1958, Lita was lead guitarist in the Runaways, with Joan Jett. Apparently the band split because Jett and bassist, Vicki Blue wanted to go more glam rock while Ford and drummer West were more into hard rock/metal. When the band split Lita released solo efforts, ‘Out for Blood’ which didn’t make the charts. Her next effort did a little better with the single, ‘Fire in My Heart, making top ten in several countries.
‘Gotta Let Go’, Ford’s next single was a mainstream success, reaching number one. Trouble with her label cast a shadow over the next four years but in 1988 she re-emerged with Sharon Osbourne to manage her and released a solo album, Lita, which had four commercial hits. Two more albums followed and then Ford went on to happily marry and have a family.
She began a 2009 tour with a new lineup in the US and Europe and released ‘Wicked Wonderland’ in the same year. Lita uses B.C Rich guitars including a Warlock. She is featured alongside Jett in the Guitar Hero II, X-Box 360 game.
7. Ruyter Suys
Pronounced 'Rider Sighs' she was voted one of the world's best female guitarists by Elle Magazine. She wails on a cherry red SG with the neck pickup ripped out in hard rock/psychobilly band, Nashville Pussy. Ruyter plays alongside her husband, Blaine Cartwright and their shows are high energy, gutsy affairs. I noticed that there is a comment left about her on one of their Youtube videos by a guy who claims she helped him avoid getting thrown out of an after party by security because he wasn't on the list. He says, " she held my hand and pushed him out of the way and took me up to VIP with her, and had some cocktails. She is the nicest, most humble women." Check out the video below to see just how hard this women rocks out!
8. Brody Dalle
Dalle started playing guitar at 13 after discovering Nirvana and Hole and later played in a Melbourne feminist collective called Rock’n Roll High School. She was just 16 when she played in the band Sourpuss, scoring a set at Australia’s Summersault Festival where she met and fell for Tim Armstrong from punk rock band, Rancid. Dalle was engaged to Armstrong at 18 and moved to LA where she founded the Distillers. Their debut album was released in 2000 with favorable reviews. Other releases include Sing Sing Death House and Coral Fang, with the entire lineup having changed except for Dalle . After the Distillers broke up she worked with Alain Johannes of Eleven releasing Ghetto Love. Other projects have included singing on Lullabies to Paralyze by Queens of the Stone Ages and her second husband’s ‘Bargain Healers'. Dalle has had seven surnames and takes the name Dalle from the name of her favorite actress, Beatrice Dalle, known for Betty Blue.
9. Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson, born March 16, 1954, played solo gigs in Seattle until joining her sister, Ann, in Canada to play in Heart. While her sister was lead vocalist, Nancy also sang on Heart songs as well as playing lead and rhythm guitar. Her solo album, Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop was released in 1999 and later released “Baby Guitars” as an EP. More recently she performed in We are the World 25 for Haiti and joined her sister in Pandora’s, “Moms Who Rock”. She’s played a number of different axes and is seen here playing a Les Paul sunburst fitted with a Bigsby tremolo.
10. Alison Robertson
Now 31, Alison is daughter of musician, Baxter Robertson, who wrote “Feel the Night” featured on the Karate Kid soundtrack. She grew up in North Hollywood and was teased at school for here taste in music which centered on hard rock and metal. The family moved to Palo Alto, California, where she met her future bandmates - Brett Anderson in 7th grade, Maya Ford in 5th grade and Torry Castellano in 4th grade. Alison got her first guitar at 12 – a MIM Fender Telecaster, which was replaced later with a Gibson Les Paul. They called themselves The Donnas and started touring straight out of school. Alison also plays in band, Elle Rae, with her sister – the name of the band was formed from their combined names. In 2007 she played lead for Loudlion and joined with Corey Parks of Nashville Pussy, Samantha Maloney of Motley Crue and Hole as well as former Playboy model, ‘Tuesdae’ to form Chelsea Girls who were offered a regular spot at LA club, The Roxy Theatre. Alison plugs straight into a Marshall from her LP, preferring to keep the signal chain as short as possible for a pure tube driven tone.
