The greatest Women in Classic Rock

8 March 2025, 13:34

Let's celebrate International Women's Day with the female artists that have produced some of the best rock music ever: from The Runaways to Stevie Nicks and more...

By Radio X Classic Rock

@xclassicrock

1. Stevie Nicks

   Born Stephanie Lynn Nicks on 26th May 1948 in Phoenix, Arizona, this legendary performer first collaborated with Lindsey Buckingham in a songwriting duo that issued one album in 1973. When Bob Welch left Fleetwood Mac after the recording of the album Heroes Are Hard To Find in September 1974, the British band began looking for new blood in their new base of Los Angeles.

   Nicks contributed some of Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits in the subsequent period, including Rhiannon, Sara and Dreams. As a solo artist, Nicks' biggest songs are Edge Of Seventeen from 1982 and 1989's Rooms On Fire.

   

   Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon (Official Music Video) [HD Remaster]

2. Christine McVie

   Born Christine Perfect in Lancashire in 1943, the singer and keyboard player was originally a member of the British blues band Chicken Shack, where she sang lead vocal on their hit cover of I Would Rather Go Blind. When Perfect married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie in 1968, she soon decided to join him in his own group, first appearing on their 1971 album Future Games.

   McVie wrote some of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours-era hits, Songbird, You Make Loving Fun and co-authoring Don't Stop. Christine was also responsible for the track Everywhere from 1987's Tango In The Night, which is one of the band's biggest UK hits, along with Little Lies, written by McVie and her then-husband Eddy Quintela. She died in November 2022, aged 79 - Mick Fleetwood said that a version of the band without Christine McVie would be "unthinkable".

   

   Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere (Live) (Official Video) [HD]

3. Marianne Faithfull

   Born in Hampstead on 29th December 1946, Faithfull rocketed to fame after she was discovered by Rolling Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, who masterminded a pop career for her. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote the song As Tears Go By with Faithfull in mind, and it broke the UK Top 10 in September 1964.

   Marianne began a very public relationship with Jagger and the nation was scandalised when she was present when Mick and Keith were arrested for possession of drugs in February 1967. In 1979, Faithfull's musical career was given a boost with the "comeback" album Broken English, which spawned the hit The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan. She died on 30th January 2025, aged 78.

   

   Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By (1965)

4. Suzi Quatro

   "Before I did what I did, we didn't have a place in rock 'n' roll. I played boys at their own game." Michigan-born bassist Suzi led the way for hard rocking female musicians like Joan Jett and all that followed her with a tough, uncompromising image and sound.

   Collaborating with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, she had two glam-era Number 1 hits in the UK - Can The Can and Devil Gate Drive - while 48 Crash and The Wild One both went Top 10. Quatro also had a career as an actress, appearing in Happy Days, Absolutely Fabulous and more. She still tours and released a collaborative album in 2023 with KT Tunstall.

   

   Suzi Quatro - Can The Can (TOTP 1973)

5. Deborah Harry

   Born Angela Trimble in Miami in July 1945, Debbie Harry's first musical outing was as part of a folk rock outfit called Wind In The Willows, but she met Chris Stein in the early 1970s while in a band called The Stilettos and the pair went on to form Blondie. Harry's iconic bleached blonde hair matched with the new wave sound of the band proved hugely popular; their third album Parallel Lines has sold an estimated 16 million copies and notched up no less than five UK Number 1 singles: Heart Of Glass, Sunday Girl, Call Me, Atomic and The Tide Is High.

   Blondie split in 1982, with Harry taking time out to nurse her partner Stein through as serious illness, however she forged a solo career before the band reunited in the late 90s. Their 1998 single Maria gave them a sixth UK number 1. Harry also had a career as an actor, appearing in David Cronenberg's body horror classic Videodrome in 1983.

   

   Blondie - Heart Of Glass

6. Bonnie Tyler

   Born Gaynor Hopkins, Bonnie Tyler came to the attention of the world when her single Lost In France broke the Top 10 in November 1976. Her distinctive raspy voice was the product of an operation on vocal cord nodules, but it stood her in good stead when she collaborated with producer Jim Steinman in 1983.

   The man behind Meat Loaf's monster Bat Out Of Hell album completed Tyler's metamorphosis into a genuine rock diva, with her single Total Eclipse Of The Heart topping the chart for two weeks in March '83. She was awarded an MBE for services to music in Queen Elisabeth II's final birthday honours in 2022.

   

   Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For A Hero (Official HD Video)

7. Tina Turner

   Born Anna Mae Bullock in Tennessee in 1939, as Tina Turner she became a huge soul and R&B star in the 60s, scoring a huge hit with a cover of Proud Mary. Escaping her abusive husband Ike, Tina endured a fallow period in the mid-1970s, but reinvented herself as a rock icon, with her 1984 comeback album Private Dancer going five times Platinum in the US and three times in the UK.

   Turner was the first female solo star to take on the male rock gods like the Stones and Queen on their own terms, performing a record-breaking show in Rio in 1988 to over 180,000 people. She died in 2023, aged 83, but her incredible legacy lives on.

   

   Tina Turner - Proud Mary - Live Wembley (2000)

8. Janis Joplin

   Born in Texas in January 1943, Joplin rose to fame as the singer with Big Brother And The Holding Company, performing an astonishing set at the Monterey Festival in June 1967. The band's version of Piece Of My Heart went Top 20 in the US, but Joplin went solo soon after, issuing an album, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! in September 1969.

   Tragically, Janis's wild personal life overtook her and she died on 4th October 1970 from a heroin overdose. The album Pearl was released posthumously in January 1971 and it spawned a US Number 1 hit single in Me And Bobby McGee.

   

   Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart

9. The Go Go's

   This classic all-female rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978 with the line-up of Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle , Gina Schock, Kathy Valentine and Jane Wiedlin. Although they didn't get much traction on the UK chart, their single Our Lips Are Sealed was co-written with Terry Hall, who recorded a version with his own band, Fun Boy Three. The band broke up in 1985, with Carlisle and Wiedlin both forging successful solo careers.

   

   The Go-Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed

10. Suzanne Vega

    Born in California in 1959, Vega came to the world's attention with her 1985 self-titled debut album, which included the hit Marlene On The Wall. The success of that album was eclipsed by the follow-up, Solitude Standing, released in 1987. Songs like Luka and the acapella Tom's Diner both charted in the UK, with the latter getting a new lease of life when remixed by the production team DNA in 1990.

    

    Suzanne Vega - Luka

11. Patti Smith

    The Chicago-born "punk poet" issued one of the era's greatest ever albums, Horses, in 1975, while her song Because The Night, co-written by Bruce Springsteen, was a Top 5 hit in the UK. Smith will mark 50 years since the release of her debut album by performing Horses in full at London's Palladium in October 2025.

    

    Patti Smith - Because The Night (1978)

12. The Runaways

    Los Angeles all-female band, who counted future solo stars Lita Ford and Joan Jett among their number. Along with bandmates Cherry Currie, Jackie Fox and Sandy West, they released their eponymous debut album in March 1976. They disbanded in 1978 after the release of a fourth album and while not a huge commercial success at the time, the band had a significant influence on all-female rock bands that followed.

    

    The Runaways - Cherry Bomb

13. Kate Bush

    Hailing from Bexleyheath in Kent, Kate was signed to EMI aged just 16 after Pink Floyd's David Gilmour heard her demo tape. Her first single, Wuthering Heights, went to Number 1 for four weeks in March 1978, kick starting an amazing career of commercial and artistic success. Incredibly, she was the first female solo artist to top the UK albums chart, with 1980's Never For Ever, which was also the first album by a woman to enter the chart at Number 1.

    Kate's finest album is considered to be 1985's Hounds Of Love, which spawned hits in the title track, Cloudbusting and Running Up That Hill. A twelve year hiatus after her album The Red Shoes in 1993 ended with the release of Aerial (2005) and 50 Words For Snow (2011), while Bush toured for the first time in 35 years with a 22-night residency at London's Hammersmith Apollo.

    

    Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights - Official Music Video - Version 1

14. Annie Lennox

    Born on Christmas Day 1954 in Aberdeen, Lennox first came to the world's attention as a member of The Tourists, who had a Top 10 hit in December 1979 with a cover of I Only Want To Be With You. Lennox and her Tourists bandmate Dave Stewart left to form Eurythmics, one of the most successful British bands of all time, selling over 75 million records worldwide. She began a solo career with 1992's Diva album, which spawned the hits Why and Walking On Broken Glass and is the only woman to be named a fellow of the British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers And Authors.

    

    Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (Official Video)

15. The Bangles

    Sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson first joined forces with Susanna Hoffs in 1980, adding bassist Annette Zilinskas the following year. Initially known as The Bangs, Zilinskas was replaced by Michael Steele and the group became known as part of the retro-sounding "Paisley Underground" group of bands of the early 1980s. Debut album All Over Place spawned the minor hit Going Down To Liverpool, but the follow-up, Different Light, featured a single penned by Prince (writing as "Christopher"), Manic Monday.

    This was followed by Walk Like An Egyptian (UK Number 3), Hazy Shade Of Winter (UK Number 11) and the chart-topping Eternal Flame. Internal conflict split the band in 1989, but they reunited a decade later. When Steele quit The Bangles in 2005, original bassist Annette Zilinskas rejoined after 30 years away from the group!

    

    The Bangles - Manic Monday (Official Video)

16. Pat Benatar

    Patricia Mae Andrzejewski was born in Brooklyn in 1953 and married Dennis Benatar in 1972. They divorced in 1979, just as Pat was making her name as a rock singer. She broke the US Top 10 in 1980 with Hit Me With Your Best Shot, but her biggest hit was the evergreen Love Is A Battlefield, which first appeared on her album Live From Earth in 1983. Benatar has won four Grammys and was inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame in 2022.

    

    Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield (Official Music Video)

17. Grace Slick

    Frontwoman of the pioneering psychedelic outfit Jefferson Airplane, Slick's powerful vocal appeared on tracks like Somebody To Love and White Rabbit. By the 80s, the band had mutated into Starship, giving Grace hits with the likes of We Built This City and Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now. Following a brief reunion of Jefferson Airplane in the late 1980s, Grace Slick retired from music to work on her art and published her memoir in 1998.

    

    Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love (Live at Woodstock Music & Art Fair, 1969)

18. Chrissie Hynde

    Born in Akron, Ohio, Hynde found herself in mid-70s London and immediately found herself part of the burgeoning punk scene. After a few false starts, she put together the band that would become The Pretenders, alongside bassist Pete Farndon, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and drummer Martin Chambers. The singles Stop Your Sobbing and Kid were both hits, but Brass In Pocket went on to be the first Number 1 of the 1980s.

    The deaths of Honeyman-Scott (in June 1982) and Farndon (in April 1983) could have ended The Pretenders, but Chrissie was back with a new line-up for the album Learning To Crawl in 1984, which spawned the hits Back On The Chain Gang, Middle Of The Road and the perennial Christmas favourite, 2000 Miles. The Pretenders still tour, while Hynde has had solo success, most notably with UB40, with whom she had two Top 10 singles: I Got You Babe and Breakfast In Bed.

    

    Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing (Official Music Video)

19. Nancy and Ann Wilson

    The Wilson sisters were the powerhouse behind Heart, who formed in 1974 and released their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, the following year. They had a US hits with Magic Man and Barracuda - the latter a harsh retort to crass questioning from reporters - but their golden era kicked off in 1985 when they reinvented themselves as rock goddesses, bagging their first UK hit with What About Love in the process. Their most successful single in this country was the Number 3 hit Alone, from the Platinum-selling album Bad Animals.

    

    Heart - Alone

20. Girlschool

    London-based metal band, whose classic line up of Kim McAuliffe, Kelly Johnson, Enid Williams and Denise Dufort took on Motörhead on their own terms, collaborating on the St Valentine's Massacre EP in February 1981. They're still active today, making them the longest-running all-female group of all time.

    

    Girlschool - Race With The Devil (High Quality Sound)