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Genya Ravan

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Genya Ravan, a.k.a. Goldie (born Genyusha Zelkovicz; April 19, 1940) is an American rock singer and producer. She was lead singer of The Escorts, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive.[1]

Life and career

Ravan was born in Łódź, Poland,[2] and arrived in the United States in 1947, accompanied by her parents and one sister. They were her only family members who had survived the Nazi Holocaust in Europe;[2] she also had two brothers, who both died. They did not speak any English. Genya was named 'Goldie' by her mother, who claimed Genyusha was not American enough.

Goldie's career started in 1962 on a dare in a Brooklyn club called The Lollipop Lounge, which is also the title of her autobiography published by Billboard Books. On a dare in a bar, she jumped up to sing. "That was the first time I ever heard my voice". She was asked to join the band The Escorts, Richard Perry being one of the members. After signing to Decca Coral records and being produced by Henry Jerome, there was some success, they covered "Somewhere" from West Side Story and it went to number one in parts of the Mid-West. In 1963 she formed Goldie and The Gingerbreads after Ravan met drummer Ginger Bianco in a Greenwich Village bar.

After seeing the band at a party for the Rolling Stones, Atlantic Records Chairman Ahmet Ertegün signed them to Atlantic subsidiary Atco Records.[3] Goldie & the Gingerbreads were the first all-girl rock band in history to be signed to a major label and climb the charts.

While playing New York City's hot spot The Wagon Wheel on 45th Street in Times Square, Mike Jeffries, Eric Burdon, Hilton Valentine, and Chas Chandler spotted them, and wanted them to come to England. Goldie and The Gingerbreads toured with the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Kinks, and Manfred Mann. They reached the charts with their hit "Can't You Hear My Heart Beat" in 1965. The song reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart. The band stayed in London for two years.

Billed as "Goldie", she released the original version of the classic Carole King-Gerry Goffin composition "Goin' Back" in the spring of 1966. However, this single was withdrawn within a week by producer Andrew Loog Oldham, due to disagreements with Goffin and King over altered lyrics.[3] The song would be covered by Dusty Springfield three months later, making the UK top 10 singles chart.

Ravan and her two partners Aram Schefrin and Mike Zager formed Ten Wheel Drive in 1969. Ten Wheel Drive lasted three years. They recorded three albums for Polydor Records: Construction number 1, Brief Replies, Peculiar Friends Are Better Than No Friends. They had many fans, but the group did not take off. Ravan left the band in 1971. She was signed to Columbia Records by Clive Davis where she made one album in 1972 titled simply Genya Ravan. Four more solo albums followed through the 1970s.[2]

"She oversings, the band's ordinary, and the lyrics (both hers and those she chooses) often get blowzy; the only grade-A cuts are 'Jerry's Pigeons' and (A plus) 'The Sweetest One.' So maybe I'm soft—maybe I just can't resist a real New York doll. In a woman who combines the hip cool of Lou Reed with the emotionality of Springsteen, a case of Joplinitis—a rare disease these days—is rather endearing."

–Review of Urban Desire in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)[4]

Ravan performed at the Atlanta Pop Festival, twice at Carnegie Hall and twice at Madison Square Garden, along with various clubs in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, including the famous CBGB. She appeared on The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Della and The Dick Cavett Show television shows.

In 2011, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum included Goldie and The Gingerbreads in their Women in Music exhibit which traveled from state to state. Genya Ravan toured in 2013, selling out New York City's Iridium and is going back by popular demand. Jay Z sampled one of her tracks for his song "Oh God" from her Goldie Zelkowitz CD song "Whipping Post". Many Ten Wheel Drive tracks were also sampled by hip hop artists.

Ravan appeared at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, alongside legends like Wanda Jackson, Martha Reeves, Maria Muldaur and Tracy Nelson as part of the museum's "Women Who Rock" exhibit.[5] She and Reeves discovered a number of connections in that both worked with Richard Perry and were signed by Clive Davis. Further, one of the first songs Ravan learned when she came to the US was "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue", made famous by Fats Waller; a song Martha performed while starring in the road show of Ain't Misbehavin'. The two plan on working on a future project together.

A retrospective of her career is the subject of the Off Broadway musical Rock and Roll Refugee, which was profiled on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday on February 14, 2016.

Producer

Ravan had worked as a producer for multiple record labels. Amongst others, she was responsible for the debut album Young Loud and Snotty by the punk rock band Dead Boys (1977) and the comeback album Siren by Ronnie Spector (1982).[2] She also contributed vocals to the latter album. In 2001 Ravan discovered Tripod at CBGB and produced their demo CD, adding backup vocals to one track.

Radio host

In 2006 Ravan was recruited by Steven Van Zandt to host two monthly radio shows (Chicks and Broads, playing women from the '50s to the present day), and Goldies Garage show of unsigned bands. Genya Ravan said, "So much talent out there and not enough places for them to be heard anymore" on the Van Zandt's Underground Garage radio channel, 21, aired throughout North America on Sirius Satellite Radio, and worldwide on Sirius Internet Radio. Ravan joined a team of hosts that includes original Rolling Stones manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham, whom she worked with as Goldie.

Discography

  • Construction #1, Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, 1969
  • Brief Replies, Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, 1970
  • Peculiar Friends, Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, 1971
  • Genya Ravan, 1972
  • They Love Me, They Love Me Not, 1973
  • Goldie Zelkowitz, 1974
  • Urban Desire, 1978 (CD edition 2004 at Hip-O Select)
  • ...And I Mean It!, 1979 (CD edition 2004 at Hip-O Select)
  • Best of Ten Wheel Drive, 1995
  • For Fans Only!, 2003 (privately published)
  • Genya Ravan Live, 2006
  • Undercover, 2010 (Collectables Records)
  • Cheesecake Girl, 2013 Aha Music
  • Live at CBGB (recorded in 2005) 2020 (Rum Bar Records)

Publications

  • Lollipop Lounge, Memoirs Of A Rock And Roll Refugee, Genya Ravan, 2004, ISBN 0-8230-8362-4

Stage production

In early 2016, Royal Family Productions produced a workshop for a musical based on the life of Genya Ravan titled Rock And Roll Refugee. Details of that production are detailed at http://RoyalFamilyProductions.org/rock-and-roll-refugee.

Movies

In the movie The Warriors (1979), the song that plays when Cochise, Rembrandt and Vermin are in the Lizzie's HQ is "Love Is a Fire" by Genya Ravan. The song is featured on The Warriors soundtrack album.

Ravan was portrayed by Stana Katic in the 2013 film CBGB[6] There is also interest in her autobiography, Lollipop Lounge, for a future film.

References

  1. ^ "Genya Ravan". Discogs. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d "Genya Ravan". AllMusic. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Goldie & The Gingerbreads". AllMusic. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  4. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: R". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  5. ^ Mauck, Chrissy (October 18, 2013). "The MIM Presents Women Who Rock Exhibit". Fender.com. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Retrieved November 2, 2017. Emcee Beth McDonald of KEZ 99.9 FM hosted a Q&A session with Jackson and Reeves, as well as folk-blues singer Maria Muldaur, singer Tracy Nelson and Genya Ravan (aka Goldie of the groundbreaking all-female band Goldie and the Gingerbreads).
  6. ^ "Stana Katic". IMDb.com. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
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