So come alive, yeah! Come alive!

Sharing her day with another mixed bag of luminaries such as Josephine Baker, Tony Curtis, "Cousin Isobel" Dame Penelope Wilton, Curtis Mayfield, Flinders Petrie, Alla Nazimova, King George V, Paulette Goddard, Allen Ginsberg, Deniece Williams, "Grandma Walton" Ellen Corby, Lili St. Cyr, Bill Paterson, Patrick Cargill and Rafael Nadal, the "mother of all pop-rock chicks" Miss Suzi Quatro is - gulp - 70 years old today!

Although she's younger than Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, Kim Carnes, Bette Midler and Stevie Nicks, she had massive #1 hits many years before any of 'em...

Her first chart-topper here in the UK was in June 1973:

Suzi Quatro - Can the Can

I can only imagine the impact this powerful, no-holds-barred leather-clad pixie with the big voice had on such budding artistes as Joan Jett or Chrissie Hynde - and even Alison Goldfrapp cited her as an influence.

Arriving as she did in the midst of that maddest of all musical "cults", Glam Rock, she obviously became eternally associated with the genre - despite never once being seen with anything resembling the layers of slap that The Sweet or Wizzard wore, and evidently having nothing in the slightest bit glittery in her "Biker's Moll" wardrobe.



Nevertheless, she was in the "stable" of artists who were launched into the British consciousness by the avowed maestros of that early '70s zeitgeist, Messrs Chinn and Chapman (who also wrote hits for the aforementioned Sweet, as well as Mud, Smokie, The Arrows and Racey) and Mickie Most, and thus her name would be forever listed alongside those of other top "Glam" stars like Slade, Alvin Stardust, Gary Glitter and Marc Bolan...

...but she was the only girl - and had more balls than (just about) all her compatriots! She also just happened to sell over 50 million records worldwide. Here are a couple more of her memorable hits of the era:

Suzi Quatro - 48 Crash

...and my fave:

Suzi Quatro - Devil Gate Drive

Glam Rock faded as quickly as it had arrived, in a shower of discarded sequins, but unlike some of her unfortunate compatriots Miss Quatro never really went away. She continued to have chart success well into the Punk era, carved a new "icon" status as "Leather Tuscadero" in Happy Days, went on to take myriad cameo roles on telly in her adopted homeland of the UK - including in Minder and AbFab, and even Midsomer Murders - and has presented some rather good music shows on BBC Radio 2.

Many happy returns, Susan Kay Quatro (family name Quattrocchi; born 3rd June 1950).

I would wear some leather by way of a tribute, but it is a bit hot and sweaty weather at the moment.