Biography
Back in
1975, Enid Williams (Bass, Vocals) and Kim McAuliffe (Rhythm Guitar,
Vocals), both from South London, formed an all girl rock covers band
called ´Painted Lady´. After playing the local pub scene with numerous
line-up changes (Deirdre Cartright, Kathy Valentine, later of The Go Gos),
Kelly Johnson and Denise Dufort came on board and in March 78 they
changed their name to ´Girlschool´ then hit the road touring venues
around France, Ireland and the U.K.
In December 78 they released their first single ´Take it all away´ on
the independent ´City Records´ label which led to interest from
Motorhead´s management and a support slot on the Overkill tour in the
spring of 79. After signing with Lemmy´s record company Bronze Records
later that year, the band released their first album ´Demolition´
alongside the singles ´Emergency´ and ´Race with the Devil´ in the
spring of 1980. Tours around Europe and a support with ´Uriah Heep´
followed and in 1981 they teamed up with Motorhead again as ´Headgirl´
on the classic single ´Please Don't Touch´ (St. Valentines Massacre)
which went silver and reached no.5 in the U.K. The album ´Hit and Run´
was released in March, going gold in Canada and a sellout tour of the
U.K, gigs with Black Sabbath and Rush and a Friday night headline slot
at Reading Festival followed.
After playing Japan in 1982, Enid left and was replaced by Gil Weston of
the punk band The Killjoys. Girlschool recorded their third album
´Screaming Blue Murder´, hitting the road in the U.S.A. to play stadiums
alongside Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, The Scorpions and Blue Oyster Cult.
In 1983 the band went back into the studio with Noddy Holder and Jim Lee
of legendary band Slade for their fourth album ´Play Dirty´, charting in
the U.S.
In 1984 Kelly Johnson left to pursue other ventures in L.A. She was
replaced by Cris Bonacci on lead guitar and singer Jackie Bodimead on
lead vocals for the 1985 album ´Running Wild´, released on Mercury
records alongside a live video from the Camden Palace, London. In 1986
Girlschool signed to GWR records and reunited with original producer Vic
Maile for ´Nightmare at Maple Cross´, minus Bodimead and now back as a
four piece with Kim on vocals.
The following year Gil called it quits and Tracey Lamb (Rock Goddess)
took over on bass for their next album ´Take a Bite´. Kim, Cris, Denise
and Enid teamed up with punk singer Toyah Willcox under the name ´She
Devils´ for the Women in Music festival in December1990 and summer 91
saw Lydie Gallais replacing Denise on drums under the new name ´Strange
Girls´ for a three track demo, U.K. dates and festivals in Germany as
support to the Beach Boys. ´92 saw the band releasing the album ´Girlschool´
with Jackie Carrera on bass and in ´93 the return of Kelly and Tracey
resulted in extensive touring around Europe and the U.S. and in March
´95 the CD ´Girlschool Live´.
In 2000, original bassist/vocalist Enid and lead guitarist Jackie
Chambers joined and in ´2002 they released the ´21st Anniversary – Not
that Innocent´ album, recorded three years earlier with the previous
line-up, now with the addition of two new tracks, ´Coming your Way´ and
´Innocent´. Since releasing their latest album ´Believe´ Girlschool have
been playing headline europian gigs, festivals and with Alice Cooper in
Spain, and support to Motorhead on tour in the U.K.
2008 saw the release of their new album LEGACY featuring some special
guests including Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead) Ronnie James Dio & Tony
Iommi amongst others and an around the world DVD in 2009 for the 30th
anniversary of the original and longest running all female rock band in
the world!
Cheers you lot!
The NEW CD LEGACY is available to Buy
from:
www.amazon.co.uk in the UK
www.amazon.com
in the USA
www.amazon.de in Germany
www.amazon.ca in Canada