SUZI Q
****
Director: Liam Firmager
Principal cast:
Suzi Quatro
Len Tuckey
Joan Jett
Debbie Harry
Patti Quatro
Nancy Quatro
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 98 mins.
Australian release date: 21 November 2019
Previewed at: Sony Pictures Theatrette, Sydney, on 7 November 2019.
Since 1973, Suzi Quatro has sold 55 million albums, not a bad track record for a diminutive woman from Detroit who never really hit the heights of rock stardom in her own country. Australia embraced her right from the start, however, and she still tours here regularly, so it is fitting that an Australian director, Liam Firmager, has made the definitive documentary about her, simply titled Suzi Q. It’s not the first attempt to tell the story of her career on screen but Quatro has resisted previous proposals. This time, though, Quatro agreed to Firmager’s request because she wanted “to set the record straight.” And straight it is.
Dispelling the usual myths surrounding rock stars, Quatro, by all accounts, was and still is a clean-living, hard-working Catholic gal. Susan Kay Quatro began her professional career at the tender age of 14, when she formed an all-girl rock band with her sisters called The Pleasure Seekers. Highly ambitious, she moved to England at 19 to work with the legendary producer and talent spotter Mickie Most and established her musical persona there - decked out from top-to-toe in leather - but estranged from the family who felt that she had deserted them. Quatro paved the way for many other female rockers and was the first woman to lead a rock’n’roll band, playing a bass guitar that was almost as big as she was. She inspired a generation of girls and women, people like Chrissie Hinde and Joan Jett, who freely acknowledge that they were heavily influenced by her. Quatro’s success was mostly in Europe and Australia, where she regularly topped the charts. In the USA, however, ‘glam-rock’ was never embraced in the same way, so she remained low in the charts there. She had another kind of fame in the States, a three-season stint in the television series Happy Days, playing a character not unlike her on-stage personality. Oh, the irony.
Quatro’s personal life was marred by a tape she received from her father in 1971. The family had recorded a ‘no holds barred’, somewhat cruel, conversation about her - bitter about her success - but when they visited her in London, Quatro did not discuss the recording with them, preferring to just get on with business as usual. This is a telling part of the woman who was not only very talented but, though deeply hurt, was able to rise above the jealousy that can surround people when they achieve success. Firmager’s doco is revealing in other ways, too. It’s an interesting lesson in how an act and a ‘sound’ can be constructed by clever producers and song-writers. Quatro not only had the help of Mickie Most, the brains behind The Animals, Donovan, Lulu and many others, but she was also able to draw upon the creative genius of Aussie producer Mike Chapman and his working partner Nicky Chinn, who were responsible for many of her greatest hits.
Susi Q is a terrific documentary on many levels. The archival footage that the filmmakers have unearthed is comprehensive and very entertaining and the many interviews with her contemporaries are telling. The lady herself is extremely open about her personal life and her professional career. If anything, Susi Q is perhaps a little too honest at times and her discussions about her abandoned parents and siblings while pursuing her career goes on too long. A sharper cut towards the end of the documentary would have been more satisfying.
Principal cast:
Suzi Quatro
Len Tuckey
Joan Jett
Debbie Harry
Patti Quatro
Nancy Quatro
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 98 mins.
Australian release date: 21 November 2019
Previewed at: Sony Pictures Theatrette, Sydney, on 7 November 2019.
Since 1973, Suzi Quatro has sold 55 million albums, not a bad track record for a diminutive woman from Detroit who never really hit the heights of rock stardom in her own country. Australia embraced her right from the start, however, and she still tours here regularly, so it is fitting that an Australian director, Liam Firmager, has made the definitive documentary about her, simply titled Suzi Q. It’s not the first attempt to tell the story of her career on screen but Quatro has resisted previous proposals. This time, though, Quatro agreed to Firmager’s request because she wanted “to set the record straight.” And straight it is.
Dispelling the usual myths surrounding rock stars, Quatro, by all accounts, was and still is a clean-living, hard-working Catholic gal. Susan Kay Quatro began her professional career at the tender age of 14, when she formed an all-girl rock band with her sisters called The Pleasure Seekers. Highly ambitious, she moved to England at 19 to work with the legendary producer and talent spotter Mickie Most and established her musical persona there - decked out from top-to-toe in leather - but estranged from the family who felt that she had deserted them. Quatro paved the way for many other female rockers and was the first woman to lead a rock’n’roll band, playing a bass guitar that was almost as big as she was. She inspired a generation of girls and women, people like Chrissie Hinde and Joan Jett, who freely acknowledge that they were heavily influenced by her. Quatro’s success was mostly in Europe and Australia, where she regularly topped the charts. In the USA, however, ‘glam-rock’ was never embraced in the same way, so she remained low in the charts there. She had another kind of fame in the States, a three-season stint in the television series Happy Days, playing a character not unlike her on-stage personality. Oh, the irony.
Quatro’s personal life was marred by a tape she received from her father in 1971. The family had recorded a ‘no holds barred’, somewhat cruel, conversation about her - bitter about her success - but when they visited her in London, Quatro did not discuss the recording with them, preferring to just get on with business as usual. This is a telling part of the woman who was not only very talented but, though deeply hurt, was able to rise above the jealousy that can surround people when they achieve success. Firmager’s doco is revealing in other ways, too. It’s an interesting lesson in how an act and a ‘sound’ can be constructed by clever producers and song-writers. Quatro not only had the help of Mickie Most, the brains behind The Animals, Donovan, Lulu and many others, but she was also able to draw upon the creative genius of Aussie producer Mike Chapman and his working partner Nicky Chinn, who were responsible for many of her greatest hits.
Susi Q is a terrific documentary on many levels. The archival footage that the filmmakers have unearthed is comprehensive and very entertaining and the many interviews with her contemporaries are telling. The lady herself is extremely open about her personal life and her professional career. If anything, Susi Q is perhaps a little too honest at times and her discussions about her abandoned parents and siblings while pursuing her career goes on too long. A sharper cut towards the end of the documentary would have been more satisfying.