# Female Band Members **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180 "2011-08-18T15:34:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/81 "2011-08-22T13:22:59Z")
Is it just me, or are female bassists almost always smoking hot? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/82 "2011-08-22T14:07:42Z")
I assume the OP meant to exclude women who only sang backup, since there are tons and tons of those, from solo artists like Sting or whoever who had the standard three women adding backup for a few songs, to the Grateful Dead when the then-keyboardist’s wife would add usually horrible back-up vocals. Anyway, I’ll add Donna the Buffalo (a man and woman swap singing lead, but another woman plays keyboard; I think this meets the spirit of the OP. Besides the singing woman plays fiddle and accordion, so at least half the time she qualifies too). Alison Krause with Union Station comes close the OP: she sings lead on most songs, but there are plenty of songs where someone else is singing lead and she just fiddles (she was first known as a fiddle player, so this is not the equivalent of playing tambourine). > [@Krokodil](#): > > Oh! How could I forget [Tina Weymouth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Weymouth)!? Well, Talking Heads were mentioned in post #2. I guess Tom Tom Club meets the OP? ---
**Author:** ![President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/President_Johnny_Gentle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/83 "2011-08-23T17:23:15Z")
> [@punch\_line\_loser](#): > > Did I miss anyone? Superchunk Titus Andronicus Okkervil River Lemonheads (circa _It’s a Shame About Ray_) Low (although Mimi Parker shares lead vocals) The Decemberists Of Montreal The Minders ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/84 "2011-08-23T17:48:29Z")
> [@punch\_line\_loser](#): > > Did I miss anyone? How about Mrs. Fiend in Alien Sex Fiend? ---
**Author:** ![punch\_line\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@punch\_line\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/punch_line_loser)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/85 "2011-08-23T18:20:15Z")
Oh yeah. For the record, I didn’t count Low because Mimi Parker sings a lot, and sings lead on a couple of songs. Jens Lekman usually tours with an all-girl backup band, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/86 "2011-08-24T02:08:32Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > I just saw one last night - [Schelia Gonzalez](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheila_Gonzalez) (that’s the correct spelling) plays sax and several other instruments for Zappa Plays Zappa. This. The woman has outshone everyone else in the band each time I’ve seen them. She’s incredible. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/87 "2011-08-24T02:34:20Z")
Christie McVie certainly deserves a spot in this discussion. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/88 "2011-08-24T03:05:12Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > The Jayhawks have Karen Grotberg on keyboards. > > Despite her singing lead on a fair number of songs, I think Christine McVie qualifies. She was always one of two or more singers and made an important contribution instrumentally as Fleetwood Mac transitioned from a blues band to a pop band. > [@Polycarp](#): > > Christie McVie certainly deserves a spot in this discussion. Now she has two! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@lexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/89 "2011-08-24T03:43:02Z")
Shirley Temple’s daughter, Lori Black, played bass on a few Melvins albums in the late 80s and early 90s. The Japanese noise metal band Boris have a female guitarist named Wata, who may be the reincarnation of Jimi Hendrix. She takes vocal duties occasionally (and sang on most of their recent techno album “Attention Please”) but is mostly known as a guitar player. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/90 "2011-08-25T03:27:38Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Female instrumentalists are definitely under-represented in rock music. Gonna give some caveats to that one: [All That Remains](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IetyQQgJOFM&feature=relmfu) is a hard rock/heavy metal band that has a girl in it. You can see her in the helicopter in the beginning of the song. Also take note how hard the song is. She sings barely…but it’s mostly screaming The aforementioned [Sick Puppies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY4MKj9Q784) has a female bassist. This is one of their harder songs but they do also have some more “chill” rock songs. [Skillet](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGcsIdGOuZY&ob=av2e) is a rock band that has TWO girls in their band. Rythim guitar and drummer. The drummer girl sings pretty often, but I still think it counts cuz I mostly want to put in some of my favorite heavy bands. Don’t forget **Halestorm** and **Flyleaf** …they don’t really fit the OP cuz the girls sing…but I love them. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/91 "2011-08-25T12:52:36Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Don’t forget **Halestorm** and **Flyleaf** …they don’t really fit the OP cuz the girls sing…but I love them. I really dig Halestorm! That’s my kind of vocals… not some light, ethereal voice, but one with some real oomph behind it. I play Halestorm on my online radio show Metallic Blue (as can be heard [here](http://www.getthepointradio.com/)). Rock on. ---
**Author:** ![Phoebestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Phoebestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phoebestar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/92 "2011-08-25T19:04:34Z")
For a good period of time, Cracker had Brandy Wood on bass. Wikipedia says 2000-2004, but I could have sworn I saw her play with them after 2004. However, it was some dude when I saw them last month. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/93 "2011-08-26T01:37:35Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > This. The woman has outshone everyone else in the band each time I’ve seen them. She’s incredible. Hear, Hear. I just saw ZPZ again last week and I agree. An amazing talent. What blew me away was, after watching her do all the sax, clarinet, flute, etc., she then DOUBLED the ultra-high-speed vibes part from St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast on synthesizer. ---
**Author:** ![Blackhawk441](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Blackhawk441](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackhawk441)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/94 "2011-08-28T05:38:28Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > It’s kind of fucked up that they _sell_ those. Are they really hard up? That would be a pretty cool piece of memorabilia, if you were into the band. Who wouldn’t want a piece of Jimi’s burnt guitar from Monterey Pop? I guess that the Mamas and the Papas kinda count, because even though they all sang (and were equally male/female), I don’t believe Michelle Phillips much, if ever, sang lead. And she did play tambourine sometimes. Jefferson Airplane- although Grace Slick was a lead singer, on songs with other lead singers she sometimes played piano, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Frau\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frau\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frau_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/95 "2011-08-28T05:57:42Z")
Kathy Foster, bassist and sometime drummer of The Thermals. ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180/96 "2011-08-29T22:17:39Z")
I didn’t see **Fair Game** mentioned. Fair Game was a group with Ron Keel on lead vocals and he had four, count them, four women as the backing band. The women played guitars (Tina Listo, Eva Marie), bass (Janna James), and drums (Stephanie Leigh). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-band-members/593180.md?page=4)