It is fitting to find Fanny: The Right to Rock broadcast on PBS. The channel thrives on educational material, and director Bobbi Jo Hart’s documentary teaches many lessons. The film chronicles the career, and captures the reunion of Fanny, a group of musicians who changed the dynamics of rock in the 1970s. The lineup was unique, labels and management executives dubbed them the “female Beatles.” They made history as the first all-women rock band to release an LP with a major record label.
Originally called The Svelts and rebranded as Wild Honey, Fanny was formed in the mid-1960s in Sacramento, Calif., by three Filipina American musicians: sisters June and Jean Millington, on guitar and bass, and drummer Brie Darling. All three sang. When Darling had her daughter, Brandi, in 1968, Fanny added drummer Alice de Buhr, and roving keyboardist Nickey Barclay.
As was the fashion of the time, they lived in a band house.
Originally called The Svelts and rebranded as Wild Honey, Fanny was formed in the mid-1960s in Sacramento, Calif., by three Filipina American musicians: sisters June and Jean Millington, on guitar and bass, and drummer Brie Darling. All three sang. When Darling had her daughter, Brandi, in 1968, Fanny added drummer Alice de Buhr, and roving keyboardist Nickey Barclay.
As was the fashion of the time, they lived in a band house.
- 5/22/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Amazon’s new miniseries Daisy Jones & the Six clearly draws from the turbulent excellence that defined the peak years of Fleetwood Mac. But the adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2019 novel also uses the careers of other important artists of the era for inspiration. The character of Simone Jackson (Nabiyah Be) was based on the stardom of three timeless singers from the 1970s. Her plotline takes the same shape in the TV version as it does in the book. But the screen highlights certain details to heighten the emotional stakes of Simone’s story.
In ‘Daisy Jones & the Six,’ Nabiyah Be’s Simone Jackson helps Daisy get to the stage Nabiyah Be as Simone Jackson in ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’ | Lacey Terrell/Prime Video
Simone is one of the few people with a pure relationship with Daisy (Riley Keough) from the beginning of Daisy Jones & the Six.
In ‘Daisy Jones & the Six,’ Nabiyah Be’s Simone Jackson helps Daisy get to the stage Nabiyah Be as Simone Jackson in ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’ | Lacey Terrell/Prime Video
Simone is one of the few people with a pure relationship with Daisy (Riley Keough) from the beginning of Daisy Jones & the Six.
- 3/19/2023
- by Sam Hines
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
When you bring a fictional rock band from the 1970s to life on screen, inspirations abound. Daisy Jones & The Six, a beloved novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid that has been adapted into an Amazon Prime Video limited series of the same name, is rife with nods to one of the greatest rock’n’roll eras of all time. And yet, it also seeks to carve out a space for its own identity, both in its appearance on screen and in the original music that comes from the project.
Suki Waterhouse as Karen Sirko | Lacey Terrell/Prime Video
Suki Waterhouse, who plays keyboardist Karen Sirko in Daisy Jones, had plenty to work with when it came to finding sources of inspiration. Some were obvious choices, like Fleetwood Mac’s own keyboardist Christine McVie. Others are a bit more obscure, and helped Waterhouse craft a nuanced, complex identity for her on-screen persona.
Suki Waterhouse as Karen Sirko | Lacey Terrell/Prime Video
Suki Waterhouse, who plays keyboardist Karen Sirko in Daisy Jones, had plenty to work with when it came to finding sources of inspiration. Some were obvious choices, like Fleetwood Mac’s own keyboardist Christine McVie. Others are a bit more obscure, and helped Waterhouse craft a nuanced, complex identity for her on-screen persona.
- 3/16/2023
- by Nikelle Murphy
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
From the moment their first shows were advertised, Fanny was promoted as an all-girl band, but the label wears thin in director Bobbie Jo Hart’s Fanny: The Right to Rock. Each member says it themselves in the feature documentary, and tried telling record companies there were far more interesting things to say about them beyond the mystery of their gender. They broke through, but only barely, because sexism in rock and roll was so deeply ingrained psychologically, not even the promotion departments could think of anything else to say.
This is probably why Alice de Buhr remarks, at one point in the film, that every kick on her bass drum was a kick in a crotch. Fanny was committed to the music. The group’s members included bassist Jean Millington, guitarists June Millington and Patti Quatro, keyboardist Nickey Barclay, and drummers de Buhr and Brie Darling. Their sound was...
This is probably why Alice de Buhr remarks, at one point in the film, that every kick on her bass drum was a kick in a crotch. Fanny was committed to the music. The group’s members included bassist Jean Millington, guitarists June Millington and Patti Quatro, keyboardist Nickey Barclay, and drummers de Buhr and Brie Darling. Their sound was...
- 6/4/2022
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
Fanny should have entered the history books immediately. They were, as longtime supporter Bonnie Raitt puts it, “the first all-woman rock band that could really play, and really get some credibility in the musician community.” They also released several major-label albums, toured extensively and were a principally Filipina American act in the primarily white-male landscape of early 1970s rock. Yet somehow they went from also-rans to a footnote, then a reclamation project that even champions of pioneering women in music tended to overlook.
Fortunately, the original members are still alive and more or less kicking 50 years later, making Canadian documentarian Bobbi Jo Hart’s “Fanny: The Right to Rock” an overdue appreciation that its subjects clearly relish. They’ve since become mentors to young female musicians, and this tribute should have considerable appeal to latter-day artists and fans who value such trailblazing role models — but believed there weren’t any,...
Fortunately, the original members are still alive and more or less kicking 50 years later, making Canadian documentarian Bobbi Jo Hart’s “Fanny: The Right to Rock” an overdue appreciation that its subjects clearly relish. They’ve since become mentors to young female musicians, and this tribute should have considerable appeal to latter-day artists and fans who value such trailblazing role models — but believed there weren’t any,...
- 5/5/2021
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
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