S3-Ep1: Setting the Stage for the Pleasure Seekers

Season Three kicks off with Dr. Kristen Hillaire and Patti Quatro setting the stage for the groundbreaking all-female Detroit band, the Pleasure Seekers, formed in 1964.

At the ages of sixteen and seventeen, Patti and her two best friends, Nan Ball and Diane Baker, were hanging out together and noodling on their instruments in a basement. Like so many other teens, the British invasion was having a huge influence on the cultural shifts occurring in music, and after seeing the Beatles live at Olympia Stadium, Patti was hooked on rock ‘n’ roll. She recruited younger sister, Suzi, and Nan’s younger sister, Mary Lou, and the Pleasure Seekers were ready to go.

That same year, Dave Leone’s “Hideout” opened as a teen club in the suburbs of the city. It was an explosive time in Detroit – the music, the Motor City, the mayhem, and the magic! The Pleasure Seekers and the Quatro sisters were not only there to bear witness to it all, they helped to create the distinct and dynamic sounds of early rock ‘n’ roll in Detroit.

When the Pleasure Seekers (and Cradle) were inducted in the Detroit Music Awards at the Fillmore Theater in 2012, Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson of the MC5 wrote, “The Quatro girls were the first all-female band that played instruments well, and forerunners for many bands to follow. One kick-ass band!” Here’s the first episode.

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  1. I just discovered this podcast moments ago…..and I actually have chills and goosebumps!! I cannot believe I’m going to hear this entire story, firsthand…….and then proceed onto Fanny and all of the other paths of this amazing musical family. I first became aware of Suzi in the late 70s/80s with Rock Hard. I myself was still a kid. Then discovered the Pleasure Seekers years later on the “What A Way To Die” comp and was shocked and super psyched when I discovered the Quatro sisters WERE The Pleasure Seekers!
    And now I get to hear the whole story, right from then.
    Something to live for! Thanks, Quatros! You have always, ALWAYS been an inspiration. And I am fully ready to rock out to this saga! See you on the other side! 😀

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