BOSTON, MA. (Top40 Charts/ Berklee College of Music) - ROCKRGRL and Berklee College of
Music announce a collaboration to present the ROCKRGRL Women of Valor Award to pioneering rock group Fanny, the first all-female band to release an album on a major label. The event takes place Friday, April 20, 8:15 p.m., at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA. Past recipients of ROCKRGRL's Women of Valor Award include Patti Smith, and Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heart. This is the first time the award is being presented on the East Coast. Tickets are $15. For ticket information, please call the box office at 617-747-2261, or visit https://www.berkleebpc.com.
Fanny will accept the award in-person, followed by members of Fanny performing live. The group, who were meticulous about recording and archiving their experiences from the early days to the present, will also be the subject of a video tribute. In addition, a band comprised of students from the Berklee Women Musicians Network will perform Fanny songs.
Berklee's Battle of the All-Female Bands is accepting submissions now - deadline is February 16 to submit - from groups that contain at least one Berklee student or alumna. The winners perform an opening set at the concert and will receive other prizes. Please visit https://www.berklee.net for complete submission information.
Fanny was formed by guitarist June Millington, her sister bassist Jean Millington, drummer Alice de Buhr, and keyboardist Nickey Barclay. The group signed with Warner Brothers' Reprise Records in 1969 and released five albums by 1973, including Fanny, Charity Ball, Fanny Hill, and Mother's Pride, which was produced by Todd Rundgren. Fanny toured worldwide, gaining widespread popularity in the U.K., and charted in the U.S. with the songs "Charity Ball," and "Butter Boy." In 1971 Fanny also served as session players and did arrangements for Barbra Streisand's self-titled album. In 2002, Rhino records gave the group the box-set treatment, releasing First Time In A Long Time - The Reprise Recordings.
While the Runaways and the Go Go's are remembered as the early all-female rock bands, Fanny pre-dates them by several years, and their existence and popularity was instrumental to the rise of the female bands that followed. Their influence also transcended gender lines. Said fan David Bowie in Rolling Stone, "One of the most important female bands in American rock has been buried without a trace. And that is Fanny. They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time, in about 1973. They were extraordinary…They're as important as anybody else who's ever been, ever; it just wasn't their time. Revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done."
June and Jean Millington continued to record and release albums together after Fanny disbanded, most recently in the group Slammin' Babes. June, who Guitar Player called the hottest female guitar player in the industry, has a long career producing albums as well, with credits including Holly Near, Mary Watkins, Cris Williamson, Bitch and Animal, John Simon, Diane Lincoln, and the compilation Bi The People. Jean has also done studio work for many artists, including Keith Moon, David Bowie, and Roderick Taylor. Jean continues to play bass both in the studio and in concert, and is also an herbalist and holographic-repatterning practitioner.
June continues to influence the next generations of musicians since founding the Institute for Musical Arts with Ann Hackler in 1986. The Northampton, MA-based non-profit institute's mission is to support women and girls in music and music-related businesses. IMA's programs include the Rock �n Roll Camp for Girls, and workshops on vocal and instrumental instruction, album production and recording techniques, lyric and music composition, and booking, promotion, and entertainment law.
