Goldie & the Gingerbreads

Goldie & the Gingerbreads was an all-female American rock band from 1962 to 1967 consisting of 3 musicians and a singer. They were the first all-female rock band signed to a major record label.

Whereas most female bands were ignored by the big record labels and rarely attracted live audiences, the quartet consisting of Goldie (Genya Zelkowitz, later Genya Ravan), Ginger Bianco, Margo Lewis, and Carol MacDonald was among the first to break into a domain dominated by men. They were signed to Decca in 1963 and to Atlantic in 1964.

In 1962 Genya Zelkowitz (who would eventually change her last name to Ravan -as she became better known as the lead singer of the band Ten Wheel Drive beginning in 1969) - first as the lead-singer of Richard Perry's band The Escorts- met Ginger Panabianco in a New York club. Ginger was on stage, performing as the drummer for one of Perry's friends. The discovery of a female drummer inspired in Genya Ravan the idea of an all-female rock band. The name of the would-be band was decided upon rapidly: Goldie was the name by which Ravan's mother chose to call her after their arrival in the United States from post-war Poland, while gingerbread was a play on Ginger's name.

Richard Perry and the other members of The Escorts were college students. When the summer concert season ended, Genya and Ginger began to look for a pianist and soon recruited Carol O’ Grady. Finding a female guitarist turned out to be much harder. Various ad-hoc recruits filled in as and when required, but when they accompanied Chubby Checker on his 1962 concert tour of West Germany and Switzerland, they performed without a guitarist. Organist Margo Lewis, who turned out to be the group's third permanent member, replaced Carol O'Grady and performed with the group on the Chubby Checker tour. The following year, Goldie and the Gingerbreads found guitarist and vocalist Carol MacDonald, who at the time was signed to Atlantic/Atco Records, and she joined Genya, Ginger and Margo and became the fourth permanent band member.

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