Suzi Quatro - The Very Best of Suzi Quatro (2022)

Suzi Quatro was hardly the first Tough Girl in rock & roll there were plenty of precursors, from Wanda Jackson and the Shangri-Las to Grace Slick and Janis Joplin but Quatro codified a type of rock & roll woman who didn't exist before she took the stage, one who looked as tough as the guys and wasn't merely a singer but also an instrumentalist, the leader of the band who made the noise right along with the rest of the group. With her trademark leather jumpsuit and big bass guitar (which seemed even bigger given her diminutive stature of just five feet), Quatro created a new and potent image for women in rock, one that spoke of both strength and sex appeal, and she became a major international star in the '70s, though it would take a while before she was as readily recognized in the United States as in the United Kingdom. Quatro's career began in the garage rock era of the '60s with the band the Pleasure Seekers, but she became a genuine star in 1973 with "Can the Can," a stomping bit of glam rock that kicked off a series of hit singles in the U.K. and defined the sound of her best-known work. Quatro would finally break big in the States in 1978 with a more pop-oriented single, "Stumblin' In," but while her future work would encompass everything from new wave pop to Broadway show tunes, at heart Quatro would never lose her instincts as a rocker, and she returned to hard rock with 2006's Back to the Drive and 2019's No Control.