Wendy O. Williams

Wendy Orlean Williams (born May 28, 1949 in Webster , New York , † April 6, 1998 in Storrs , Connecticut ), better known as Wendy O. Williams , was the lead singer of the American punk band " Plasmatics ". The Plasmatics were best known for their stage shows, in which they blew up devices and cars (half) naked and saw guitars with a chainsaw.

Her nickname was "The Queen of Shock Rock". Williams was also widely regarded as the most controversial and radical singer of her time. She often wore a mohawk . At the height of her fame as a solo artist, she was nominated for a 1985 Grammy in the category " Best Female Rock Vocal ".

biography

Williams was born in Webster. She attended RL Thomas Public High School in Webster through at least halfway through tenth grade, but apparently dropped out before graduation. At the age of 16, she hitchhiked to Colorado , where she made her living with crocheted string bikinis. She then went to Florida and finally to Europe , where she first worked as a macrobiotic cook in London and finally as a dancer in a gypsy troupe. In 1976 she arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City , where she saw an advertisement in a Show Business Magazine that lay open on the bus station floor. This advertisement advertised a casting for the radical anti-artist and Yale MFA graduate Rod Swenson, in which he promoted his experimental Captain Kink's Theater. She answered the ad, and since it sparked immediately between her and Swenson, who incidentally played Captain Kink, a twenty-two year relationship began that enabled her to work as lead singer of the punk / metal rock band "Plasmatics" about two years later . to occur. With their debut in New York City clubs in 1978, Williams and the Plasmatics quickly gained prominence in the underground scene.

In January 1981, she was arrested by Milwaukee police for simulating sex on stage. She was also charged with beating an officer and behaving obscenely, but was later acquitted. Later that year, in Cleveland, Ohio , Williams was acquitted for causing public nuisance for simulating sex on stage, "clad" only in shaving cream (she covered her nipples with electrical tape to avoid arrest). In November, she was finally sentenced to one year probation and a $ 35 fine by an Illinois judge for beating a paparazzo who tried to photograph her jogging on the shores of Chicago Lake.

Meanwhile the Plasmatics were on a world tour, on which a concert in London was canceled for security reasons and they were dubbed anarchists by the press . While recording for an NBC show on SCTV , a 1981 comedy program, studio managers refused to air the episode because her stage costume didn't cover her nipples. Williams refused the costume change. The show's makeup artist reached a compromise and painted her breasts black.

In 1984 she released the album WOW , which was produced by Gene Simmons , a member of KISS , who also played bass on the entire album. Williams also recorded four tracks that were either written by Kiss members or already existed as a Kiss demo ("It's My Life"). The track "Thief In The Night" was recorded again in 1987 by Kiss for the album Crazy Nights . KISS members Paul Stanley , Ace Frehley , Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent can also be heard on WOW.

In 1985, Wendy appeared on the Rocky Horror Show at the Westport Playhouse in St. Louis . The show ran for over six months, but an American tour did not materialize.

In 1986 she starred in Tom DeSimone's independent film Reform School Girls . Neither she nor her manager Rod Swenson liked the movie when it came out, but by that time the producers had heard their second solo album, Kommander of Kaos , and wanted to use three pieces from it as film music. They asked Rod if he would produce the theme song and Wendy would sing it. The band hesitantly agreed. Uncle Brian from "The Broc" was Rod's co-producer and also played the saxophone. The film company also asked Rod to produce and direct a music video. Uncle Brian also took part in this again, wearing a tutu and playing the saxophone.

In 1987, in the film The New Adventures of Beans Baxter , Wendy played the part-time friend and enemy of the title hero in the underground spy world of Fox . Also in 1987, she played a terrorist in the film Eat the Rich .

The last tour of the Plasmatics took place at the end of 1988. In 1988, Wendy released another solo album, this time a "Thrash Rap" album, Deffest and Baddest , under the pseudonym "Ultrafly and the Hometown Girls".

Wendy's last known performance of a Plasmatics song came about because Joey Ramone insisted on it. She sang Masterplan one last time with Richie Stotts when Richie's band opened for the Ramones on New Years Eve 1988.

In 1990 Williams was seen again in the film Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog , directed by Paul S. Parco.

According to the plasmatics

In 1991 Williams moved to Storrs, Connecticut , where she lived with her life partner and ex-manager, Rod Swenson. There she worked as a wildlife keeper and owned a health food store in Manchester . She explained this way of life on the grounds that she simply had enough to deal with people (she "was pretty fed up dealing with people").

Private life

Despite her reputation as a terrifying artist, Williams was devoted to animal welfare in her private life. This passion included a vegetarian diet, her job as a wildlife carer and her work as an activist for natural eating. In an appearance on the television talk show The Morning Show of the CBS owned network station KPIX accused Debbi Fields , author of Mrs. Fields cookie fame and owner of Beauty-Fields-bakery chain in the US, no better than a Heroinpanscher to be because they use so much white sugar in their products.

suicide

In 1993, Williams first attempted suicide by sticking a knife in her chest ; the knife got stuck in her breastbone . She changed her mind and asked Swenson to take her to the hospital. In 1997 she tried again with an ephedrine overdose .

In 1998, at the age of 48, Williams shot himself in a wooded area near her home.

Discography

With the plasmatics

Plasmatics discography

solo

Albums

• WOW (LP, 1984)
• Commander of Kaos (LP, 1986)
• Deffest! and Baddest! (as "Wendy O Williams' Ultrafly and the Hometown Girls") (LP, 1988)
• Fuck you!!! And Loving It: A Retrospective (LP, 1988)

Singles / EPs

• Stand By Your Man EP (7 "EP, 1982) - with Lemmy from Motörhead
• It's My Life / Priestess (7 "single, 1984)
• Fuck 'N' Roll (live) (Cassette EP, 1985)

Video

• Bump 'n' Grind (live) (DVD, 2006)

Filmography

actress

• MacGyver (Harry's Will) as "Big Mama" (1990)
• Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog as "Butch" (1990)
• The New Adventures of Beans Baxter (A Nightmare on Beans' Street) as "Machine Gun Woman" (1987)
• The New Adventures of Beans Baxter (Beans' First Adventure: Part 1) as "Conju" (1987)
• The New Adventures of Beans Baxter (Beans' First Adventure: Part 2) as "Conju" (1987)
• Eat the Rich (1987)
• Reform School Girls as "Charlie Chambliss" (1986)
• SCTV (I'm Taking My Own Head ...) as Herself (1981)
• 800 Fantasy Lane (uncredited) "Girl playing tennis" (1979)
• Candy Goes to Hollywood as Herself (1979)

Soundtrack

• Legend of Billie Jean performing "It's My Life" (1985)

Than herself

• VH-1 Where Are They Now? (Girls, Girls, girls) (2002)
• Candy Goes to Hollywood (1979)

Archive recordings

• Video on Trial (TV Episode 2.8) (2006)
• 100 Most Metal Moments (2004)
• Wendy O. Williams Live (Embassy Video, VHS 1985; Cherry Red, DVD 2006)

swell

1. ↑ Wendy O. Williams' Death ( October 15, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive ) In: modernatomic.com
2. ↑ ^{a b} Phamous69. (No longer available online.) In: phamous69.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016 ; Retrieved February 8, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Butch Star, Edouard Dauphin, Kruger: Plasmatics: Your Heart In Your Mouth! (The First Four years) . Raging Rhino Entertainment, United States of America 1982, p. 8.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Joy Williams (1998): The Love Song of Wendy O. Williams , SPIN, September 1998, pp. 134-138 ( limited preview in Google book search)
5. ↑ The Love Song of Wendy O. Williams , viewed on popmatters.com, June 1, 2010.
6. ↑ Information about WOW on kissfaq.com ( memento of the original from June 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ glam-metal.com: The Shock Rock Giant - Interview with Richie Stotts By Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. ( Memento from June 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ Jayne Keedle: Wendy O., We Hardly Knew You . Archived from the original on December 5, 1998. Retrieved December 20, 2008. 
9. ↑ Wendy O. Williams suicide note
10. ↑ Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog in the Internet Movie Database , accessed June 10, 2015
11. ↑ 800 Fantasy Lane in the Internet Movie Database , accessed June 10, 2015
12. ↑ ^{a b} Candy Goes to Hollywood in the Internet Movie Database (English)
13. ↑ Soundtrack It's My Life in the Internet Movie Database (English)
14. ↑ Wendy O. Williams Live Video

Web links

• Wendy O./Plasmatics website

• Wendy O. Williams in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Plasmatics ′ Wendy O. Williams Commits Suicide ( Memento from October 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) in Rolling Stone from April 9, 1998 (English)