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LITA FORD WILL BE PUTTING OUT A NEW ALBUM AND TOURING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 15 YEARS




     I apologize for having done no work on these pages in well over a year. 
That will hopefully change. One of the first things I am going to do is
answer all of the e-mails that I have gotten from you. Yes I still have
them all! I apologize for not having updated this page in a long time. I will be working on it again (would anyone like to help?) I will also be replying to all of the e-mails I have received. Yes I still have them! As soon as I get them I will be posting pictures of the Runaways so please keep checking back. Anyone who has e-mailed me and I have an e-mail address for, I will notify when they do go up and when I make any significant changes to any page. On this page I will TRY to keep some kind of accurate record of the history of the Runaways. If you have any information regarding this please let me know at:kensternation2@hotmail.com Please send comments, additional links...
Serious renovations coming soon. I will be adding pictures soon. Thanx to my anonymous contributor (You know who you are) First, let's get one thing straight: despite rumors to the contrary, the band did not suck and they were more than pawns of Kim Fowley. They were a great band that was ahead of their time, not outdated before they started, as some would have you believe. This is in reply to some other web sites that have inaccurate, unkind pages dedicated to the Runaways. With that said... Onto the real history...

1975

The Beginning

As far as I can tell, it all started when 14 year old Kari Krome approached Kim Fowley at an Alice Cooper party in 1975. She discussed lyrics with Kim and he was impressed, but Kari wanted them sung by girls her own age. All that was needed was a couple of girls to play the music. Enter, Kari's 17 year old friend Joan Larkin (A.K.A. Joan Jett) whom she met at Rodney Bingeheimer's English disco in Hollywood, and Sandy Pesavento (A.K.A. Sandy West) was met by Fowley in the parking lot of the Rainbow Bar. Kari was to be the lead singer with Joan on guitars and Sandy on Drums. The three girls played together and on August 5, 1975 Fowley decided that while Kari was a great lyricist, she couldn't sing. So Kim brought in Sue Thomas (A.K.A. Micki Steele). The band started seriously looking for a lead guitarist and bassist. When they couldn't find any Kim found someone to teach Joan to play lead and got Steppenwolf's Nick St. Nicholas to teach Micki to play bass. Their first gig, I think, was at the home of "Phast Phreddie" in Torrance, in Sept. of 1975.

The First Recording

The three of them- Joan, Sandy, and Micki recorded a demo album, later titled Born to Be Bad. While the band was together this album was not released. I believe it saw its first release in America in 1991. Lita Ford was auditioned through Backdoor magazine, a trade periodical. Some time later Joan and Kim (yes she was still involved) were at the Sugar Shack (an underage disco) where they met Marie and Cherie Currie. First they asked Marie to join, she said "No", so they asked Cherie.They liked her looks (she's Blonde), auditioned her, hired her and fired Micki. According to another report Micki left because she didn't like the toughness of the band's image. Either way don't feel to bad for her she later found her fifteen minutes with the Bangles. To round things out and add a little maturity to the band they also hired a nineteen year old bassist named Peggy. Supposedly about two weeks after Peggy joined she and Cherie had an arguement as to who was going to sing lead on a ballad called "I'm Your Fantasy", which became "You're My Fantasy" (Ironic considering it was never released). After the argument Peggy left (so much for Bassist number two). Jacquline Fuchs (AKA Jackie Fox), who had earlier auditioned to play Lead Guitar, was asked by Kim Fowley, with whom she had kept in touch, if she could play Bass, in early Dec. '75. Well, she didn't tell him "No" which might have been the truth, as she had never actually played one before. (Some people say that this was a compromise as Jackie reporedtly threatened to start her own all-girl band.)

1976

The "Original" Lineup is Established; Record Deal Struck

A couple of weeks before Jackie joined the Runaways a recording deal was made with Bomp Records (Born to be Bad was, eventually, released on Marilyn Records, which is a subsidiary of Bomp Records). Mercury, however became interested, after seeing them play at a teenage nightclub in Cedar Grove, Ca and in Febuary 1976 a contract was made and "The Runaways" album was produced, in May '76:With Cherie as the lead singer; Joan on Rhythm Guitar; Sandy on Drums; Lita on Guitars; Jackie on Bass. Enter "Jailbait Rockers." With songs like Cherry Bomb and Cherie appearing on stage in stockings, suspenders and lingerie that stereotype was inevitable.

Second Album; Live; Band begins to breakup

Earle Mankey, the producer of "Sparks" and the "Beach Boys" Was brought in to co-produce the Runaways' second album titled "Queens of Noise." That same year they went on tour and produced their Live album entitled "Live in Japan." After the tour Jackie decided to leave the band. Despite rumors to the contrary, and what the inside of the "And Now...The Runaways" says, Jackie did not attempt to commit suicide. A number of issues had arissen, and the distance between Japan and America caused some misunderstandings. Supposedly, Jackie played a rare and expensive bass and asked their agent to insure it which he said he did, but didn't. It then broke when it fell off the stand that it was on. That coupled with the fact that she had convinced Jack Douglas, Aerosmith's producer to produce the band, and the other band members never acted on it. That was why she had decided to quit. However, she had cut herself on some glass, while in Japan, shortly before she quit. That and the distance, as I mentioned, before, created the suicide rumors. Shortly after Jackie had announced her retirement from the band, More bad news came. Cherie announced that she too would be leaving the band.

1977/1978

A Foursome Anyone?; Vickie Blue Joins; Kim Fowley leaves

To replace Jackie, the Runaways brought in Vickie Tischler Blue. Cherie was not replaced, Joan took over as lead vocalist. Fowley produced one more album titled "Waitin' for the Night." This was their first studio album that did not hit the charts. Kim Fowely got tired of playing G-d with his jailbait band and so left them, high and dry. They brought in Phil Wainman to produce, but he quickly left, thereby postponing the recording of their next album. The Runaways asked Suzi Quatro and Blondie's producer, Toby Mamis to produce them, he then brought in John Alcock (Thin Lizzy's producer). In September 1978 they produced "And Now...The Runaways", their fourth studio album. This album only appeared in Europe and Asia. It was released, with the songs in a different order, in America as "Little Lost Girls" in 1981. At this time the musical variety of the girls was starting to cause some friction amongst them. Joan liked Punk rock and Sandy and Lita liked heavy metal/ hard rock. By 1980 the band was totally disbanded. Cherie Currie and Vicki Blue tried a joint effort called the Currie Blue Band. Cherie also got together with her sister Marie, but that too fell apart without much success.

The end

New Years Eve 1978. That was the day of their final gig, it was in San Fransisco. An album with previously unreleased songs, called "Flaming Schoolgirls", was released in 1980, it is unauthorized by the Runaways, and contains reissues and outtakes from "The Runaways" and "Queens of Noise."

After the breakup

After the Runaways broke up, Lita put together a band with Sandy. They were originally looking for a male singer, but couldn't find anyone with talent or originality. Lita took singing lessons, by holing herself in her garage, and they put together a three-piece with a guy bassist. They didn't release any albums.

Recent

Last year, that is 1996, most of the band members got together to sue Kim and the record companies. I do not know the result of that. If anyone does, please tell me! According to Lauren VargaThe girls got $175,000 a piece in back money. Seems like a drop in the bucket to me.

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Band Members


Vicki Tischler Blue: b: Sep. 16, 1959 (17*): Bass(77,78, 79?,80?) Cherie Ann Currie: b: Nov. 30, 1959 (16*): Lead Vocals, Piano (76-78) Lita Rossana Ford: b: Sep. 18, 1958 (17*): Guitars (76- ); Bass (78) Jacqueline L. Fuchs: b: Dec. 20, 1959 (17*):A.K.A.Jackie Fox: Bass(76, 77) Kari Krome: Originally supposed to be lead vocalist but never appeared on any album Joan Larkin: b: Sep. 22, 1958 (17*) A.K.A Joan Jett: Vocals (78- ); All Guitars (75); Rhythm Guitar (76- ) Laurie McCallister: b: 1958 (21*): Bass (79-? ) Sandy Pesavento: b: Jul. 10, 1959 (16*) A.K.A Sandy West: Drums (75- ) Sue Thomas: A.K.A. Micki (Michael) Steele:Bass (75) *Number in parenthesis is age of girl when she first joined the band.

some Home pages...

Runaways Discography
My Homepage
CDNow
A Cool Lita Page
Lita (Queen of Metal) Ford Home Page
A cool Joan page
Sandy West Official Homepage
The UBL
classic rock/ metal links

I hope to be adding links and other stuff like that. It may take a while, however, as I work full time and am a full time graduate student, so please bear with me and visit often. Eventually, this should become a one-stop page for the Runaways. Including hard to find information.
All of my pages that are linked from this are under serious construction. I am just trying, at this point to get them up. DO NOT think that they are by any means finished.

Future projects include: Suzi Quatro (Leather Tuscadero); Styx
kensternation2@hotmail.comPlease send comments, information or just a note. I will do my best to respond to everyone. If you can't e-mail, or just don't want to, here is a convenient form:
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I now have another e-mail address (Actually I am going to just use my regular e-mail address for now). This will be used for people who would like periodic updates to the goings on of the Runaways today. I do not promise anything out of this. At this point I just want to see what the response will be like, and to try to piece something together. Anyone willing to help out please contact me there. The address is: kensternation2@hotmail.com You may continue to use runawaysband address but I do not guarantee a quick response. Created Feb. 10, 1997. (Last updated July 29, 1997 more renovations (like hard to find graphics) coming soon, hopefully. I have a lot of info. and very little time.
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