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Pat Benatar, Melissa Etheridge, B-52s & More Honored at She Rocks Awards: 'We Are a Force to Be Reckoned With'
Melissa Etheridge photographed at the She Rocks Awards
Dedicated to celebrating women working in the music industry, the
sixth annual She Rocks Awards (Jan. 26) carried even more of an urgent
tone this year in the wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.
Presented and produced by the Women’s International Music Network
(WIMN), the sixth annual ceremony rolled out before a packed audience at
the House of Blues in Anaheim, Calif.
Before getting down to the business of honoring trailblazers such as Pat Benatar, Melissa Etheridge, the B-52s and Exene Cervenka,
among others, WIMN founder and awards co-host Laura B. Whitmore talked
about the organization’s ongoing mission. “I feel like we are finally
being heard,” said Whitmore to applause. “From the beginning, the She
Rocks Awards has focused on bringing women together to share, to empower
and to enlighten. We must continue to build on the progress we have
made. As we advocate, educate and inspire women in the music industry,
we seek to bring women together to create a larger voice.”
Then it
was time for the awards, with Whitmore’s co-host and KROQ Los Angeles
DJ Kat Corbett noting that the icons being saluted are “the posters on
my wall come to life.” Unfortunately, rock pioneer and Grammy Award
winner Pat Benatar was sidelined by the flu and wasn’t there to receive
her Legend Award. But among the honorees in the house was fellow Grammy
winner Melissa Etheridge. Presented with the Icon Award, Etheridge
distilled the essence of the evening through her illuminating comments.
“What
a cool thing, She Rocks,” Etheridge began. “People are asking a lot of
questions about women these days. They come up and say, ‘Did you guys
ever have any trouble in rock and roll?' There wasn’t enough of us to
have trouble.”
At one point, she recalled visiting radio stations
with her record rep in the ‘80s and hearing programmers say 'Sorry, but
we’re already playing a woman.' And that, she noted, was a good time to
kick doors down and keep doing it.
“Even though it has been next
to impossible being a woman in the music business,” continued Etheridge,
“we have succeeded and we have infiltrated every aspect of the music
industry. We play the guitars and we rock; we play the drums and we
rock; we work at the record companies and we rock; we discover the
artists and we rock. We are a force to be reckoned with!”
The
B-52s’ Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson accepted the Vanguard Award, while
Exene Cervenka, co-lead singer/songwriter of legendary punk band X,
received the Dreaming Out Loud Award. Also receiving well-deserved
recognition via the Inspire Award: the mid-‘60s female band Fanny, whose fans included the late David Bowie.
Now known as Fanny Walked the Earth — with an eponymous new album
coming in March — the group was the first all-female rock band to sign
and record a studio album with a major label.
However, the evening
wasn’t just about those on the frontlines. She Rocks also honored
females working in other facets of the music industry. including
instruments, audio equipment, studio management, merchandising and
media. Among this circle was Karla Redding-Andrews. The daughter of soul
legend Otis Redding
and executive director for the Otis Redding Foundation was saluted with
the Champion Award for the foundation’s philanthropic endeavors,
including music education. The evening ended with a rousing performance
of Redding’s “Respect," featuring the honorees and presenters backed by
the evening’s female house band, Rock Sugah.
Award presenters included Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers), Garbage’s Shirley Manson, singer/songwriter Sarah Jaffe,
actress Ann Magnuson and Gretsch Company executive VP/CFO Dinah
Gretsch. Integrated throughout the show were performances by Olivia Rox,
the Command Sisters and Laura Clapp, among others. A silent auction
featured items such as an Etheridge autographed acoustic guitar, a
private tour of Capitol Studios, four hours of recording time with an
engineer at the Republic Records studios and an online course with
Berklee College of Music.
Last night marked the She Rocks Awards’
debut at its new home, the House of Blues Anaheim. The annual event
coincides with the annual NAMM Show, which this year runs through Jan.
28.
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