Genya Ravan, a.k.a. Goldie (born Genyusha Zelkovicz; April 19, 1940) is an American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
singer and music producer. She was lead singer of The Escorts,
Goldie and the Gingerbreads, and
Ten Wheel Drive.
Life and career
Childhood
Ravan was born in
Åódź, Poland
in 1940 and emigrated to the United States in 1947, accompanied by her parents and one sister. They were her only family members who had survived the
Nazi Holocaust in Europe;
she also had two brothers, who both died. The family did not speak any English when they arrived. Genya was named 'Goldie' by her mother, who claimed Genyusha was not American enough.
Music career
Early success and Goldie and The Gingerbreads
Goldie's career started in 1962 in a
Brooklyn club called The Lollipop Lounge, which is also the title of her autobiography published by
Billboard Books. On a dare, she jumped up to sing, which she states was the first time she had heard her voice. She was asked to join the band The Escorts, which featured
Richard Perry as one of the members. After signing to
Decca's subsidiary
Coral Records and being produced by Henry Jerome, she found success with a cover of "Somewhere" from ''
West Side Story'', which went to number one in parts of the Midwest.
In 1963, she formed
Goldie and The Gingerbreads after meeting drummer Ginger Bianco in a
Greenwich Village bar. After seeing the band at a party for the
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
,
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
Chairman
Ahmet Ertegün signed them to Atlantic subsidiary
Atco Records.
While playing at New York City's hot spot The Wagon Wheel on 45th Street in
Times Square, Mike Jeffries,
Eric Burdon,
Hilton Valentine, and
Chas Chandler spotted them and wanted them to come to England. Goldie and The Gingerbreads toured with the Rolling Stones,
the Yardbirds,
the Kinks,
the Hollies and
Manfred Mann. They released their hit song "
Can't You Hear My Heart Beat
"Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" is a song written by John Carter and Ken Lewis, produced by Mickie Most, and performed by Herman's Hermits. It reached #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1965. "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" was kept from the #1 sp ...
" in 1965, which reached number 25 on the
UK Singles Chart.
The band stayed in London for two years.
Ten Wheel Drive and solo career
Billed as "Goldie", she released the original version of the
Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...
-
Gerry Goffin
Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the List of Billboard number-one ...
composition "
Goin' Back" in the spring of 1966.
However, this single was withdrawn within a week by producer Andrew Loog Oldham due to disagreements with Goffin and King over altered lyrics.
The song was covered by
Dusty Springfield three months later, making the top 10 in the
UK Singles Chart.
In 1969, Ravan and partners Aram Schefrin and
Mike Zager formed
Ten Wheel Drive, which lasted three years.
They recorded three albums for
Polydor Records: ''Construction number 1'', ''Brief Replies'', ''Peculiar Friends Are Better Than No Friends''. Ravan left the band in 1972.
She was signed to
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
by
Clive Davis
Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer, in 2000.
From 1967 to 1 ...
where she made one album in 1972 titled ''Genya Ravan''.
She made four more solo albums through the 1970s.
Ravan performed at the
Atlanta Pop Festival, twice at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
and twice at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
, along with various clubs in Boston, and Philadelphia, and New York City, including the famous
CBGB. She appeared on television shows including ''
The Mike Douglas Show'', ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', ''Della,'' and ''
The Dick Cavett Show''.
2000s
Many Ten Wheel Drive tracks have been sampled by
hip hop artists, including "Ain't Gonna Happen", which
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
used in his song "1-900-Hustler" on the 2000 album ''
The Dynasty''. He also sampled Ravan's version of "
Whipping Post" from her album ''Goldie Zelkowitz'' for his song "Oh My God" on the 2006 album
''Kingdom Come''.
In 2011, the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
Museum included Goldie and The Gingerbreads in their "Women in Music" exhibit, which traveled from state to state. Genya Ravan toured in 2013, selling out New York City's Iridium.
In 2013, Ravan appeared at the
Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, alongside legends like
Wanda Jackson,
Martha Reeves,
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song "Midnight at the Oasis" and has ...
and
Tracy Nelson as part of the museum's "Women Who Rock" exhibit.
She and Reeves discovered professional connections in that both worked with
Richard Perry and were signed by Clive Davis. Further, one of the first songs Ravan learned when she came to the US was "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue", made famous by
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...
; Reeves had performed the song while starring in the road show of ''Ain't Misbehavin. The two planned on working on a future project together.
A retrospective of her career is the subject of the
Off Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
musical ''Rock and Roll Refugee'', which was profiled on
National Public Radio's ''
Weekend Edition Sunday'' on February 14, 2016.
Producer
Ravan has worked as a producer for multiple record labels. Among others, she was responsible for the debut album ''
Young Loud and Snotty'' by the
punk rock band
Dead Boys
The Dead Boys are an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The band was among the first wave of punk, and regarded by many as one of the rowdiest and most violent groups of the era. They were formed by vocalist Stiv B ...
(1977),
and the comeback album ''Siren'' by
Ronnie Spector (1982).
[ She also contributed vocals to the latter album. In 2001 Ravan discovered Tripod at CBGB and produced their demo CD, adding backup vocals to one track. She brought David Lasley and his ]blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul (also called white soul) is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly-black Motown and Stax ...
group Rosie to Mike Berniker at RCA, got them a deal and produced their album Better Late Than Never.
Radio host
In 2006, Steven Van Zandt recruited Ravan to host two monthly radio shows: ''Chicks and Broads'', playing women from the 1950s to the present day, and ''Goldies Garage'', which featured unsigned bands. Genya Ravan said, "So much talent out there and not enough places for them to be heard anymore" on Van Zandt's ''Underground Garage
''Underground Garage'' is the name shared by two related but different radio outlets, a syndicated show and a satellite radio station, both created and supervised by American musician Steven Van Zandt (best known as a guitarist in Bruce Springs ...
'' radio channel, aired on SiriusXM Satellite Radio
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius S ...
in North America and on SiriusXM Internet Radio worldwide. Ravan joined a team of hosts that includes original Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham, whom she worked with as Goldie.
Discography
*''Construction #1'', Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, 1969
*''Brief Replies'', Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, 1970
*''Peculiar Friends'', Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, 1971
*''Genya Ravan'', 1972
*''They Love Me, They Love Me Not'', 1973
*''Goldie Zelkowitz'', 1974
*''Urban Desire'', 1978 - AUS #66
Publications
*''Lollipop Lounge, Memoirs of a Rock And Roll Refugee'', Genya Ravan, 2004, .
Stage production
In early 2016, Royal Family Productions produced a workshop for a musical based on the life of Genya Ravan titled ''Rock and Roll Refugee''.
Movies
In the movie '' The Warriors'' (1979), the song that plays when Cochise, Rembrandt and Vermin are in the Lizzie's HQ is "Love Is a Fire" by Genya Ravan. The song is featured on '' The Warriors'' soundtrack album.
Ravan was portrayed by Stana Katic
Stana Katic (; born ) is a Canadian-American actress and producer. She played Kate Beckett on the ABC television romantic crime series ''Castle'' (2009–2016) and Agent Emily Byrne in the thriller series '' Absentia'' (2017–2020).
Early lif ...
in the 2013 film '' CBGB''.
References
External links
*
* Genya Ravanat Allmusic
Genya Ravan
YouTube
*
Retrospective appreciation of Ravan's career profile of Rock and Roll Refugee broadcast on NPR, 02/14/16
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravan, Genya
1945 births
Living people
musicians from Åódź
American rock singers
Jewish American musicians
20th-century Polish Jews
Polish emigrants to the United States
American record producers
Women rock singers
Dunhill Records artists
Jews in punk rock
Jewish rock musicians
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American women singers
American women record producers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American Jews
Women punk rock singers