Penelope Houston (born December 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter best known as the singer for the San Francisco-based
punk rock band
the Avengers. She was raised in Seattle. In the mid-1970s she attended
Fairhaven College
Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies is an interdisciplinary liberal arts college at Western Washington University. Instead of completing the general education requirements at Western, students take interdisciplinary classes at Fairhaven ...
in
Bellingham, Washington. In 1977, Houston moved to San Francisco, attended the
San Francisco Art Institute, and shortly after became the lead singer and songwriter for the Avengers. That band released one album, their eponymous debut in 1983.
Following the group's demise in 1979, Houston moved first to Los Angeles to work in film and video with
The Screamers
The Screamers were an American electropunk group founded in 1975. They were among the first wave of the L.A. punk rock scene. The Los Angeles Times applied the label "techno-punk" to the band in 1978. In the documentary '' Punk: Attitude'' ( ...
and director
Rene Daalder
Rene Daalder (born René Daalder 3 March 1944 in Texel, North Holland, died December 31, 2019, sometimes credited as Renee Daalder) was a Dutch writer and director. He lived in Los Angeles. Originally a protégé of Russ Meyer, Daalder has worked ...
, then to England where she collaborated with
Howard Devoto on his post-Magazine projects. In the mid-1980s, she returned to San Francisco and helped originate the West Coast neo-folk movement. In 1986, she was featured alongside
Tomata du Plenty of The Screamers in the punk rock musical
Population: 1.
By 1996 she had toured Europe extensively, signed with WEA Germany (Warner Brothers) and earned numerous awards with the dozen albums, which blended influences of punk, folk, rock, blues and Americana into her dark unique acoustic sound.
Her first full-length album was ''Birdboys'' which came out in 1987. Her most recent album is 2012's ''On Market Street''.
Shortly after the release of ''Pale Green Girl'', Houston and original guitarist Greg Ingraham recreated the Avengers, adding bassist Joel Reader (formerly of
The Mr. T Experience, and The Plus Ones) and drummer Luis Illades (of
Pansy Division
Pansy Division is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, United States, in 1991 by singer-songwriter Jon Ginoli and bassist Chris Freeman.
Conceived as the first openly gay rock band featuring predominantly gay musicians, P ...
, formerly also of The Plus Ones) to round out the lineup. Since the spring of 2004 she has toured the U.S. and Europe with this lineup. She continues to play her solo material, mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In August 2012, Houston conducted an audio interview with Music Life Radio.
Discography
References
External links
official Penelope Houston/Avengers sitePenelope Houston Myspace pagePenelope Houston discographyPopulation: 1 official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Penelope
1958 births
Living people
American women singer-songwriters
Women punk rock singers
San Francisco Art Institute alumni
Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area
Singer-songwriters from California
Avengers (band) members
Glitterhouse Records artists
21st-century American women
Women in punk