Gail Greenwood (born March 10, 1960) is an American musician and illustrator most notable for performing bass guitar and vocals with the bands

Belly Belly may refer to: Anatomy * The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax; or the stomach ** A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumed to be caused by regular beer drinking ** Belly dance * The fleshy, ce ...

and L7.

Career

Greenwood grew up in Rhode Island. She became a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

at age fourteen and has been a lifelong adherent of

straight edge Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated as sXe or signified by XXX or simply X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs in reaction to the punk subculture's excesses. Some ...

, refraining from substance use. Having originally learned to play the

baritone horn The baritone horn, sometimes called baritone, is 3 or 4 valved tenor-voiced brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a pist ...

, Greenwood switched to guitar following

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

. She earned a degree in illustration from the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

. Her first band, the Dames, won the ''

WBRU WBRU is an internet radio station based in Providence, Rhode Island. The station is owned and operated by Brown Broadcasting Service, an independent Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization, and is primarily staffed by students from Brown ...

Rock Hunt'' in 1986. Later, Greenwood was a member of the

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

–based band known as Boneyard, who opened for the

Goo Goo Dolls The Goo Goo Dolls are an American rock band based in Buffalo, New York, composed of lead vocalist and guitarist John Rzeznik, bassist and vocalist Robby Takac, as well as several rotating members since its formation in 1986. After starting ...

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. It consists of Mike Ness (vocals, guitar), Jonny Wickersham (guitar), Brent Harding (bass), David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards). Emerg ...

, and the

Circle Jerks Circle Jerks (stylized as Ciʀcle JƎʀᴋs) are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag (band), Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetso ...

. In 1993,

Throwing Muses Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was original ...

alumna

Tanya Donelly Tanya Donelly (born July 14, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New England. She came to prominence as a co-founder of the band Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh. Donelly went on to co-form the altern ...

recruited Greenwood to join Belly as a bass guitarist. She played on that band's second album ''

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

'' and appeared on the cover of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''. Donelly disbanded Belly in 1996 and Greenwood joined L7 as a bassist the following year. She continued with that group for three years. In 2001, Greenwood was recruited to play bass on tour in support of

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

pop punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

artist

Bif Naked Beth Nicole Torbert (born June 15, 1971) is a Canadian singer best known by her stage name Bif Naked. Between 1996 and 2016, she was among the top 150 selling Canadian artists in Canada. She charted #1 on Billboard Canada for the single Spacema ...

Belly performing at the Glasgow Garage on 16 June 2018 - 01

Greenwood and her partner, singer/bassist Chil Mott, formed the group Benny Sizzler in 2003 with guitarist Mark Tomis and drummer Slim Jim Colleran. Alumni of this band include drummer Tom Berglund, the late guitarist/singer Gene Severens (who had played with Greenwood in Boneyard) and guitarist Terry Linehan (a fill-in guitarist for

Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...

). Greenwood and Mott remain active in anti-sprawl efforts, promoting the retention of open spaces, responsible development and lobbying for land conservation in the face of tremendous pressure by big-box corporations including Wal-Mart. Greenwood resumed playing and writing music with Belly after the band reformed in 2016. A 2017 article with ''Vanyaland'' listed Greenwood's support for the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

following an endometrial cancer diagnosis discovered just prior to a scheduled reunion tour with Belly. Greenwood continued with chemotherapy and completed all the original tour dates as scheduled. In 2018, Belly released their third album, ''

Dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

'', to generally favorable reviews. In October 2024, it was announced that Greenwood would tour as a member of

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...

during their planned North American Farewell Tour in the spring of 2025.

References

External links

Belly official site
* Gail Greenwood's entry at Allmusicbr>L7's entry at Rock DetectorGail Greenwood, Interview
1960 births Living people Guitarists from Rhode Island American women bass guitarists American punk rock bass guitarists L7 (band) members Place of birth missing (living people) American activists American women guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American women musicians Rhode Island School of Design alumni Rhode Island School of Design alumni in music {{US-bass-guitarist-stub