Rock Goddess were an English all-female heavy metal band formed in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

, South London, in 1977 by sisters Jody Turner and Julie Turner. The band were initially active during the

new wave of British heavy metal The new wave of British heavy metal (often abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that began in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Editor Alan Lewis (music journalist), Alan Lew ...

musical movement, releasing two singles that entered the Top 75 charts in the UK. The band had a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

throughout the 1980s and reformed in 2013.

History

The band was formed in

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

in 1977, by sisters Jody Turner (vocals and guitar) and Julie Turner (drums) when they were thirteen and nine years old respectively. They recruited high school friend Tracey Lamb on bass guitar and that completed their first line-up. Later Donnica Colman joined, adding a second guitar, and after her departure, Jackie Apperley replaced her, also on second guitar. After Apperley left, the band rehearsed intensively as a trio, and placed a track on a

sampler album A sampler or promotional compilation is a type of compilation album generally offered at a reduced price to showcase an artist or a selection of artists signed to a particular record label. The format became popular in the late 1960s as record labe ...

, which circulated in the London music underground. Meanwhile, their manager John Turner, Jody and Julie's father, who owned a music store and rehearsal rooms, used his musical connections to get the band their first gigs. Finally, after an appearance at the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

in 1982, the band obtained a recording contract with A&M. They released their self-titled debut studio album with record producer Vic Maile in February 1983, and at that time there were temporary legal problems – Julie Turner was still a minor attending high school, and she was restricted in the number of live shows that she could participate in. Also during this period, Kat Burbella briefly joined the band as a second guitarist, and Tracey Lamb became disgruntled and quit the band, initially forming the band She with Burbella, but then joining Girlschool in 1987. She was replaced by Dee O'Malley, who played the bass guitar and keyboards on the band's second studio album, '' Hell Hath No Fury'', which was produced by Chris Tsangarides and released in October 1983. The band co-headlined with Y&T, supported

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

and

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

on UK and European

tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, and embarked on their own headlining tours. O'Malley announced her pregnancy just before Rock Goddess' first US tour and left the band. Rock Goddess left A&M with their third album unfinished and unreleased. O'Malley was replaced by Julia Longman on bass guitar, and Becky Axten on keyboards. In 1986, Rock Goddess provided backing vocals on ''Joint Forces'' (1986), the sixth studio album of the band Samson. Jody Turner also shared lead vocals with Samson singer Nicky Moore on the track ''Trump''. In 1987, their third studio album was released exclusively in France, with the title ''

Young and Free ''Young and Free'' is the third studio album by the English all-female heavy metal band Rock Goddess. It was recorded in 1985 and was released in 1987 by the small French label JID exclusively in France, after the expiration of their recordi ...

'', however, due to insurmountable problems Rock Goddess disbanded shortly thereafter. In 1988, the Turner sisters reappeared as the Jody Turner Band with two male musicians, but they did not go beyond the local club circuit. Jody Turner fronted a new line-up of Rock Goddess in 1994. After a name change to Braindance, the band disbanded again in 1995. They played their last gig at the pub Thomas O'Becket. The band reformed in 2009 to play the

Hard Rock Hell Hard Rock Hell is a three day music festival held at Vauxhall Holiday resort, Great Yarmouth. It was previously held at Hafan y Môr Holiday Park, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, North Wales, and up until 2011 at Pontin's Holiday Village, Prestatyn, Wales. ...

music festival in

Prestatyn Prestatyn (; ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085. Origin of name The name Prestatyn d ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, but split before they had a chance to perform. In March 2013, it was announced that the original line-up of Jody Turner, Julie Turner, and Tracey Lamb had reformed and would start recording a new album. The three of them began the process of recording a new album tentatively titled ''Unfinished Business''. The album failed to appear, but in 2017 a three-track EP was announced. ''It's More Than Rock and Roll'' was released on 19 May 2017, and a video for the title track was released via Vintage TV on 21 April that year. On 10 July 2018, it was announced that bassist Tracey Lamb had left the band. She later rejoined Girlschool in 2019 as a temporary touring member initially and then as the successor for long-time bassist Enid Williams. Jenny Lane was announced as the new bassist on 9 October 2018. The band were then set to release their comeback record ''This Time'' in October 2018, but it was delayed until 1 March 2019 where it gained a top 10 placing the UK rock/metal chart and a top 40 placing in the national indie chart. The band announced in August 2022 that they had broken up.

Band members

Final lineup

* Jody Turner – vocals, guitars (1977–1987, 1994–1995, 2013–2022) * Julie Turner – drums (1977–1987, 2013–2022) * Jenny Lane – bass (2019–2022)

Former members

* Tracey Lamb – bass (1977–1983, 2013–2019) * Dee O'Malley – bass, keyboards (1983–1987) * Aki Shibahara – bass (1994–1995) * Nicola Shaw – drums (1994–1995) * Isabella Fronzoni – guitars (1994–1995)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums EPs Singles

References

External links

* *
Rock Goddess at Encyclopaedia Metallum

Rock Goddess
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Metaladies.com
{{Authority control 1977 establishments in England 2022 disestablishments in England English all-female bands A&M Records artists English heavy metal musical groups Rock music groups from the London Borough of Wandsworth Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 2022 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 English musical trios New Wave of British Heavy Metal musical groups All-female metal bands