Thunderthighs (also known as "Thunder Thighs") were a British backing vocal group, who released records in their own right.

Career

The female trio, consisting of Karen Friedman, Dari Lalou (American) and Casey Synge, provided the backing vocals to

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

's hit single, " Walk on the Wild Side" (from his 1972 ''

Transformer In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...

'' album) which became a top 10 hit in the UK. It was around this vocal arrangement that singer-songwriter

Lynsey de Paul Lynsey de Paul (born Lyndsey Monckton Rubin; 11 June 1948 – 1 October 2014) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting ...

wrote their first single, " Central Park Arrest", which reached number 30 in the UK Singles Chart in 1974. It also reached number 3 on the Radio Northsea Toppers 20, number 5 on the Swedish Poporama singles chart,Stefan Heiding: Poporama – Heta högen (1992) number 24 on London's

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

chart and number 25 on the

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

top thirty. The single received critical acclaim, being listed in the ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

'' as one of the best singles released in 1974 in the End of Year Critic List. De Paul recorded her own version of the song which was released as the B-side to her hit single "No, Honestly (song)" later that year. Dari Lallou performed all the speaking parts throughout the song, including "Book him" at the end, misheard at the time as being a similar sounding profanity and getting the record temporarily banned by the BBC, until it was re-voiced. Further singles followed such as "Dracula's Daughter" (1974) (produced by Steve Rowland) that received a glowing review from ''Record and Popswop Mirror'' and reached number 16 on the Swedish Poporama single chart. The song was also included on the 1975 compilation album, ''Ripper! 20 Original Smash Hits''. The trio changed label to EMI for their next single release "Stand Up and Cheer" and the Blue Inc label for their final single release "Loving You Ain't Easy", co-written by Dari Lallou Wynne. According to an interview with Karen Friedman, the trio also released "They'd Rather Be Making Money Than Making Love", another de Paul composed song, as a single in 1976. An album was recorded, but was shelved at the time since further hits were not forthcoming, although it is now available at BR Music and on iTunes. The track listing is:- #"Central Park Arrest" #"Bronze Beach Hero" #"Dracula's Daughter" #"Great Male Robbery" #"Lady" #"Loving You Ain't Easy" #"Sally Wants a Red Dress" #"Shine Your Light on Me" #"So Fine" #"We've Got a Good Thing Going" #"Shake Sheik Shake" They were, however, in demand and provided backing vocals for Mott the Hoople on the single version of their hit, " Roll Away the Stone" (although de Paul delivered the spoken

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

on the later '' The Hoople'' album version), and their 1974 single '' Foxy, Foxy''. Thunderthighs had already appeared on Mott the Hoople's earlier 1973 album, ''

Mott Mott is both an English surname and given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname B * Basil Mott (1859–1938), British civil engineer *Bitsy Mott (1918–2001), American baseball player C * Catherine R. Mott (1836–1880), American ...

'', on the track "Hymn for the Dudes". They provided backing vocals for

Elkie Brooks Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1945) is an English Rock music, rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe (band), Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest su ...

on two tracks on the 1975 original studio cast compilation album, ''Flash Fearless Versus The Zorg Women Parts 5 & 6''. They also provided backing vocals for

Maggie Bell Margaret Bell (born 12 January 1945) is a Scottish vocalist. She came to fame as co-lead vocalist of the blues rock group Stone the Crows, and was described as the UK's closest counterpart to American singer Janis Joplin. Bell was also promine ...

on her 1974 U.S. tour that garnered positive reviews for Bell and for them. In 1981, they provided the backing vocals on " Solid Gold Easy Action", a cover version of the

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...

song recorded and released by the group Department S. In addition, Thunderthighs provided vocals for the following albums: *

Jonathan Kelly Jonathan Kelly (born Jonathan Ledingham, 8 July 1947 – 2 May 2020) was an Irish folk rock singer-songwriter, who enjoyed a varied career in music, playing with many musicians and groups, including Eric Clapton and Tim Staffell. He formed Jon ...

(''Wait 'Til They Change The Backdrop'') (1973) *

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

('' The Session...Recorded in London with Great Artists'') (1973) * Go ('' Go'') (1976) *

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

(''Before the Deluge'') (1975) *

John Verity John Verity (born 3 July 1949) is an English guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of Argent, a band formed by Zombies keyboardist Rod Argent. He joined the band alongside John Grimaldi, replacing Russ Ballard. Early life, fa ...

(''John Verity Band'') (1974) *

Alquin Alquin was a Dutch progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Ini ...

(''Nobody Can Wait Forever'') (1975) *

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown The Crazy World of Arthur Brown are an English rock music, rock band formed by singer Arthur Brown (musician), Arthur Brown in 1967. The original band included Vincent Crane (Hammond organ and piano), Drachen Theaker (drums), and Nick Greenwoo ...

(''Lost Ears'') (1976) *Adrian Wagner (''Instincts'') (1977) *

Elephant's Memory Elephant's Memory (also billed as Elephants Memory, without the apostrophe) was an American rock band formed in New York City in the late 1960s, known primarily for backing John Lennon and Yoko Ono from late 1971 to 1973 under their Plastic Ono ...

(''Angels Forever'') (1974)

Singles

*"Central Park Arrest" (June 1974) –

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

6006 386 – UK Singles Chart – Number 30 *"Dracula's Daughter" (November 1974) –

6006 413 *"Stand Up and Cheer" (1975) –

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

*"Loving You Ain't Easy" (1981) – Blue Inc

References

External links

* * {{Authority control British vocal groups British musical trios British session musicians