Vicki Randle (born December 11, 1954)Hillgirlz, the lesbian Community of San Francisco
. Retrieved October 12, 2007. is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist (primarily acoustic guitar, bass and percussion) and composer, known as the first permanent female member of

The Tonight Show Band The Tonight Show Band refers to the house band on the American television variety show ''The Tonight Show'', which has created an important showcase for jazz on American television. The Tonight Show Band has changed in form and composition since ...

,AfterEllen.com – The Tonight Show's Vicki Randle
. Retrieved October 12, 2007.NBC.com > The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
. Retrieved October 12, 2007. starting with host

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

in 1992.

Career

Randle was born in San Francisco, California. She began her career as a singer-songwriter/guitarist, playing in such venues as the Bla-Bla Cafe, McCabe's and The Ice House. She also recorded and toured with several

women's music Women's music is a type of music based on the ideas of feminist separatism and lesbian separatism, designed to inspire feminist consciousness chiefly in Western popular music, to promote music "by women, for women, and about women." Women's mu ...

artists, such as

Cris Williamson Cris Williamson (born February 15, 1947) is an American feminist singer-songwriter and recording artist. She was a visible lesbian political activist during an era when few who were unconnected to the lesbian community were aware of gay and l ...

Ferron Ferron Foisy (born Deborah Foisy on 1 June 1952; known professionally as Ferron) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet. In addition to gaining fame as one of Canada's most respected songwriters, Ferron, who is openly lesbian, became one of t ...

June Millington June Elizabeth Millington (born April 14, 1948) is a Filipina-American guitarist, songwriter, producer, educator, and actress. Millington was the founder of the music groups the Svelts and Wild Honey, before becoming co-founder and lead guitar ...

and

Linda Tillery Linda "Tui" Tillery (born September 2, 1948) is an American singer, percussionist, producer, songwriter, and music arranger. She began her professional singing career at age 19 with the Bay Area rock band The Loading Zone. She is recognized as ...

. She has recorded and/or toured with

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel music, gospel singer and civil rights activism, activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers, of which she is the last surviving memb ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark "Kenny" Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded with Jim Messina (musician), Jim Mess ...

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ens ...

Jeffrey Osborne Jeffrey Linton Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and lyricist. He is the former drummer and lead singer of the American R&B/soul group L.T.D. (band), L.T.D., with whom he began his musical career in 1970. B ...

Laura Nyro Laura Nyro ( ; born Laura Nigro; October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter and singer. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession'' (1968) and ''Ne ...

and

Lyle Mays Lyle David Mays (November 27, 1953 – February 10, 2020) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and member of the Pat Metheny Group. Metheny and Mays composed and arranged nearly all of the group's music, for which Mays won eleven Grammy Awar ...

.Vicki Randle
. Retrieved October 12, 2007.Vicki Randle: Artist Update: Modern Drummer Magazine 10/12/2007
Retrieved October 12, 2007. She appeared in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

documentary ''

Mavis! ''Mavis!'' is a documentary film about musician and civil rights activist Mavis Staples, directed by Jessica Edwards. The film premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March, 2015, and was acquired for US broadcast by HBO. Cast Mavi ...

''. Randle became the first female permanent member of the

Tonight Show Band The Tonight Show Band refers to the house band on the American television variety show ''The Tonight Show'', which has created an important showcase for jazz on American television. The Tonight Show Band has changed in form and composition since ...

with

, starting in May 1992 and continuing through May 2009. She continued her association with

under his five-nights-a-week primetime ''

The Jay Leno Show ''The Jay Leno Show'' is an American prime time talk show hosted by Jay Leno that was broadcast by NBC from September 14, 2009, to February 9, 2010. The series was a spiritual successor to his previous late-night talk show ''The Tonight Show wit ...

'' on NBC as a musician with

Kevin Eubanks Kevin Tyrone Eubanks (born November 15, 1957) is an American jazz and fusion guitarist and composer. He was the leader of The Tonight Show Band with host Jay Leno from 1995 to 2010. He also led the Primetime Band on the short-lived ''The Jay Le ...

' renamed "Primetime Band". The show premiered September 14, 2009. She returned to ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' with the primetime show's cancellation on February 9, 2010, and continued until May 2010. In 2006, Randle released her first solo album titled ''Sleep City: Lullabies for Insomniacs''. The album was produced by

Bonnie Hayes Bonnie Hayes is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer, born in San Francisco, California, United States, and currently lives between Los Angeles and New York City. Her songs have been recorded by Cher, Bette Midler, Bonnie ...

and included Hayes,

Nina Gerber Nina Gerber is an American guitarist who first came to attention when she accompanied singer-songwriter Kate Wolf from 1979 until Wolf's death in 1986. Gerber was born and raised in Sebastopol, California Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma ...

Barbara Higbie Barbara Higbie (born 1958) is an American Grammy nominated, Bammy award winning pianist, composer, violinist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has played on over 100 CDs including songs with Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt. The f ...

Teresa Trull Teresa Trull (born June 20, 1954) is an American female singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer from Durham, North Carolina. She is recognized as a pioneer in Women's music, with her debut album ''The Ways a Woman Can Be'' released on ...

, Freddie Washington,

Herman Matthews Herman Matthews (born December 28, 1960) is an American drummer and composer. Matthews works as a session and touring musician, most notably for Tower of Power, Kenny Loggins and toured with Tom Jones for more than 7 years. He began playing drums ...

Stephen Bruton Turner Stephen Bruton (November 7, 1948 – May 9, 2009) was an American actor and musician. Background Born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, he moved with his family to Texas at the age of two. He fell into the Fort Worth music scene aft ...

with a track produced by

Val Garay Val Garay (born May 9, 1942) is an American recording engineer and record producer who has worked with Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Kim Carnes, The Motels, Neil Diamond and others. Garay also co-founded Los Angeles recording studio Record One ...

. She is part of the predominantly black all-female rock band Skip The Needle as bassist, percussionist, co-lead singer and composer. The band consists of Randle, Shelley Doty, Kofy Brown and Katie Cash. In 2022, Randle joined Greg Loiacono's band as percussionist and vocalist, and will be touring on bass with the

MC5 MC5 was an American rock music, rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The classic lineup consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis (bassist), Michael Davis, and drummer ...

led by guitarist

Wayne Kramer Wayne Stanley Kramer (''né'' Kambes; April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and Film score, film and television composer. Kramer came to prominence in the 1960s as the lead guitarist of t ...

and featuring singer

Brad Brooks Brad may refer to: * Brad (given name), a masculine given name Places * Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania * Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania * Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romania * ...

, guitarist

Stevie Salas Stevie Salas (born November 17, 1964) is an American guitarist, author, television host, music director, record producer, film composer, and former advisor of contemporary music at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Salas ...

and drummer Winston Watson.

Personal life

Randle is openly lesbian. She has residences in Venice Beach and

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Randle, Vicki 1954 births Living people Guitarists from San Francisco Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters American lesbian musicians American rock guitarists American women drummers American percussionists African-American guitarists African-American women singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters African-American drummers American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters African-American LGBTQ people The Tonight Show Band members Singers from San Francisco Songwriters from San Francisco LGBTQ people from California Drummers from San Francisco Women's music 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American women Singer-songwriters from California American bass guitarists American acoustic guitarists American lesbian writers