Friday, Aug. 9, 2024 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Stream now with KPBS Passport!
Sometime in the 1960s, in sunny Sacramento, two Filipina American sisters got together with other teenage girls to play music. Little did they know their garage band would evolve into the legendary rock group Fanny, the first all-women band to release an LP with a major record label.
Despite releasing five critically-acclaimed albums over five years, touring with famed bands from Slade to Chicago and amassing a dedicated fan base of music legends including David Bowie, Fanny's groundbreaking impact in music was written out of history... until bandmates reunite 50 years later with a new rock record deal.
With incredible archival footage of the band's rocking past intercut with its next chapter releasing a new LP today, the film includes interviews with a large cadre of music icons, including Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Bonnie Raitt, The Go-Go's Kathy Valentine, Todd Rundgren, The Runaways' Cherie Currie, Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, The B52's Kate Pierson, Charles Neville and David Bowie guitarist and bassist Earl Slick and Gail Ann Dorsey.
Fighting early barriers of race, gender and sexuality in the music industry, and now ageism, the incredible women of Fanny are ready to claim their hallowed place in the halls of rock 'n' roll fame.
Filmmaker Quote:
“I am honored to celebrate the untold story of Fanny’s vital – yet buried – contributions to Rock & Roll with the public,” says the award-winning director Bobbi Jo Hart. “Just like Sister Rosetta Tharpe inspired ELVIS, Fanny shattered the glass ceiling of the genre to lay crucial groundwork for future bands of women to succeed, from The Runaways to The Go Go’s, and continue to do so today. Fanny deserves nothing less than to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.”
Related: Welcome to the Get Behind Fanny Podcast
Watch On Your Schedule: Stream "Fanny: The Right to Rock" now with KPBS Passport, a benefit for members supporting KPBS at $60 or more yearly, using your computer, smartphone, tablet, Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire or Chromecast. Learn how to activate your benefit now.
Join The Conversation: Fanny is on Facebook
Credits: The film is written and directed by Bobbi Jo Hart and co-produced by Bobbi Jo Hart and Robbie Hart. Executive producers include Katherine Buck, Bobbi Jo Hart, Anne Pick, Catherine Bainbridge, Ina Fichman, Randy Lennox and Glen Salzman. Director of Photography is Claire Sanford. Editor is Catherine Legault. Music by Fanny. Original music & sound mix by Daniel Toussaint. Online post-production by Digital Cut. The Center for Asian American Media.
