More than 50 years after their formation, Fanny is getting a documentary: The Right to Rock, out later this year.
Directed by Bobbi Jo Hart, the trailer features Joe Elliott, Bonnie Raitt, Cherie Currie, and more discussing the pioneering all-woman band’s impact and legacy. A David Bowie quote flashes across the screen that reads: “One of the most important bands have been buried.”
“Fanny was the first all-women rock band that could really play and really get some credibility within the music industry,” Raitt says in the clip. Adds Kathy Valentine: “They made five records. The Go-Go’s get a lot of attention for what we did, and we only made three records.”
Fanny: The Right to Rock will premiere at Hot Docs Festival in Toronto this spring. The film traces the band’s early years as Filipina-American teens in Sacramento, California, documenting their rise as the first all-woman band signed to a major label. During their career — which lasted from the late Sixties to 1975 — they battled sexism, homophobia, and racism.
“History is written by the victors,” Hart said in a statement. “So feisty women — especially women of color and those in the LBGTQ community — must take the reins to help rewrite the history that has excluded them. My 25-year filmmaking career has been dedicated to bringing untold stories of extraordinary girls and women to the screen.”
“How many female rock bands do you hear on the radio today?” Hart added. “They are out there, and I hope this film helps shake things up so that music festivals, record labels, the public, and yes, even the hallowed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, make bolder choices. Women, like Fanny, have earned the right to rock and deserve to be properly recognized for their talent and contributions.”
