The Kelly Family – 25 Years Later

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1994, 25 Years Later, 80s, 90s, ABBA, Angelo Kelly, Boybands, Chris Rea, Circus Roncalli, Comeback, Courtney Love, Eighties, Genesis, Germany, Girlgroups, Grunge, Hole, Jimmy Kelly, Joey Kelly, John Kelly, Kathy Kelly, Kurt Cobain, Live Through This, Nineties, Nirvana, One-Hit-Wonder, Over The Hump, Patricia Kelly, Paul Kelly, Phil Collins, Punk, Queen, Radio, Roxette, The Kelly Family, Tourdates, Trash

Growing up as a girl in Germany, I have been exposed to music from very early on. First through my parents listening to songs on the radio, many bands I still love to this day, including Abba, Roxette, Genesis and their former drummer, turned singer with his solo-stuff, Phil Collins, Queen, Chris Rea and all the pupular eighties tunes you can imagine. But it wasn’t untill the 90s that my very own taste in music started to shape. And this famously infamous decade held a ton of trashy acts and one-hit-wonders next to those timeless pieces of pure gold that would stuck in my head and heart forever, at least they are still very much present some 20 to 30 years later. One year in particular turned out to be the most influencial for large parts of music history and my personal biography as well: 1994. Grunge was peaking and imploding almost simultanously with the suicide of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and a few days later the release of his widow Courtney Love and her bands’ Hole most successful record “Live Through This”.

Girlgroups and Boybands aside, there was another band that was the talk of the town and you could either hate or love or both back and forth, as I did or actually do, the Kelly Family. They started off as street musicians and had a respecable run of albums at hand when in 1994 “Over The Hump” marked the turning point of their career and saw me attending the first concert ever, just about three months after my 12th birthday. Fast forward to the present day and “25 Years Later” I am about to finally see them again 25 years and three days after my first time, when they played in a tent owned by the Circus Roncalli.

The band & the bus: Cover of the new album!

Since the comeback of the Kelly Family in 2017, I admited to myself something that I kept private for so long, because when you are 12 and really love and live the whole Grunge and Punk thing with a badass attitude, listening to the Kelly Family wasn’t exactly cool enough to stick to. But when you are 35 cool isn’t that important anymore and beeing true to yourself the only thing that matters. Long story short: I missed out more than I can possibly comprehend and now it’s time to make up for the past 25 years. So, will one single show really do? I guess not, so let’s see how many show I will be able to see after sharing this personal manifesto with the world. The ultimate tour starts 21 days from today and there will be a special warmup show in Emden prior to the full run of dates through Germany. So, see you on the road and onto the next 25 years!

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The Kelly Family Homepage

The Kelly Family on Facebook

The Kelly Family on Instagram

VIXEN – Full Female Throttle

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80s, All- Girl Rockband, Cryin, Demolition Records, Edge of a Broken Heart, EMI, Full Throttle, Gina Stile, Jan Kuehnemund, Janet Gardner, Jenna Sanz-Agero, Kat Kraft, Live & Learn, Love Is A Killer, Lynn Louise Lowrey, Macime Petrucci, Mötley Crüe, Rana Ross, Rev It Up, Roxy Petrucci, Scorpions, Share Pedersen, Sweden Rock Festival, Tangerine, Unplugged, Vince Neil, Vixen

Facing the sad loss of one of our leading ladies of Rock & Metal, guitarist and founding member of Vixen, Jan Kuehnemund it seems about time to take a look back on the history of this female powerhouse: The Queens of Metal, the Female Bon Jovi, however you have heard Vixen described, one of the things you will definitely know is that they were one of the most successful female rock bands in the world. Massive hits like ‘Edge Of A Broken Heart’ and ‘Love Is A KillerÄ heralded their position in the rock charts, and made them a permanent fixture on all the most popular rock compilation albums of the 90s. Vixen was founded in Minnesota by Jan Kuehnemund, and brought to Los Angeles in the mid 80s where they continued to gig and build up an impressive following, finally cracking the big time in the late 80s.

Vixen – Striking The Pose

After the birth of Vixen around 1980/81 many changes followed until the line up of Janet Gardner (Vocals), Jan Kuehnemund (Guitar), Roxy Petrucci (Drums) and Share Pedersen (Bass) was reached. Their debut album ‘Vixen’ in 1988 which went Gold in the US and sold in excess of one million copies worldwide. They followed that up with an even better album – both on their record deal with EMI – , ‘Rev It Up’, in 1990 but then in 1991 Share and Janet split off from the band to pursue a different musical direction. The band toured constantly, including some prestigious supports to the Scorpions and Bon Jovi amongst others.

Former band members of Vixen pursued various other projects until eventually Roxy found guitarist Gina Stile and hooked back up with Janet for a Vixen reformation, touring the States in 1997 with Rana Ross on bass. As a 3 piece, Janet, Roxy and Gina recorded ‘Tangerine’ (released May 1998), which was a departure from Vixen’s previous sound, but is still an album of the highest quality.

They added Roxy’s sister Maxine (who played with Roxy in Madam X) on bass, and toured for a while after the album’s release.
98 tour line up :

Janet Gardner – Vocals
Gina Stile – Guitar
Roxy Petrucci – Drums
Maxine Petrucci – Bass

The band called it a day in 1991, although Jan reformed the band in 2001 to undertake the Voices of Metal tour with Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe fame. A few problems beset the band, not least the fact that the line up changed completely mid tour. Once sorted though, this line up remained strong and is the same line up that have just recorded their new studio album, the follow-up to ‘Rev It Up’, called ‘Live & Learn’. Vixen is Jan Kuehnemund (Guitars), Jenna Sanz-Agero (Vocals), Kat Kraft (Drums) and Lynn Louise Lowrey (Bass).
In 2004 the EMI era line-up got back together for VH1’s Bands Reunited program. Jan, Share, Roxy and Janet were ‘ambushed’ and asked if they would participate in a reunion. After some persuading they all agreed to do so and met up for the first time in many years. Following brief rehearsals, they performed a special one-off show on August 3rd at SIR Studios in Hollywood. The program was initially aired on VH1 in the US on November 9th.

Whilst recording the new album, the band took a trip over to Europe, to give the fans a chance to not only see the classic songs performed, but also to gauge how the fans would accept the new songs. The result; a resounding success, which culminated in the recording of the band’s first live album and DVD at their stage headlining show at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2005. This live album was released in the US by Sony/BMG on July 18, 2006.

‘Live & Learn’ was released in Europe by Demolition Records in November 2006, and in the US in January 2007.

Hell On High Heels!

Inspired by: Vixen Homepage & Neil’s Vixen Page

VIXEN – Guitarist Jan Kuehnemund passes away at age 51

Tags

80s, All- Girl Rockband, Cryin, Edge of a Broken Heart, Jan Kuehnemund, Jenna Sanz-Agero, Kat Kraft, Lynn Louise Lowrey, Vixen

At the age of just 51, founding member and guitarist Jan Kuehnemund of pioneering 80s all-girl Rockband VIXEN has passed away after a long battle with cancer.
The band’s official homepage stated the following condolences: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Vixen founder and lead guitarist, Jan Kuehnemund, who lost a fierce battle with cancer on Thursday, October 10, 2013. Though most well known for her gifted guitar playing and other musical talents, Jan was a rare friend and beautiful in every sense of the word. Humble, thoughtful, loyal and kind, she was the most gracious of women, possessing the quiet strength of a true warrior. She genuinely loved and appreciated her friends and fans more than most could ever know. Those who were most fortunate to have known her and loved her are heartbroken at the loss of Jan, whose spirit will shine through her music eternally.

Jan was very courageous. Never complained. Never gave up. The cancer beat her body but it NEVER broke her spirit at any point. Up until the actual moment that she died, she really believed she was going back home.

Jan… you will be missed.. but never forgotten.”

Vixen, one of the most successful female rock bands in the world, produced massive hits like “Edge of a Broken Heart” and “Cryin’” securing their position in the rock charts – including 4 singles in Billboard’s Hot 100. Vixen has reappeared with two new albums, a delicate explosion of new talent and passionate forces, producing a new sound while staying true to their roots.

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VIXEN Homepage

VIXEN Facebook Page