Wendy O. Williams’ Grammy nomination was almost as shocking as the singer’s infamous stage antics. Hard rock and heavy metal have never been the odds-on favorites for music awards or accolades. But once in awhile the faithful get a surprise.
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They Nominated Who Now?
Back in 1985, metal was making its mainstream ascendancy and ruffling a lot of feathers in the process. Many tried to ignore it or shrug it off. But the Grammy Awards did something different in the Best Female Performance Vocal, Rock category. They nominated both former Runaways guitarist/vocalist Lita Ford and former Plasmatics frontwoman Wendy O. Williams, both of whom were now solo artists.
The eclectic list of the five artists nominated in the category were Pia Zadora (for the “Rock It Out” single), Bonnie Tyler (“Here She Comes”), Tina Turner (“Better Be Good to Me”), Lita Ford (for the Dancing on the Edge album), and Wendy O. Williams (for W.O.W.). Turner was up for five Grammy Awards for her stellar comeback album Private Dancer for which she won three Grammys – Record Of The Year, Best Female Performance Vocal, Pop, and Best Female Performance Vocal, Rock. Turner had shared one Grammy in the past with her abusive ex-husband Ike Turner, so her Private Dancer victories were vindications on more than one level.
The Unapologetic Exhibitionist
The Williams nomination was also impressive in itself. She was an unusual outlier who didn’t fit the conventional entertainment industry mold. The exhibitionist performer was proudly loud and outspoken and was known, as Punk Girl Diaries recalled, for Plasmatics “stage shows [that] included chainsaws, explosions, nudity, theatrical blood, cross-dressing, and eventually car crashes and demolition.” She was also arrested on obscenity charges more than once for simulating sex onstage, and she sometimes bared her breasts with only black electrical tape to cover her nipples.
Williams, who recorded six albums with punk and metal crossover band The Plasmatics before going solo, had a raspy voice and intense scream. The sound of her debut album, W.O.W., produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons, was booming. It was filled with crunchy guitars, gang vocals, and a raunchy vibe. The album featured anthems like “I Love Sex (and Rock and Roll),” “Bump and Grind,” and “Ain’t None of Your Business.” Then there was the metal manifesto “It’s My Life.”
I got a reputation
People know who I am
Rules are made to be broken
Can’t kill what you don’t understand
I see you’re running scared
I never knew you cared
Go hide your head in the sand
Been to hell and back
I survived and that’s a fact
[RELATED: The 30 Best Gene Simmons Quotes]
A Kiss of Star(child) Power
W.O.W. is a fun, larger-than-life metal romp that stands out from other releases of the day. The album was not only produced by Simmons but featured him on bass (under the name Reginald Van Helsing) along with various Plasmatics bandmates and other members of KISS (Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Eric Carr) making contributions to different tracks.
Neither of the album’s ballads were syrupy love songs either. “Opus in Cm7” was about Karen Silkwood, the chemical technician speaking out against plutonium contamination at her job who may have been murdered. The video for “It’s My Life” (a Simmons/Stanley original) featured Williams taking on female wrestlers, bulldozing a house, driving a sports car really fast, and hitching a ride on a rope ladder tossed from a plane before her car careened off a cliff.
Sad and Sensitive in Addition to Sensationalist
While Williams obviously did not win the Grammy, the acknowledgment was the epitome of a moral victory (especially in the Year of Tina Turner). The performer embodied a lot of different ideas and interests. She had a sexual stage persona, boasted a chaotic edge, and liked to do dangerous stunts. She also became a committed vegan, was a feminist, and loved animals. In the same year that W.O.W. came out, she became the first women to be put on the cover of Kerrang! magazine and also made the cover of Vegetarian Times. She made People‘s Best Dressed list in 1981, as well.
Perhaps one reason why her album drew more attention was the KISS connection and the buzz that had built up around her with her previous band The Plasmatics. It has been suggested that W.O.W. is the lost KISS album between Creatures of the Night, where that booming studio sound came into play, and the band’s first post make-up album, Lick It Up. Regardless, W.O.W. stands on its own because of Williams’ dynamic presence and her chemistry with the band she recorded with.
After two more solo albums, some movie appearances, and a Plasmatics reunion, Williams and her partner/manager Rod Swenson moved to Connecticut by the early ‘90s. He taught at the University of Connecticut, and she worked at a local animal shelter. Struggling with mental health issues, she tragically committed suicide at the age of 48. But Williams left behind a strong legacy as one of rock’s more provocative and unusual frontwomen. There’s certainly been no one else like her.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
