The Go-Go’s star Kathy Valentine has praised Debbie Harry and Bonnie Raitt for continuing to prove that age shouldn’t stop women having successful careers.
In the April 2022 edition of Retro Pop, the musician looks back on her celebrated career ahead of the UK release of her memoir ‘All I Ever Wanted’.
Reflecting on the group’s 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, the bassist opens up about continuing to enjoy a successful career into her 60s and beyond.
She explains: “It’s really hard… I think people judge ageing women more than ageing men and I think it’s really difficult for women who don’t look young and hot to go out on stage, to put themselves in the age of social media and the internet. It’s not like you’re just playing a show.
“You’re gonna see people [online] saying ‘Oh you old hag’ and ‘Hang it up you old hag’. I think it’s really hard.”
Kathy continues: “Now some of them like Debbie Harry and Bonnie Raitt are out there performing and I think they’re really making a huge impact on making it okay to be creative, vibrant, working women musicians.”
Despite the trials she’s faced through the years, Kathy praises her bandmates for being there for her, insisting there was never any internal conflict between the group’s five members.
“They were my sisters; things would come and go,” she admits. “You might be closer with one this time and, like any friendship, people supply different needs. One might be the person you turn to if you’re sad and one might be the one you have a night on the town with.
“For me, it was very much like sisters. I never felt competitive – that’s another myth around The Go-Go’s, that we were fighting all the time. And I think that’s a sexist way of looking at a band.
“All bands have disagreements. Because you’re women, you’re all supposed to be best friends at a slumber party all the time.”
Read the full interview in the April 2022 edition of Retro Pop, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store or use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist.
