Cheetah (band)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Chrissie Hammond
)

Cheetah
Origin
Albert/EMI
Past members
  • Chrissie Hammond
  • Lyndsay Hammond
  • Mark Evans
  • Michael Evans
  • Martin Fisher
  • John Lalor
  • Scott Ginn

Cheetah were an Australian hard rock band, active between 1976 and 1984.

The mainstay members and co-lead vocalists were English-born sisters, Chrissie and Lyndsay Hammond. They released their only album, Rock & Roll Women, in April 1982. The band's single, "Walking in the Rain" (1978), peaked at No. 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart.

Cheetah toured Australia, the United Kingdom and continental Europe, including appearances at

Wiesbaden Festivals in Germany and at the 1982 Reading Festival with Iron Maiden
to an audience of 120,000 people. From 1982, they were based in the UK.

After disbanding in 1984, Chrissie provided vocals for Rick Wakeman while Lyndsay issued a solo album, The Raven (1997). Cheetah reformed in 2006 to perform in the Countdown Spectacular and a subsequent tour of Europe.

Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane opined that the sisters "were the archetypal 1970s sex bombs with big hair. They had tremendous, booming rock voices and were in constant demand as session vocalists."

History

Cheetah were an Australian pop rock band formed in 1976 in Melbourne, by the English-born sisters, Chrissie (born 25 November 1955) and Lyndsay Hammond (born 14 May 1954).[3][4] The Hammond family had emigrated to Australia on the liner Strathnaver departing Tilbury on 10 November 1958.[3] [5]

From 1974, Lyndsay fronted a group, Skintight, for three years[2][6] and toured backing Renée Geyer before forming Cheetah. The name was chosen as they "wanted a feline image"; it was "seen as a bit racy, not right."[7] They "adopted a sensual approach to singing and modelled their clothes on the title of Lyndsay's old band." (Skintight)[8]

Chrissie was a member of the group Eli Flash

Stevie Wright, Norman Gunston and Daryl Braithwaite.[2]

Cheetah were managed by Brian de Courcy and initially signed with Philips Records, which issued their debut single, "Love Ain't Easy to Come By", in 1977—without the group's permission.

Albert Music and recorded a cover version of "Walking in the Rain", originally by The Ronettes, which peaked at No. 10 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart in October 1978[2][11] and was the 100th-best-selling single of 1978 in Australia.[12] It was produced by Molly Meldrum (Supernaut, The Ferrets).[2][6] A music video, by Chris Löfvén (Spectrum, Daddy Cool, Birtles & Goble), was also provided.[13] Their other charting singles include "Deeper Than Love" (June 1979), "Spend the Night" (September 1980) and "Bang Bang" (August 1981).[2][11]

In mid-1980, Chrissie collapsed in a Melbourne recording studio due to a "kidney infection", which had cleared up by August.

Stevie Wright Band, Swanee).[6]

Cheetah toured across Australia, the UK and Europe, including appearances at Roskilde in Denmark, the Nuremberg and

Wiesbaden Festivals in Germany, and a show at the 1982 Reading Festival,[2] which was headlined by Iron Maiden, to an audience of 120,000 people.[7] In April 1982, they issued their debut album, Rock & Roll Women, which was produced by Vanda & Young (AC/DC, John Paul Young, Flash and the Pan).[2][6] Chrissie recalled working with Vanda & Young: "They were tough rockers but decent guys. They saw us as strong women, rather than being the tits, the teeth and the glam, they produced us as rockers, which was very innate. Our lyrics, our stage performance was very much in the male vernacular."[7]

For the album, they used session musicians:

the La De Das, John Paul Young) and Mike Peters on keyboards.[2][6] Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt Cheetah had "turned their attentions to AC/DC-styled hard rock with some success."[2]

In mid-1982 Cheetah relocated to the UK. They used various local musicians: Dave Dowell, Martin Dzal, Tom Evans, Ant Glyn, Rod Roche, Eddie Sparrow and Chris West.[6] The group broke up in 1984.[6] McFarlane opined that the sisters "were the archetypal 1970s sex bombs with big hair. They had tremendous, booming rock voices and were in constant demand as session vocalists."[2] After disbanding Chrissie provided vocals for Rick Wakeman (from 1990 to 1998),[7] while Lyndsay issued a solo album, The Raven (1997).[2]

Cheetah reformed in 2006 to perform in the Countdown Spectacular and a subsequent tour of Europe.[3]

In 2007, Lyndsay co-wrote "Higher Than Heaven" with James Blundell, which the latter issued as his country music single. At the APRA Music Awards of 2008, Lyndsay and Blundell were nominated for Country Work of the Year.[16]

Discography

Albums

List of live albums, with selected chart positions
Title Album details
Rock & Roll Women

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions
Year Title Peak chart
positions 		Album
AUS
[11]
1977 "Love Ain't Easy to Come By" / "Shake It to the Right" - non album single
1978 "Walking in the Rain" 10 non album single
1979 "Deeper Than Love" 89 non album single
1980 "Spend the Night" 31 Rock & Roll Women
1981 "Love You to the Limit" -
"Bang Bang" 80
1982 "My Man" / "Come and Get It" -

References

General
  • ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original
    on 5 April 2004. Retrieved 14 August 2015.     Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
  1. ISBN 978-1-74223-217-1
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p McFarlane, 'Cheetah' entry. Archived from the original Archived 6 August 2004 at the Wayback Machine on 6 August 2004. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  3. ^ a b c van Poorten, Toine (Summer 2006). "Cheetah: Rock 'n Roll Women Forever!". Metal Maidens. Rita van Poorten. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  4. ^ Hammond. "Cheetah". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  5. ^ "Session expired | RecordSearch | National Archives of Australia". Recordsearch.naa.gov.au. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Holmgren, Magnus; Goldsmith, Glen. "Cheetah". passagen.se. Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d Reynolds, Emma (26 June 2015). "Australia's original rock chick Chrissie Hammond slams the fame game". news.com.au. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  8. ^ a b c Flynn, Greg (24 September 1980). "Cheetah packs a punch". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. pp. 242–3. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  9. ^ a b McFarlane, 'Air Supply' entry. Archived from the original on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  10. ^ a b Holmgren, Magnus; Thornton, Mary Ann; Padgett, Chris. "Air Supply". passagen.se. Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  11. ^
    ISBN 0-646-11917-6. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts
    in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  12. ^ "Kent Music Report No 236 – 1 January 1979 > National Top 100 Singles for 1978". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 8 January 2022 – via Imgur.com.
  13. ^ Mousoulis, Bill. "Chris Löfvén". Melbourne Independent Filmmakers. Inner Sense. Archived from the original on 28 May 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  14. ^ Hamilton, Gay (13 August 1980). "The Insider". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. p. 29. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  15. ^ Moore, Susan (30 July 1980). "Moore on Pop". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. p. 53. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  16. Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). 2008. Archived from the original
    on 28 September 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cheetah_(band)&oldid=1174006339"