The U.S. state of Washington has been home to many popular musicians and several major hotbeds of musical innovation throughout its history. The largest city in the state, Seattle, is known for being the birthplace of grunge as well as a major contributor to the evolution of punk rock, indie music, folk, and hip hop. Nearby Tacoma and Olympia have also been centers of influence on popular music.
Mia Katherine Zapata was an American musician who was the lead singer for the Seattle punk band The Gits. After gaining praise in the emerging grunge scene, Zapata was murdered in 1993 while on her way home from a music venue, at age 27. The crime went unsolved for a decade before her killer, Jesus Mezquia, was arrested in 2003. Mezquia was tried, convicted and sentenced to 36 years in prison.
The port city of Olympia, Washington, has been a center of post-hardcore, anti-folk, and other youth-oriented musical genres since the late 1970s. Before this period, Olympia's The Fleetwoods had several Billboard chart successes between 1959 and 1963. Olympia saw a rise in feminism in the music industry, where artists commonly addressed rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, classism, anarchism, and female empowerment in their songs. It was a center for the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s, which featured Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.
Heavens to Betsy was an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1991 with vocalist and guitarist Corin Tucker and drummer Tracy Sawyer. The duo were part of the DIY riot grrrl, punk rock underground, and were Tucker's first band before she co-formed Sleater-Kinney.
The Need is an American queercore band formed by the singer and drummer Rachel Carns and the guitarist Radio Sloan in Portland, Oregon, in the mid-1990s.
The Gits were an American punk rock band formed in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1986. As part of the burgeoning Seattle music scene of the early 1990s, they were known for their fiery live performances. Members included singer Mia Zapata, guitarist Joe Spleen, bassist Matt Dresdner and drummers Steve Moriarty, Bruce Ducheneaux and Bob Lee. They dissolved in 1993 after the murder of Zapata.
Róisín, sometimes anglicized as Roisin or Rosheen, is an Irish female given name, meaning "little rose". The English equivalent is Rose, Rosaleen or Rosie.
Sick 'Em is the debut compilation album by Seattle punk rock band 7 Year Bitch. It was released in October 1992 on the local C/Z Records label and collected all of the band's previous releases up to that point. The album was originally slated for an earlier release date but was delayed following the death of guitarist Stefanie Sargent in June 1992.
¡Viva Zapata! is the debut studio album by American rock band 7 Year Bitch, released on May 20, 1994, through C/Z Records. Produced by Jack Endino, it was their first record with guitarist Roisin Dunne. The album's tone was influenced by the deaths of several people close to the band, including original guitarist Stefanie Sargent in 1992 and The Gits' vocalist Mia Zapata—who inspired its title and is depicted on its cover artwork—in 1993, although this was not intended as its general theme. The album's promotion was supported by Atlantic Records, who signed 7 Year Bitch a month prior to its release.
Gato Negro is the second and final studio album by American rock band 7 Year Bitch, released on March 12, 1996. It was the band's only album released through Atlantic Records, after signing to the label in 1994.
Daniel House is an American business owner and former musician. He was a co-founder and bass player for Skin Yard, a grunge band that was active from 1985 to 1992, and was president and owner of C/Z Records, a Seattle-based independent record label that released music by many bands, including 7 Year Bitch, Built to Spill, Coffin Break, Engine Kid, The Gits, Hammerbox, Love Battery, The Melvins, The Presidents of the United States of America, Silkworm, and Skin Yard. In 2003, House moved from Seattle to Los Angeles where he oversaw the development and creation of the now-defunct www.DownloadPunk.com as well as the music-centric online dating website RocknRollDating.com.
Lucy Hanna is an American artist, photographer, and filmmaker based in Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. A subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics, it is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the riot grrrl movement and has recently been seen in fourth-wave feminist punk music that rose in the 2010s. The genre has also been described as coming out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a movement in which women could express anger, rage, and frustration, emotions considered socially acceptable for male songwriters but less commonly for women.
Erin Smith in Washington, D.C., is best known for being the guitarist of riot grrrl band Bratmobile, a band with drummer Molly Neuman and vocalist Allison Wolfe.
Valerie Agnew is an American musician best known as the drummer of 7 Year Bitch.
Stefanie Ann Sargent was an American musician. She was the lead guitarist and co-founder of Seattle punk rock band 7 Year Bitch. She died from asphyxiation after choking on her vomit at the age of 24 on June 27, 1992, four months before the release of 7 Year Bitch's debut album, Sick 'Em.
Elizabeth Davis-Simpson is an American musician and songwriter best known as the bassist of the punk rock band 7 Year Bitch. She later worked on projects such as These Streets with Valerie Agnew, and has participated in a band named Clone.
Roisin Dunne Ross is an Irish musician. She is best known for being the replacement guitarist of 7 Year Bitch, after their guitarist Stefanie Sargent died in June 1992.
Selene Here Vigil is an American singer best known as the lead vocalist of the band 7 Year Bitch.
Lisa Fay Beatty was an American musician best known for her involvement in the band 7 Year Bitch. She replaced the guitarist Roisin Dunne in 1997. The band later broke up the same year. She died in a motorcycle accident on November 25, 2011, at the age of 47. Beatty also toured with her band Mudwimin. She sound engineered for bands like The Gits, 7 Year Bitch, and Smoochknob.
