Donita Sparks (born April 8, 1963) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter most notable for being the co-founder of the band L7. Sparks also initiated, performed, and released original material with her solo project, the band Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments.[1]
Sparks was born on April 8, 1963, in the Hyde Park neighborhood[2] of Chicago, Illinois. One of several sisters, Sparks was raised in Oak Lawn,[2] in a family that regularly participated in political actions.[3] Sparks credits her father for cultivating her sense of rhythm at an early age and her mother with instilling an awareness of equal rights.[4] During high school, Sparks used her older sister's ID to get into clubs, including Club 950 Lucky Number and Neo.[2] Following her graduation from high school in 1981,[2] she attended classes at the Community Film Workshop of Chicago.[4] Sparks worked for a year as a foot messenger for a photo lab, delivering photos in downtown Chicago,[5] prior to moving to Los Angeles at the age of 19.[6]
Career
Sparks met Suzi Gardner in 1984 and they formed the creative foundation of L7 by 1985.[3] Sparks and Gardner had both worked at LA Weekly, although at separate times, and were active participants in the Art punkDIY scene in the Echo Park/Silver Lake area when they began writing music together.[3] Sparks credited mutual friends at LA Weekly for connecting her to Gardner and stated that the publisher was a cultural hub of performance artists, writers, and musicians including Vaginal Davis and Jonathan Gold on staff at the time.[4][7]
Recognized for subverting and transcending the expectations of performers in the late 80s and early 90s, L7 produced seven original studio albums between 1985 and 2019.[8][9] In a 1993 article for Spin which featured L7 on the magazine's cover, Renée Crist described L7 as "four of the funniest, meanest, strongest, coolest, most pissed-off women I know" and as "wild, rambunctious, spontaneous" with a stage show that "is a wash of buddy love, crowd working, and acrobatics".[10]
In 1994, Sparks appeared in the John Waters film Serial Mom as a musician and performer in the fictitious band "Camel Lips."[6]
Sparks released her debut solo record Transmiticate as Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments in February 2008. The Boston Globe, in a June 2008 review, described Sparks performance as high energy with a commanding stage presence.[11]
In 2008, Sparks and Kristin Hersh co-founded CASH Music (Coalition of Artists and Stakeholders) as a means to self release their own music; the non-profit organization has grown to offer marketing and publishing tools for musicians that are open source.[12]
She is also the drummer for the tribute band, Lou Man Group, a performance homage to Lou Reed and the Blue Man Group.[14][15]
L7 reformed in 2014 and embarked on a reunion tour in 2015.[1][9][16] The documentary L7: Pretend We're Dead, directed by Sarah Price, features original footage and interviews with Donita Sparks and was released November 2016.[17] The film was nominated for a VO5 NME Award for Best Music Film.[18]
Sparks continues to perform live shows with the original line up of L7 and co-wrote two new songs with Suzi Gardner: Dispatch from Mar-a-Lago, 2017 and I Came Back to Bitch, 2018 that were released as singles.[19]
L7's latest full album Scatter the Rats was released on Blackheart Records on May 3, 2019. Sparks gave a number of interviews reflecting on the trajectory of the group and discussing the challenges and triumphs faced over the years by the band.[20] The band resumed a six-week national tour starting on May 10, 2019.[21]
Sparks guitar of choice is the deliberately angular Flying V which she described as looking like "something from the Jetsons."[22]
In March 2019, Sparks appeared as part a panel discussion along with Henry Rollins, Marky Ramone, and John Lydon following a screening for the Epix docuseries Punk.[23] While the conversation became heated between Lydon and Ramone, Sparks maintained her composure and humor, crediting both the Sex Pistols and the Ramones as sources of inspiration in her youth.[23][24]
In November 2019, Sparks participated in a digital full life interview for the Women of Rock Oral History Project housed at the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College.[25] In the interview, Sparks discusses her early life and career with L7 as well as her experiences as a woman in the music industry. [26]
Rolling Stone magazine announced that Sparks was hosting a new show called The Hi-Low Show With Donita Sparks that began streaming every Friday starting in April 2020.[27] The weekly show has been structured to feature performances by Sparks and special musical guests.[27]
While L7 was performing at the Reading Festival in 1992, their speakers blew out. The crowd became restless and relentlessly threw mud onto the stage, pelting the band. In response, Sparks reached into her pants and threw her tampon back at the crowd, and said "Eat my used tampon, fuckers!" The tampon became known as one of the "most unsanitary pieces of rock memorabilia in history".[29]
Later in 1992, Sparks dropped her pants, appearing bottomless, on live television during an L7 performance on the UK variety show The Word.[30] Of the incident, Sparks later commented that the particular show L7 appeared on already had questionable aspects underway including "a men's bum contest" and a "hidden camera in Oliver Reed's dressing room, showing him intoxicated with his shirt off, which was really fucked up. So I added my contribution to this craziness."[31]
L7 is an American punk rock band founded in Los Angeles, California, first active from 1985 to 2001 and re-formed in 2014. Their longest standing lineup consists of Suzi Gardner, Donita Sparks, Jennifer Finch, and Dee Plakas. L7 has released seven studio albums and has toured widely in the US, Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America. "Pretend We're Dead" was heavily played on US alternative radio and entered the top 10 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in 1992.
Suffer is the third studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on the Californian independent record label Epitaph Records on September 8, 1988. It was the first album that was both released and distributed by the label. Following the release of the EP Back to the Known (1985), Bad Religion went on a temporary hiatus, then reunited with its original members and went to work on their first full-length studio album in five years.
Bricks Are Heavy is the third studio album by American rock band L7, released on April 14, 1992, by Slash Records. The album peaked at number 160 on the US Billboard 200 and number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart. As of June 2000, Bricks Are Heavy has sold 327,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
L7 is the debut studio album by American rock band L7, released in 1988 by Epitaph Records. It demonstrates the band's punk rock origins, although there are traces of the heavier grunge sound that dominated their later work.
Jennifer Finch is an American musician, designer, and photographer most notable for being the primary bass player of the punk rock band L7. Active in L7 from 1986 to 1996, Finch also wrote music and performed with her bands OtherStarPeople and The Shocker in the interim before joining the reunited L7 in 2014.
Hungry for Stink is the fourth studio album by L7, released in July 1994 by Slash Records. The album peaked at number 117 on the Billboard 200 chart, as well as number 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.
Smell the Magic is the second studio album by American rock band L7, released in 1990 by Sub Pop. Originally issued as a 12" EP containing only the first six songs, it was reissued on CD in July 1991, expanded to album length with three more tracks: "Packin' a Rod," "Just Like Me," and "American Society." The opening track "Shove" was released as the band's first single.
The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum is the fifth studio album by American rock band L7, released on February 25, 1997, by Slash Records in collaboration with Reprise Records. It was recorded at Conway Recording Studios in Hollywood and Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. The band recorded most of the album as a trio formed by founding members Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner, and longtime drummer Demetra Plakas, following the departure of bassist Jennifer Finch. The album marks a departure from the tough rock style of its predecessors to a slower and more adventurous style.
Slap-Happy is the sixth studio album by the American rock band L7. It was released on August 24, 1999, by Bong Load Records in collaboration with Wax Tadpole Records, an independent record label that the band formed after being dropped by Reprise Records in 1997. L7 recorded the album as a trio formed by founding members Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner, and longtime drummer Demetra Plakas, following the departure of bassist Gail Greenwood. It was made with a low budget and produced by the band and their friend Brian Haught.
Album – Generic Flipper is the debut studio album by the noise rock band Flipper. It was released in April 1982 through Subterranean Records. It is also referred to as Album, Album: Generic, Generic Flipper and just Generic. It was issued on CD for the first time by American Recordings in 1992 and later deleted. In 2008, the rights reverted to Flipper, and the album was reissued on December 9, 2008, by Water Records. Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who joined Flipper in 2006, contributed liner notes to the new reissue.
Lunachicks are an American punk rock band from New York City. The band formed in 1987 and had been on hiatus since 2001, with the band reuniting in 2019. The band cited influences including the Ramones, Kiss, and the MC5.
Demetra Plakas is an American musician, best known for being the drummer in the rock band L7.
Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments was L7 co-founder Donita Sparks' solo project. The band also featured Alan Santalesa on guitar, Dat Ngo on bass, and former L7 drummer Demetra Plakas on drums.
Suzanne Gardner is an American musician and creative director best known for being a guitarist, vocalist, and co-founder of the rock band L7.
"Pretend We're Dead" is a 1992 song by American all-female rock band L7, from the album Bricks Are Heavy. It was written by Donita Sparks. It was the first single from Bricks Are Heavy and achieved moderate international success. It spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, peaking at #8. It also reached #21 on the UK Singles Chart and charted in Belgium and Australia.
The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often cited as the first true punk rock band. Although they had never achieved significant commercial success, the band is seen today as highly influential in punk culture.
This is the discography of the American rock band L7.
Women of Rock Oral History Project is an oral history project based at Smith College focusing on American women and gender non-conforming, LGBT, and feminist rock and roll and punk music musicians from the 1970s to the present.
"Shove" is a 1990 song by all-female rock band L7, from the album Smell the Magic. The cover photo was shot by notable music photographer Charles Peterson.
Scatter the Rats is the seventh studio album by American rock band L7, released on May 3, 2019, through Blackheart Records. It is the band's first album in almost 20 years, following the band's 2014 reunion. It has received positive reviews.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
