SHE BOP

8 July - 3 November 2002
Bookshop Gallery Admission Free

This display brings together a definitive top-twenty of women in pop from the 1960s to the present day. From Marianne Faithfull and Dusty Springfield to Annie Lennox and Madonna, these pop icons and disco divas are represented by many of the great photographers of their time including Pennie Smith, Val Wilmer, Caroline Coon, Gered Mankovitz and Eric Watson.

The display opens with the 1960s including ex-convent school-girl Marianne Faithfull, the bare-footed Eurovision-winning Sandie Shaw and soul diva Dusty Springfield as representatives of female role models in a male-dominated era.

The 1970s saw the emergence of the career of leather-clad Suzi Quatro in l973 with her first hit Can the Can, photographed here by Allan Ballard, followed by the soulful Joan Armatrading first hitting the charts in 1976 with Love and Affection, the extraordinary voice and movements of Kate Bush bursting onto the scene with Wuthering Heights in l978 followed at the decade's end by Siousie Sioux and The Slits ushering female punk.

In contrast to this, the 1980s are marked by the sophistication of Sade seen in triplicate in Sheila Rock`s vertical triptych and the solo talent of Annie Lennox in her post Eurythmics career. Other more recent, such as P J Harvey, and long-lasting icons also included are "honorary Brits" through marriage or residence, such as Madonna, Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde.

This display is accompanied by a prequel in Room 31 with a display of 1950s Hit Parade stars including Winifred Attwell, Shirley Bassey, Alma Cogan, the Beverley Sisters and Petula Clark.

Lucy O'Brien is the author of two best-selling biographies Annie Lennox (1991) and Dusty Springfield (1989,1999) as well as being herself a member of an all-girl punk band early in her career. This display celebrates the publication of the updated second edition of her comprehensive survey She Bop II : The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul.

Publication
She Bop II : The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul by Lucy O`Brien is published by Continuum, 512pp, 50 illustrations, Price £16.99 available in the National Portrait Gallery Bookshop

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