When word reached me that a 'live' tape of Cherry Vanilla's historic show at The Roxy U.K., at the height of the 1977 punk scene,exists, I felt like a long endless search had come to an end. I have known Vanilla since the mid 1970's and have been a soldier in the CV army from that point onward;her association with David Bowie as his public relations person during the Ziggy/ Aladdin Sane/ Pin Ups era, seems to have been a blessing and a curse for her. by representing Bowie, she would often lock horns with RCA Records, the label that signed Bowie, and those encounters would return to haunt her further down the road. Having served as an actress ,in the title role in Andy Warhol's play "Pork" when it hit London in the early 70's, Vanilla had aspirations of her own, to be on stage in an acting capacity,and ultimately to front a band, which she did.
Alongside Debbie Harry and Patti Smith,Cherry was one of the females present for the NYC punk explosion of the mid 70's; it was during one of her shows, at a club called On The Rox,where she was approached by Miles Copeland, an indie record label head from England, who asked her to do shows in England, where his brother's then unknown band, The Police would serve as her opening act and play her set as well. Vanilla said yes, and with her guitarist Louie Lepore and keyboard player Zecca Esquibel, she landed in England just as The Sex Pistols-Punk Scene erupted with worldwide side effects. She played the" NY weekend" at The Roxy as did Wayne County and The Electric Chairs, and Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers. Those shows were filmed by Don Letts for his now legendary "Punk Rock Movie"; footage of County and Thunders were included in the film; Vanilla with The Police did not; more on that in a moment.
RCA Records UK signed Vanilla to a worldwide deal, released her album "Bad Girl" and the single "The Punk" (the birthing moment for power pop/punk) and it was all downhill from there; RCA America refused to release the album or the single in the US. I personally got involved in this as I was management in Sam Goody's,a major East Coast record chain,and had lengthy discussions (and letters which I still have) regarding the failure of the worldwide deal to actually be worldwide; the folks she had locked horns with on behalf of Bowie were still there, and were not receptive, so a brilliant rocknroll album and an instantly catchy single were blockaded permanently.The Police, who had used Vanilla as a 'door opener',seemed to slam that door immediately, and became big powerful stars very quickly,which may be the reason why the footage was excluded from Letts' Punk movie.
Vanilla survived all this nonsense and thrives to this very day, but what also survived was a fan made tape of her opening night at The Roxy, with two thirds of The Police (Sting on bass, Stewart Copeland on drums) playing an amazing set with her, highlighting tracks from the "Bad Girl" album;(I Know How To Hook; Little Red Rooster;Foxy Bitch; Hard As A Rock: The Punk) and some carry overs from the NY days(Shake Some Ashes;White Chocolate;Tulsa); you can get a copy of the link to download this by sending your e mail address to dtmrcls@aol.com and tell him that Jimi sent you. If RCA has any business sense,they will make a deal to acquire this, clean it up and release it as a historic document of a moment in time, from a business standpoint, the breakthrough for the biggest act of the 1980's, The Police. As a Vanilla fan/ friend, I could care less about that aspect, I'm more excited to hear this big night for her in front of a receptive audience in the midst of one of the biggest movements to emerge in the rockandroll decades.
