Fanny was an all-female rock group active in the early to mid 1970s. The group was founded by sisters June Millington (guitar) and Jean Millington (bass), who moved from the Philippines to California in the early 1960s.

The Millington sisters joined Wild Honey, an all-female rock band founded by drummer Alice de Buhr. Wild Honey planned to disband after one final open-mic appearance at the Troubadour Club in 1969. However, the secretary of prominent music producer Richard Perry spotted Wild Honey at this gig.

Perry convinced Warner Bros. Records to sign the group to Reprise Records. The label signed Wild Honey without hearing them play, as it regarded them as a novelty act. Prior to recording their first album, the band recruited keyboardist Nickey Barclay. Wild Honey was renamed Fanny for their first album Fanny.

Here is Fanny performing the title cut from their second album Charity Ball on the Sonny & Cher TV show.

As you can see, the members of Fanny were crack musicians. So why didn’t these women get the fame that they deserved for their musicianship? I’ve read comments on their YouTube videos and some blame anti-Asian hate due to the Millington sisters’ Filipino origins.

I think that the reason that Fanny didn’t get the fame and accolades that they deserved is that they were considered a novelty act and people weren’t ready for a hard rocking all-female band. Remember, this was before The Runaways, The Go-Gos, and The Bangles.

Sources:

Charity Ball. (2015). [Video]. Retrieved 7 June 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD9NjN5_nxQ.

Fanny (band) – Wikipedia. En.wikipedia.org. (2021). Retrieved 7 June 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_(band).

PS You can find other videos of Fanny on the Beat Club YouTube channel. Unfortunately, I can’t embed the Beat Club videos in my blog. 😔