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51% #1610: Kathy Valentine From The Go-Go's Talks About Her Memoir

On this week’s 51%, she was the bassist for the Go-Go’s. We spend the show with Kathy Valentine, who has written a memoir and a soundtrack.

At age 21, Kathy Valentine was in the iconic venue The Whisky in Los Angeles when she met a guitarist from a then fledgling band called the Go-Go’s. The band needed a bassist. Enter Valentine. The Go-Go’s became the first multi-platinum-selling, all-female band to play instruments themselves, write their own songs, and have a number-one album. Their debut album, “Beauty and the Beat,” spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 and featured the hit songs “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed.” 

For Valentine, the band’s success was the fulfillment of a dream but, it’s only part of her story. She’s written “All I Ever Wanted: A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir.” It traces the path that took her from her childhood in Texas, where she all but raised herself, to the height of rock ‘n roll stardom, devastation after the collapse of the band that had come to define her, and the quest to regain her sense of self in the aftermath. The book, with its accompanying soundtrack, was released March 31, but the COVID-19 crisis put the brakes on her ensuing book tour. She’s been holding events virtually.

Kathy Valentine’s book is “All I Ever Wanted: A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir.” It has a soundtrack that includes her song “Just Do It.” 

That’s our show for this week. Thanks to Tina Renick for production assistance. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock. Our theme music is Glow in the Dark by Kevin Bartlett. This show is a national production of Northeast Public Radio. If you’d like to hear this show again, sign up for our podcast, or visit the 51% archives on our web site at wamc.org. And follow us on Twitter @51PercentRadio

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