Rock Follies/Rock Follies of 77
The Rock Follies followed the fortunes of singers Dee
(Julie Covington, who later went on to fame as Evita with Don't
Cry For Me Argentina), Anna (Charlotte Cornwell) and Q (Rula
Lenska), through the ruthless world of the music business with all
it's ups and downs.
The three girls initially meet up at a West End audition for a
1930s musical called Broadway Annie. Dee is working as a
magician's assistant, Anna is a "resting" actor and 'Q'
has been starring in skin flicks.
Fate brings them together and they become The Little Ladies,
dreaming of gigging at Wembley as the greatest female rock group
in the world.
The Little Ladies tour Britain singing in pubs, bingo halls,
discos and clubs, and when they earn an encore at Cambridge, they
know their plan is working. Meanwhile, Dee picks up a groupie who
becomes their roadie.
Following a number of ups and downs, the group meet Stavros
Kuklas, a Greek millionaire who has decided to diversify from
shipping into rock 'n' roll.
Stavros doesn't like their style,
their look, their clothes, their songs or their arrangements - but
he does like their raw material.
He has big plans, big ideas and an image change for the girls,
which results in them becoming a sensation at 'Idols' nightclub.
In the second series, Follies of '77, The Little Ladies
are managed by the dynamic and splendidly outrageous Kitty
Schreiber (Beth Porter), whose catchphrase is "Kray-Zee".
Hitting the recording studio, success becomes a reality for the
girls as the group score on Rock Box, a TV show, with their
single Welcome to the Follies of '77. And at the Electric
Empire they pack in the fans.
However, their success begins to create tensions, and Kitty has
her hands full trying to paper over the cracks. The girls are
briefly joined by a Welsh singer, Rox, making the group a quartet.
The Little Ladies celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee
with an electrifying tour and finally make it all the way to
Wembley. But as the show bit the dust, Anna discovers that her
voice had been re-recorded behind her back by Dee.
This show was very hip at the time - Drugs, sex, gays, the
whole seventies trip . . . and it was as exciting visually as it
often was musically. Dee and Anna were the only two who could
actually sing but Q looked fantastic!
The original Rock Follies series aired between February
24th and March 30th, 1976. The Follies of '77 series aired
between May 4th and June 8th, 1977.
Two albums of surprisingly good music from the series were
released. The songs on the albums were;
Sugar
Mountain Good
Behaviour
Stairway
Daddy
Lamplight The
Road Glenn Miller Is
Missing
Biba Nova
Talking Pictures
Hot Neon
Roller Coaster
Rock Follies
Follies of
'77
Struttin'
Ground Round
1 The Hype
Dee's Hype The Things You Have To
Do
The Band That Wouldn't
Die Wolf At
The Door Loose
Change Jubilee
OK?
Real Life.
A few years after The Rock Follies ended, the Americans
attempted to recreate the success with Three Girls Three.
It was described as "a variety show about the lives of three
cabaret-style singers". It did not translate well and was a
flop.
EPISODES
The Show Business | The Little Ladies | The Road | The Talking
Pictures | The Pounds Sterling | The Blitz
The Band Who Wouldn't Die | The Empire | The Hype | The Loony
Tunes | The Divorce | The Real Life
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