BIOGRAPHY – Sister

Long before finding fame as the intimidating and eccentric frontman of theatrical metal group W.A.S.P., Blackie Lawless made a name for himself around Los Angeles during the 1970s with a local band called Sister. Born Steven Duren on September 4th, 1956, Lawless was given his first guitar at the age of nine and by the age of sixteen he was performing along the east coast with a group called Black Rabbit. After a stint in another band called Orfax Rainbow, Lawless was hired by The New York Dolls as a temporarily replacement for Johnny Thunders and appeared on stage with the band for just two shows in Florida. Along with bassist Arthur Kane, Lawless (using the stage name Blackie Goozeman) relocated from New York to Los Angeles to form the short-lived Killer Kane, a project that would result in one single, Mr. Cool.

Whilst at the Starwood in Hollywood in 1976, Lawless was introduced to a young guitarist called Roddy Piper and the two began to discuss music, eventually leading to them forming the group Sister. During the mid-1970s, there was only Alice Cooper and Kiss (guitarist Ace Frehley had been a close friend of Lawless when they were younger) who were known for their extravagant stage shows and Lawless wanted an image and performance that would make them stand out from the other struggling LA bands. Lawless decided to incorporate various occult symbols into the group, most notably the pentagram, which would later be taken by several other groups, most notably Mötley Crüe. Lawless and Piper began to write and practice together at a studio on Gower Street but by 1977 the line-up had begun to disintegrate and Lizzie Grey was brought in as a guitarist. As legend has it, Lawless discovered his next guitarist, Chris Holmes, after looking through an issue of Penthouse where, in the back section entitled Beaver Hunt, there was a picture of a scary-looking blonde man with the tagline ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal.’

Around this time, a teenager called Frank Ferrana had recently moved to Los Angeles and had begun working in a variety of jobs whilst attempting to put a band together. Having met Grey several times at the Starwood, Ferrana was invited to join Sister as the new bassist, but he soon found himself regularly clashing horns with Lawless and was eventually fired, along with Grey, and the two decided to form their own group, London. After renaming himself Nikki Sixx, Ferrara went on to create Mötley Crüe and borrowed several aspects of Sister‘s image for their first two albums. Lawless soon found that his band was falling apart and started another band, Circus Circus, before joining forces with Piper to form W.A.S.P. The initial line-up consisted of bassist Rik Fox and drummer Tony Richards, but Fox was soon fired and went on to perform with a then-unknown Yngwie Malmsteen in Steeler.

Holmes was soon brought on board and the band began to gain a name for themselves at clubs like Troubador, mainly due to their stage shows including raw meat being thrown into the crowd. Having been ‘discovered’ by Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood, W.A.S.P. were signed to Capitol and their debut single, Animal (Fuck Like A Beast), caused controversy when it became a target of Tipper Gore’s newfly-formed Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). Throughout the 1980s, W.A.S.P. became one of the biggest metal bands in Los Angeles and enjoyed major success with tracks such as L.O.V.E. Machine, Wild Child, Scream Until You Like It (from the movie Ghoulies II) and Forever Free.