Susanna Hoffs is an American pop singer-songwriter. She is most notably known as a founding member of the Bangles. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hoffs moved to Southern California as a child and spent many years as a cast member of the television show “Wide World of Action”. She moved to London in the early eighties and joined the Yardbirds, before going solo in the mid-eighties.
Susanna was twenty-one when she was in Los Angeles, CA, staying at a friend’s house while rehearsing for a gig at the Hollywood Bowl. While there, she met vocalist/composer/songwriter Janis Joplin, who invited her and two other women to his home for what would become the seminal rock band called The Yardbirds. When the Yardbirds broke up, Susanna and Joplin became founding members of The Bangles. Although their band name changed to The Bangles, their musical styles remain steady and consistent. The band reunited in the late eighties to celebrate its twentieth anniversary.
This article will focus on one of Susanna Hoffs best songs, “Under the Covers”. Although the song is not a cover of any particular song, it does have a significant connection to both the Bangles and Joplin. “Under the Covers” was released as an original single by the band in the early seventies, following the death of singer/songwriter Joplin. It was the first time that he had sung live since his untimely death.
Some people believe that the song was recorded another album by Joplin himself, entitled Under the Covers II. However, none of this has been verified. The song did go unreleased, instead being recorded by Mojo Records, for which Joplin had signed a contract but never received any royalties from. Susanna Hoffs believes that Joplin was not happy with the lack of support from Mojo and stopped recording there.
Susanna Hoffs has written extensively about her American Indian heritage, being of African, Native American, Mexican, Finnish and Portuguese descent. Her book, An American Woman, focused on the life of Genovesa, the beautiful women of the Plains. Tamar did not have an American Indian heritage, but many readers assume that she did. Tamar was born in Hawaii and moved to Colorado.
There is a popular urban myth about Susanna Hoffs that relates her relationship with Rod Stewart. According to this story, Susanna and Rod had a falling out, and Rod asked her to leave The Fleetwood Mac without explanation. Later that night, she drove up to the gates to the Mac cabin and refused to go inside, stating that she was going on a fishing trip. While some people might consider this to be a big nothing or a character flaw in the story, there is no evidence that it is true, and it was featured in an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show as one of the many myths that had been busted.
