Suzi Quatro reflects on the price of fame in Aussie-produced feature doc

Suzi Quatro.

Four years in the making, producer Tait Brady and director Liam Firmager are in fine cut of their theatrical feature documentary on rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer Suzi Quatro.


Suzi Q charts the career of the Detroit-born, UK-based singer/songwriter/bassist/bandleader/actor Susan Kay Quatro, hailed as the first female rocker to break through into the mainstream.

“It’s quite personal, an essay on the price of fame,” Brady tells IF. “We look at her marriage and divorce, her children and sibling rivalry.”

Film Victoria is an investor in the doc produced by Brady’s The Acme Film Company, which he will release later this year via Label Distribution.

The international sales agent Kew Media began pre-sales at the European Film Market in Berlin, with deals to be announced.

Firmager met Quatro via a mutual connection when she was touring Australia four years ago. She agreed to take part in initial filming and the director then approached Brady.

The doc features concert footage, archival material and interviews with Alice Cooper, Deborah Harry, Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth, Joan Jett, The Runaways’ Cherie Currie, Henry Winkler, KT Tunstall, Australian-born record-producer /songwriter Mike Chapman, numerous members of the musical Quatro family and more.

“Everyone feels very warmly about Suzi; people went to great lengths to fit us in,” Brady says.

“She is an overlooked female pioneer in the US, where she did not have the level of success she has had here and in the UK and Europe. We would love the film to re-position her in the rock pantheon and help her to break back in North America.”

One of the hardest working acts in the business, she has more than 100 shows already scheduled for this year and her new album will be released this month.

The executive producers are Stephanie Stevenson, Jason Byrne and Shaun Miller. Sara Edwards is the editor and Emma Bortignon is the sound designer.

Brady plans to release the film to tie in with her Australian tour in November.

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