Charlotte Irene Caffey is an American rock and roll guitarist and songwriter born on October 21, 1953 in Santa Monica, California. She is best known for her work in an all-female American rock and roll group “Go-Go’s”.
Charlotte Caffey is currently working with “Go-Go’s” and sometimes performs in ‘Ze Malibu Kids’ project with her daughter Astrid and husband Jeff McDonald, former member of the rock band ‘Redd Kross’.
Charlotte Caffey is the daughter of ‘Michael Caffey’, who is a television director and has directed shows like ‘Wonder Woman’ in 1976, ‘CHiPs’ in 1977 and ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ in 1979. Charlotte Caffey formed the “Go-Go’s” in 1978 in Los Angeles with Jane Wiedlin on guitar/vocals, Elissa Bello on drums, Belinda Carlisle on vocals and Margot Oliveira on bass. The band initially started playing in clubs and in the late 1979; the band recorded a 5-song demo at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles. The group supported the English pop/ska band ‘Madness’ in England and Los Angeles in 1979 and 1980. Two new members joined the band, Gina Schock who replaced Bello on drums and Kathy Valentine who replaced Margot Olaverraed on bass. In April 1981, the band signed to I.R.S Records. In the early 1982, the bands single albums like ‘Beauty and the Beat’, ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ and the new version of ‘We Got the Beat’ were exceedingly popular in North America.
Charlotte Caffey has been the lead guitarist in the ‘Go-Go’s” under the name ‘The Misfits’. To top the album charts of American magazine ‘Billboard’, Go-Go’s played their own instruments and wrote their own songs which made rock history as the first all-woman band. The band was playing all genres like surf, pop-punk, new wave, rock and power pop. The bands recognition increased in the early 1980s and their debut album ‘Beauty and the Beat’ released in 1981. The album was at number one position for the six weeks on the ‘Billboard 200’ chart.
Charlotte Caffey formed a new band ‘The Graces’ after the dissolution of Go-Go’s in 1985. The new band included Meredith Brooks and Gia Ciambotti on vocals which released one album ‘Perrfect View’ in 1989.
Charlotte Caffey rejoined with the former members of “Go-Go’s” in 1994 and released the album ‘God Bless the Go-Go’s’ in 2001.
DISCOGRAPHY:
- ‘Beauty and the Beat’ and ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ in 1981
- ‘Vacation’, ‘We Got the Beat’, ‘Get Up and Go’ and ‘He’s So Strange’ in 1982
- ‘Talk Show’, ‘Head Over Heels’, ‘Turn to You’ and ‘Yes or No’ in 1984
- ‘Greatest’ 1990
- ‘Cool Jerk’ in 1991
- ‘Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's’ and ‘The Whole World Lost Its Head’ in 1994
- ‘VH1 Behind the Music: Go-Go's Collection’ in 2000
- ‘God Bless the Go-Go's’ and ‘Unforgiven’ in 2001