The Ladybirds (also Ladybyrds) hailed from New Jersey in the mid-1960’s and were notorious for performing topless. Their nude shows got them into trouble in Jersey so they moved west and started gigging in Las Vegas and Hollywood’s infamous Blue Bunny Club. They got some international exposure (pun intended) when they appeared in the movie The Wild, Wild World Of Jayne Mansfield…
While they made their rep by being “the world’s first and only all-girl topless band”, they were actually decent (or indecent) musicians. They could play!
Image found at: Early Rock ‘n Psychobilly
Text found at: dangerousminds.net where music movies can be seen as well.
You’re right however they started in 67/68 (Danish line up). Does anyone know what’s become of the members Sussy, Valerie, Jacky and Michelle (not their real names)? Still playing, still living? Abroad?
Have no idea unfortunately 😉
Actually more than 130 members it seems! Probably there were more than one version of the band playing simultaneously. Some of the early members of the group have had long carreers in the music business, most notably one girl who were later in Miss B Haven, a famous 80’s girl group, also from Denmark.
There seems to be a lot of wrong info on the internet about this band – they were actually of Danish origin. Legendary manager Pierre Beauvais masterminded the group who were active for 20 years, from 64-84(!) and played all over the world, but never recorded. They had more than 50 members through the years though.
You all are a little misinformed about the history of the band(s). There were three bands known as the Ladybirds that all were actively performing during the 1960’s.
UK (est. 1962) – The Ladybirds of the United Kingdom performed on the Benny Hill show on a few occasions. They never performed topless.
DM (est. 1968) – The Ladybirds of Denmark gained a lot of notoriety and even toured in Europe at various venues. During September of 1968, the Ladybirds were one of the bands that opened for a little band called The New Yardbirds – a band that later change its name to Led Zeppelin. The ladies of this band would perform topless.
US (est. 1967) – The American Ladybirds were based out of New Jersey and were an adult entertainment act for clubs. Originally, these ladies did not know how to play instruments and would just pretend to play them. Eventually, they learned how to play well and moved their act to the west coast and even toured in Quebec, Canada. This band performed topless and is technically the first all female topless rock band.
Hope this information helps!
~Manny Calavera
Thanks a lot for the information Manny 🙂
No problem;over the past few years, I unintentionally have become a knowledgeable person in the area of study pertaining to the glamour, nudists and stripper gals of decades past. I am working on a written feature about these incredible ladies. Sadly, I am unable to find a lot of information on The Ladybirds.
A few nights ago I was looking around on Ebay for some collectible photos of Candy Earle and I stumbled upon a photo of the front lady for The Ladybirds and was intrigued by it. As of now, I believe I have located every photograph of this group and even a small video clip of them performing at the Blue Bunny club. I don’t know how many pages I can squeeze from all this info, but I am going to do my best to cover this footnote in history. I believe they deserve it. Who knows? Maybe the remaining members will come out of the woodwork and I could interview them. One could always hope. 😀
~Manny Calavera
I wish you all the luck on the project 🙂