The Women’s Music Movement saw success in the 1970s and carried that momentum forward into the 80s. A great celebration of the previous decade’s success was held at Carnegie Hall in 1982, which marked a high point of the movement. The event at Carnegie Hall brought together women from all over the world to share in an evening of music. While the event at Carnegie emphasized the reach of women’s music, the Golden Age eventually came to an end. Despite this end, women continued to use music as activism.
A Celebration of Success
The Early to Mid-1980s
In addition to solo artists, musicians formed groups like the all women’s chorus Vox Femina and bands, like the all-women big band group Maiden Voyage. The band featured musicians Betty O’Hara, Louise Baptist, Stacy Rowles, Kathy Rubbico, and percussionist Judy Chilnick.1 Chilnick was later involved in other projects in women’s music, playing on Holly Near’s Imagine My Surprise as well as playing percussion at Meg Christian and Cris Williamson’s Carnegie Hall concert in 1982.
Having interacted with so many in her time as a musician, Chilnick reflected on her relationship to the other musicians she performed with during her time in women’s music:
1982
On the night of November 26, 1982, women from across the world gathered in one of America’s premier music venues, Carnegie Hall, for the show of a lifetime. The two big names in women’s music, Meg Christian and Cris Williamson were set to play two shows in celebration of Olivia Records’ ten-year anniversary with over 5,500 people in attendance.2 The hall was filled with emotion that night.
That night, a group of talented women musicians filled the venue with sound. Judy Chilnick on percussion, Tret Fure on electric guitar, Diane Lindsay on bass, Jackie Robbins on cello, Adrienne Torf on keyboards, Jeanette Wrate on drums, and Shelby Flint, Vicki Randle, and Linda Tillery on supporting vocals. The concert was produced by Betty Rowland with the assistance of Tret Fure.
In just ten years, women’s music had grown its community into a movement and this night served to commemorate that achievement. Both artist and audience alike shared a connection through the music.
I’m someone who always thought, if this is my last gig, it’ll be the greatest thing I ever did
Judy Chilnick
The concert had a lasting impact on those involved. Percussionist Judy Chilnick recounts that the concert was an experience like no other.
The concert was symbolic of the success that the movement had achieved in the ten years since the founding of Olivia Records.
Want to see more material about Meg and Cris at Carnegie Hall?
1983-1989
The Women’s Music Movement highlighted women’s talents and gave them a space to work to showcase musical skills. Nonetheless, outside factors. contributed to the end to a widespread Women’s Music Movement. The music that the women of the Golden Age were producing was not profitable, with many musicians relying on day jobs or partners’ incomes.3 Many artists of the Golden Age also began to retire.3 For others, like Chilnick, their careers took them in different directions.
Olivia Records, once the cornerstone of women’s music, transitioned to a new kind of business, Olivia Travel, a company that organizes cruises for LGBTQ+ individuals and couples where some artists from the Golden Age occasionally make guest performances.5
Reflecting on the changing scene, Holly Near expressed optimism: ““If what we want to see as older women is ourselves looking younger, it’s not going to happen. But that would mean that time had stood still, and we would ultimately be bored and disappointed by our clones and I think that it’s very exciting what will come next.”4 The Golden Age may have come to its end, but women did not stop using music as a platform of advocacy.
Further Reading
- Radical Harmonies – A documentary about Women’s Music
- How Should We Archive the Soundtrack to 1970s Feminism? – Smithsonian Magazine
- The Archive on this site
Bibliography
1Pool, Jeannie Gayle. The Story of the All-Women’s Orchestras in California. Jaygayle Music Books, 2020.
2“Subject Files: Music, Olivia Records,” 1977-1988, box 12, folder 17, Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance Archives, ca. 1972-1994, Duke University Library, GALE|IRQSDR160662503.
3Morris, Bonnie J. The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2016.
4Radical Harmonies, 2002. https://vimeo.com/399289012.
5“Olivia | Entertainment.” Accessed February 27, 2023. https://www.olivia.com/our-entertainment.