Read on Twitter
It's Honey Lantree's birthday, the "girl drummer" in the Joe-Meek-produced boy band The Honeycombs. She was a hairdresser who had never played the drums. She learned fast. Treated like a unicorn: no one could believe she was really drumming (speculation she was faking). Uh huh.
She was a total novelty at the time - the 60s - but there were those who were watching closely, understanding the magnitude/revelation. Karen Carpenter saw The Honeycombs on the Ed Sullivan Show and said Honey Lantree inspired her to become a drummer.
The Honeycombs were around for a minute and a half, but in the long run were basically a one-hit wonder. Their song "Have I the Right" went to #1 on the UK charts and #5 on the US charts.
Here are the Honeycombs performing their hit "Have I the Right?". The song still SLAPS (lead singer Denis D'Ell's "grrrrrr" before "COME RIGHT BACK" is ... freakin hot. Damn straight you "have the right", big boy.) Try to ignore the p*do introducing them.
Honey Lantree died in 2018.
And ... sorry, I just can't help it ...I love that in Elvis' 1966 movie SPINOUT, the drummer of his band is a woman - and it's not treated as a big deal - she's just one of the band - and I always wondered if she was Honey Lantree-inspired. Anyway, that's my Honey Lantree fanfic.
I posted this SPINOUT Honey-Lantree-fanfic on FB when Lantree died - and a woman left a comment saying that Honey Lantree AND the "girl" in Elvis' band in SPINOUT inspired her to become a drummer. Soooo ... you just never know what influence things may have. Discount nothing.
