ICON | Kathy Marshall

Photo of Kathy Marshall, a.k.a. The Queen of Surf Guitar dueling with Eddie and The Showmen via The Sound of Surf.

"She was a 13 year old girl named Kathy Marshall. She didn't have her own band, but she did sit in with several of the top bands of the day. Kathy was a frequent member of legendary surf bands Eddie and the Showmen, The Blazers, and The Crossfires (who later became The Turtles). There were no releases with her guitar on them, but her double picking talent made quite a stir in those days. Her on-stage rivalry with Eddie Bertrand was a major draw during Eddie and the Showmen's peak year as house band at the Retail Clerk's Hall in 1964. Once, Kathy even played with Dick Dale. He introduced her, and then she broke into The Wedge. Her fire caused him to first step back and watch, then take off his guitar and stare, then finally throw up his hands and walk off stage."—Reverb Nation


[Thank you to Rebecca of Have Love, Will Travel for the intel!]

Comments

Thank you SO much for this post, Lizzie! I'm thrilled that more women will learn about Kathy's tremendous talent as a guitarist! She's MY type of tomboy, for sure! xo- Rebecca at Have Love, Will Travel
Anna said…
Is there any archived footage of her? I'd love to see this double picking madness, but can't find any videos.
Rebecca Crowther said…
I think there is, Anna, but as far as I can tell, it's not floating around the general web at this point. If you refer back to the link for "Sound of the Surf", an in-progress documentary film about the early surf music scene, it appears that some moving footage of Kathy exists and will be part of the doc! I can't wait!
Charlotte said…
I've never heard of this person before, but she sounds pretty awesome. I think I'm going to have to go and do some research now x
www.charlotteswebblog.co.uk

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