Silke Berlinn

Silke Berlinn, a "proto-punk" vocalist known for her broad-ranging vocal style, has been called “the Janis Joplin of punk rock” and has been compared with Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes and Tina Turner. She was singing in church choirs at the age of six. At age fifteen, when forbidden to join a band in NYC, she left home and hitchhiked to California. Upon her arrival in San Francisco, she was instantly recruited to sing in well-known blues bands (she was an unusual commodity: a white