Fanny Returns to Rock, Sharing the Power of Music

She thinks some people couldn’t understand Fanny because audiences or critics didn’t want substantial content. “They wanted to see us as kind of airheads who would fulfill their fantasies of whatever. … But we were trying to communicate intelligent rock.”

June Millington pointed to the band’s song “Soul Child,” written mostly by Jean Millington, that talked about taking the contraceptive pill. “She’s talking to the issues of the day,” and the people wanted mindless content from them.

Recognition in their 70s

Now that they’re in their 70s, there is renewed interest in the band. They’re performing in California, including during CAAMFest at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco on May 20. The PBS debut of the documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock will air May 22.

The band is thrilled with its resurgence, particularly at this stage in their lives.

Jean Millington, left, June Millington and Brie Darling ride in a convertible in California after the release of “Fanny Walked the Earth.”

Bobbi Jo Hart

“It’s like the cherry on top,” says Quatro, 75, “like a big surprise at our age, and I think it’s wonderful.”

“Where else are you going to find rockers our age,” says June Millington, 75, “who are being celebrated for not only having done it but still able to do it. … I’m so glad that we’re again pioneers, this time, you know, on the cutting edge of ageism.”

Darling, 73, has been playing music since she was 14. She still feels involved as a senior in the rock business.

“When I was young, I thought I wasn’t old enough,” she says. “And then when I started getting older, I thought maybe I would get too old. But really, I think that as long as you have the burn to do it, it’s out there.” 

Music and the mind

Music keeps them going and helps with their well-being. According to 2020 AARP research, casual and focused music listeners “had slightly higher average scores for mental well-being and slightly reduced levels of anxiety and depression compared to people overall.”

For de Buhr, 73, “there’s no feeling in the world like getting up on a stage with other musicians that you know and you trust and you respect and you’ve worked hours and hours and hours with and you deliver that song or that set.”

Jean Millington, 73, agrees. “Music transports you to a different place. It takes you out of the humdrum. … You’re just in a different place when you’re in the force of the music.”

Not only does playing music benefit these musicians’ well-being, they also believe in the power of music to protect memories.

De Buhr keeps her brain active by doing crossword puzzles and reading. She likes being able to figure out what a word or sentence means. “And then to sit down again at the drums in 50 years and get my right foot to remember what it’s supposed to do in a shuffle, when my right hand is doing something else, my left foot is doing something else, my left hand is doing something else and my right foot is going, ‘What about me? What am I supposed to do.’ You know, that’s the brain exercise for me.”

“I can tell you one thing that [music] does for everybody: It causes the left and right brain to work better together,” June Millington says. “If somebody is losing their memory, if you play them something that they loved in their youth, all those memories come flooding back. It’s also memory retention held within the cup of music.”

Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 18, 2023. It has been updated to correct Alice de Buhr's age. She is 73.