The Daughters of Eve
Dateline: Chicago, 1965. As in so many other parts of America, the windy city had an active music scene, inspired in part by the arrival of the Beatles, the emergence of Bob Dylan, and the popularity of folk musicians such as Joan Baez. Carl Bonafede, a local disc jockey and aspiring music impresario, sponsored weekly teen dances and promoted a variety of local musicians around the area. Bonafede had early success with a group of youngsters he managed who became known as The Buckinghams, and would go on to have major hit songs such as Kind of a Drag; Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; and Don’t You Care.
Looking to continue his success, Bonafede came up with the idea of putting together an all-girl band. Word spread among the local community and eventually four young gals – Judy Johnson, Marsha Tomal, Andrea (Andee) Levin, and Debi Pomeroy – were chosen to become the first ever all-girl rock-and-roll band in the Midwest. Their ages ranged from 14 to 16 years old. A conversation between Debi and her minister dad resulted in the band’s name: the Daughters of Eve.
The gals played local high school dances and quickly established a following. They may have been conceived as a gimmick, but as they grew in popularity, they played one-nighters in clubs around the Midwest and eventually, places as far away as Alabama. The young ladies toured for the next few years in a Dodge van with the name Daughters of Eve painted on the side. According to Debi Pomeroy, Bonafede took them shopping and outfitted them in garish outfits. Pomeroy adds: “We also had a couple of hot pants outfits that we teamed with mesh stockings and white Mary Jane shoes, and Nehru jacket and pants suits which were popular at the time. Later we wore purple and green bellbottoms with bright green turtleneck sweaters and bright green suede Beatle boots.”[1]
Unlike female singing groups, these gals could play! Judy sang and played lead guitar, Marsha sang and played guitar and keyboards, and Andrea was the original bassist. Pomeroy, who had never played drums until Bonafede convinced her to give it a try, was particularly impressive. Their songs were carefully selected cover tunes to showcase their talent. What really stood out were their beautiful voices, particularly the harmonization between Judy and Marsha. Their sound was a fabric of youthful energy, clear sweet vocals and teenage innocence woven into familiar, easy to digest songs – the kind of sound that reached out through the radio and likely captured the hearts of untold numbers of young men and boys.
The Daughters of Eve flirted with the big time. Perhaps they were a bit of a novelty, as one of the first all-girl bands, but there was something undeniably attractive about their sound. They opened for Janis Ian and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, and even crossed paths with a young Neil Diamond. All this, at a time when they couldn’t even listen to the headliners in the clubs where they played, because they were underaged!
The band’s success was relatively short-lived, however. Andrea left and was replaced by a couple of different bass players. In an era where having a career and raising a family must have been even more difficult than it is now, Judy and Marsha got married. The band soldiered on for a while, but by 1968, after releasing a dozen or so recordings in four short years, the Daughters of Eve were no more. Over the ensuing decades, this groundbreaking all-girl band faded into obscurity.
I must admit that I had never heard of them, nor their song Hey Lover, until recently. My 15-year-old daughter, who never misses an opportunity to hijack the car stereo system when we’re driving somewhere, plugged her phone in, and all of a sudden I was listening to something from a bygone era, clearly not her demographic. I loved it! Turns out that after 50-plus years, the Daughters of Eve and their song Hey Lover[2] had gone viral on TikTok and YouTube!
I’m not sure what surprised me more – that I, a (very) amateurish rock historian, had never heard of one of the first “all-girl” bands, or that my teenager turned me on to them. Regardless, my curiosity was piqued. What happened to these young ladies after their youthful brush with fame, so long ago? When their stint as the Daughters of Eve ended, I wondered if the gals embraced their return to relative anonymity, content after sowing their wild oats, or did they move on to greater glory?
Putting my Google-ing skills to use, I pieced together some information. Debi Pomeroy continued in the music industry, becoming a highly respected drummer, crossing paths with the likes of Frank Sinatra Jr., Jose Feliciano, Bobby Rydell, and Michael McDonald (who went on to The Doobie Brothers). Not much information was available online about the other band members, or their lives after they disbanded. Fifty-five years later, they would all be in their 70s now – were they still alive and well? Fortunately, I discovered a Facebook page devoted to the Daughters of Eve, and was happy to see that within the last few years, there were comments posted by all of the original members of the band.
I decided to take a chance, and reached out to Andrea Levin, the original bass player and most active poster. Suffice to say, I am glad I did – what a delightful and insightful lady! After she left the Daughters of Eve, Andrea joined another band for a time, and then settled nicely into a lifelong avocation as a music teacher. And in one of those full-circle life experiences, she is currently mentoring some promising young female artists and hopes to launch a successful career or two. Andrea retains her youthful energy and vigor, is a self-proclaimed “domestic goddess,” and sounds like she has a wonderful life with her husband, children, and grandkids.
Through Andrea I found out that all of the original band members eventually settled in California, except for Judy Johnson. Marsha, the guitarist/singer, became a practicing psychologist, and Debi supplements her musician’s income by working for the Department of Homeland Security. Judy still lives in the Chicago area. On a bittersweet note, the ladies found out that Carl Bonafede, their octogenarian former manager, capitalized on the recent re-discovery of Hey Lover by signing contracts with Spotify and other streaming media platforms, but did not include any of the band members in a profit-sharing arrangement. The band members briefly considered taking legal action, but sometimes taking no action is the wisest choice.
My distinct impression is that the band members remember the Daughters of Eve as a very special time in their lives. Andrea confided in me that they were all a bit tickled and amazed by their newfound popularity. Sadly, although a number of their audio recordings are available, no videos of the band seem to exist. But the band lives on in their memories. And as Andrea confessed, it doesn’t get much better than hearing her teenage grandsons brag about their cool grandma, who used to be in a band!
© 2021 L. Wechsler. All rights reserved.
[1] reference: Debi Pomeroy and Mick Patrick, The Web Archive
[2] Not to be confused with the song Hey Lover by LL Cool J. The song popularized by the Daughters of Eve and others was written by Don Covay and John Berry, R&B singer/songwriters who were members of the group “The Rainbows” and were responsible for many other hits in their day. But that’s another story….