The Steinettes
{{Short description|American a cappella doo-wop quartet}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = The Steinettes
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| origin = Greenwich Village, New York{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vQ4OAAAAIBAJ&pg=5343,369164&dq=health+robert-altman&hl=en|last=Clark|first=Roy Peter|title=Carol Burnett, Glenda Jackson ready to go to work on 'HEALTH'|date=1979-02-16|accessdate=2010-05-01|work=St. Petersburg Times|page=1-D}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=culaaVUuPhcC&q=Steinettes&pg=PA120|last=Trillin|first=Calvin|title=Family Man|page=120|isbn=0-374-52583-8|year=1999|accessdate=2010-05-01|publisher=Macmillan}}
| genre = A cappella, doo-wop
| years_active = 1978{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1979/07/02/1979_07_02_078_TNY_CARDS_000330844 |last=Trillin|first=Calvin|title=U.S. Journal: MANHATTAN - Discovering the Steinettes|date=1979-07-02|accessdate=2010-05-01|url-access=subscription |magazine=The New Yorker|publisher=Condé Nast Publications|page=78|volume=55|number=19–28}} – mid-1980s
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| current_members = Julie Janney{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/robertaltman00patr|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/robertaltman00patr/page/612 612]|quote=Steinettes.|last=McGilligan|first=Patrick|title=Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff|isbn=0-312-30467-6|year=1989|accessdate=2010-05-01|publisher=St. Martin's Press}}{{rp|612}}
Diane Shaffer{{rp|612}}
Nathalie Blossom{{rp|612}}
Patty Katz{{rp|612}}
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The Steinettes were an a cappella doo-wop street quartet{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/29/theater/theater-a-homily-on-women-priests-you-see-this-isn-t-so-bad.html?pagewanted=1|last=Niebuhr|first=Gustav|title=THEATER; A Homily on Women Priests: 'You See? This Isn't So Bad'|date=1995-10-29|accessdate=2010-05-01|work=The New York Times}} from Greenwich Village, New York, formed in 1978. The group appeared in HealtH{{rp|612}} and Popeye,{{rp|506}} two films from director Robert Altman that saw release in the early 1980s.
Career
Consisting of four actresses— Julie Janney, Diane Shaffer, Nathalie Blossom and Patty Katz—{{rp|612}} the Steinettes were formed in 1978 during a production at the Westbeth Theater. Another a cappella group, the Great American Dream, had been formed at this venue. Early on in their tenure, the quartet sang for donations at the Sheridan Square in Manhattan's West Village area. Eventually, they also served as a filler act for local comedian Phil Stein, and in 1981, they filled in for Rodney Dangerfield.{{Cite news|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/23017701/The-Stony-Brook-Press-Volume-2-Issue-22|last=Feibel|first=Larry|title=Respectless Rodney Repeats Record|date=1981-04-30|accessdate=2010-05-01|work=The Stony Brook Press|page=9|volume=11|number=22}}
The group contributed vocal performances to the score of Robert Altman's HealtH,{{rp|612}} completed in 1979{{Cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/650156742.html?dids=650156742:650156742&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+29%2C+1979&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=ALTMAN+IN+A+STATE+OF+%27HEALTH%27&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131170222/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/650156742.html?dids=650156742:650156742&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+29,+1979&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=ALTMAN+IN+A+STATE+OF+'HEALTH'&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 31, 2013 |last=McLeod|first=Michael J.|title=ALTMAN IN A STATE OF 'HEALTH'|date=1979-04-29|accessdate=2010-05-01|url-access=registration |work=Los Angeles Times|page=N1}} but shelved by 20th Century-Fox for over two years.{{Cite book|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|authorlink=Leonard Maltin|title=Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2008|chapter=Health|page=[https://archive.org/details/leonardmaltins2000leon/page/587 587]|isbn=978-0-451-22186-5|year=2007|publisher=Signet Books}} During the shoot, they were dressed in vegetable outfits.{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=u3MjAAAAIBAJ&pg=4611,3400308&dq=health+robert-altman&hl=en|last=Huisking|first=Charles|title=Regarding Robert Altman's 'Health'|date=1979-02-23|accessdate=2010-05-03|work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune|page=1-C}} A year later, they also appeared in another Altman production, Popeye.{{rp|506}}
In January 1982, Saturday Night Live film producer Neal Marshad produced and engineered a studio recording of twenty songs performed by The Steinettes in his studio at 295 West 4th Street in Greenwich Village in New York City.
During their existence, the Steinettes appeared in commercials for television and radio, as well as in nightclubs.{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Marisa|title=Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 1995|page=170|isbn=1-57525-035-7|year=1995|publisher=Smith and Kraus}} In 1985, they performed backing vocals on three tracks of a self-titled album by dance artist Robey.{{Cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Robey-Robey/release/1030804|title=Album information for Robey (Robey, 1985)|year=1985 |accessdate=2010-05-01|publisher=Discogs}} One of them was a version of "One Night in Bangkok" from the musical Chess, which peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1985.{{Cite magazine|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=robey|chart=all}}|title=Album information for One Night in Bangkok (Robey, 1996)|accessdate=2010-05-01|magazine=Billboard|publisher=VNU/Nielsen Business Media}}
Diane Shaffer, one of the Steinettes, became a playwright in 1995 with the religious piece Sacrilege.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hamptons.com/The-Arts/Performing-Arts/1030/Viva-La-Vida.html|title=Viva la Vida!|date=2006-07-26|accessdate=2010-05-01|publisher=Hamptons Online}} Another member, Julie Janney, became an actor by the late 1990s, starring in shows such as Ellen and Another World.{{Cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/46332841.html?dids=46332841:46332841&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+14%2C+1999&author=Gary+Dretzka%2C+Tribune+Staff+Writer&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=SEEING+DOUBLE+JULIE+JANNEY+MAKES+A+NAME+FOR+HERSELF+STANDING+IN+FOR+THE+STAR&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026134245/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/46332841.html?dids=46332841:46332841&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+14,+1999&author=Gary+Dretzka,+Tribune+Staff+Writer&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=SEEING+DOUBLE+JULIE+JANNEY+MAKES+A+NAME+FOR+HERSELF+STANDING+IN+FOR+THE+STAR&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 26, 2012|last=Dretzka|first=Gary|title=SEEING DOUBLE JULIE JANNEY MAKES A NAME FOR HERSELF STANDING IN FOR THE STAR|date=1999-11-14|accessdate=2010-05-01|url-access=registration |work=Chicago Tribune|page=9}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Discogs artist |artist = Steinettes, The }}
- {{IMDb name|id=0417823|name=Julie Janney}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0787305|name=Diane Shaffer}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0089346|name=Nathalie Blossom}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0441817|name=Patty Katz}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinettes}}
Category:A cappella musical groups
Category:American vocal groups