Biography
Susanna Hoffs first gained widespread recognition through her role in the Bangles, a power pop outfit that emerged from Los Angeles' Paisley Underground before climbing into the Top 40 via "Manic Monday," the Prince composition she delivered for the ensemble. She handled the majority of lead vocals across the group's major successes, delivering the final sections on both "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Hazy Shade of Winter" while fronting "Walking Down Your Street," "In Your Room," and "Eternal Flame," which set the stage for her initial solo venture with the 1991 album When You're a Boy. Commercial results proved limited for both that project and its self-titled 1996 follow-up, prompting a return to the guitar-driven pop she favored most, beginning with the Bangles' 2003 reunion on Doll Revolution and continuing through multiple covers collections recorded with Matthew Sweet across the 2000s and 2010s. By the 2020s she had restarted her solo path with Bright Lights and The Deep End, two releases that revisited material from favored songwriters.
Born in Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1959, Hoffs grew up with a physician father, Joshua Hoffs, and a mother, Tamar Simon Hoffs, who worked as a screenwriter and film director. The middle child among three siblings, she learned guitar alongside her brothers and sisters from an uncle who performed folk music and crafted dulcimers. Her early listening centered on classic AM radio pop along with introspective, folk-rooted performers such as Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt; although she enjoyed singing in family and social settings, acting and dance initially drew stronger interest, including a minor part in the 1978 independent feature Stony Island, an acclaimed film co-written by her mother, before she enrolled as a ballet student at UC Berkeley.
Exposure to albums by the Ramones, Blondie, and Talking Heads from her older brother, combined with witnessing Patti Smith live in San Francisco, quickly shifted her toward new wave, leading her to assemble an informal group with her sibling and neighborhood acquaintance David Roback on guitar. Though short-lived, the trio produced living-room demos that encouraged her to start a band. Traces of those early recordings surface on the 1984 album Rainy Day, assembled by Roback once he led the respected Paisley Underground group Rain Parade, where Hoffs supplies distinctive lead vocals on renditions of the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror" and Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It with Mine."
Seeking compatible players, Hoffs responded to an advertisement in the L.A. weekly The Recycler during late 1980 and connected with guitarist Vicki Peterson and her sister Debbi Peterson on drums; the three bonded over '60s-influenced pop and rock, and the Petersons admired Hoffs' singing. They initially called the band the Colours, which soon became the Bangs before adopting the Bangles name following legal pressure from another act using the former title. The Bangles reached genuine superstardom in the '80s, achieving two multi-platinum albums (1986's Different Light and 1988's Everything) along with several hit singles such as "Manic Monday," "Walk Like an Egyptian," and "Eternal Flame," yet rising fame brought internal strains, intensified by media emphasis on Hoffs as the group's focal point. Despite shared songwriting and vocal duties among all four members, Hoffs attracted the bulk of attention as primary lead singer, and her casting in The Allnighter, a comedy written and directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs, placed her at the center of the film's promotional efforts, further disrupting band equilibrium. The Bangles disbanded by the close of 1989.
Hoffs issued her first solo album, When You're a Boy (its title drawn from David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging," which she covered), in 1991; "My Side of the Bed" garnered consistent MTV rotation and peaked at number 30 on the Hot 100. She married film director Jay Roach in 1993, and the couple welcomed their first child two years later. Her self-titled second solo album arrived in 1996 to positive critical response, with lead single "All I Want" reaching number 77 on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1997 she joined Matthew Sweet, Christopher Ward, and Mike Myers to create Ming Tea, a fictional British rock band featured in Jay Roach's comedy Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, contributing the track "BBC" to the soundtrack. Ming Tea developed a modest cult following after the film's success and reappeared in its two sequels.
Beyond performing "The Look of Love" and "What's It All About, Alfie" for the Powers films, Hoffs reassembled the Bangles to cut "Get the Girl" for 1999's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; the group then toured and returned to the studio for the new album Doll Revolution in 2003. (The title referenced Elvis Costello's "Tear Off Your Own Head [It's a Doll Revolution]," and Costello, pleased with Hoffs' vocal on their version, invited her to perform it at a concert later documented on his 2011 live album Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!)
Hoffs and her Ming Tea colleague Matthew Sweet collaborated in 2006 on the duet album Under the Covers, Vol. 1, interpreting 15 '60s pop classics. The project received strong reviews, leading to Under the Covers, Vol. 2 in 2009, which centered on '70s material. They also performed live as Sid 'n' Susie, a nod to Sweet's Ming Tea persona Sid Belvedere. (Hoffs' Ming Tea character was the distinctly British Gillian Shagwell.) The pair reconvened in the studio when Sweet produced the Bangles' 2011 album Sweetheart of the Sun. Hoffs delivered her third solo effort, Someday, in 2012, largely comprising songs co-written with guitarist and songwriter Andrew Brassell. The following year she reunited with Sweet for Under the Covers, Vol. 3, covering '80s pop songs.
She revived her solo work with the 2021 album Bright Lights, spotlighting interpretations of classic singer-songwriters including Emitt Rhodes, Nick Drake, Chris Bell, and Michael Nesmith; Aimee Mann joined her on a take of Pete Ham's "Name of the Game." A further covers collection, The Deep End, followed in 2023, spotlighting material associated with the Rolling Stones, Lesley Gore, and Squeeze.
Born in Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1959, Hoffs grew up with a physician father, Joshua Hoffs, and a mother, Tamar Simon Hoffs, who worked as a screenwriter and film director. The middle child among three siblings, she learned guitar alongside her brothers and sisters from an uncle who performed folk music and crafted dulcimers. Her early listening centered on classic AM radio pop along with introspective, folk-rooted performers such as Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt; although she enjoyed singing in family and social settings, acting and dance initially drew stronger interest, including a minor part in the 1978 independent feature Stony Island, an acclaimed film co-written by her mother, before she enrolled as a ballet student at UC Berkeley.
Exposure to albums by the Ramones, Blondie, and Talking Heads from her older brother, combined with witnessing Patti Smith live in San Francisco, quickly shifted her toward new wave, leading her to assemble an informal group with her sibling and neighborhood acquaintance David Roback on guitar. Though short-lived, the trio produced living-room demos that encouraged her to start a band. Traces of those early recordings surface on the 1984 album Rainy Day, assembled by Roback once he led the respected Paisley Underground group Rain Parade, where Hoffs supplies distinctive lead vocals on renditions of the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror" and Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It with Mine."
Seeking compatible players, Hoffs responded to an advertisement in the L.A. weekly The Recycler during late 1980 and connected with guitarist Vicki Peterson and her sister Debbi Peterson on drums; the three bonded over '60s-influenced pop and rock, and the Petersons admired Hoffs' singing. They initially called the band the Colours, which soon became the Bangs before adopting the Bangles name following legal pressure from another act using the former title. The Bangles reached genuine superstardom in the '80s, achieving two multi-platinum albums (1986's Different Light and 1988's Everything) along with several hit singles such as "Manic Monday," "Walk Like an Egyptian," and "Eternal Flame," yet rising fame brought internal strains, intensified by media emphasis on Hoffs as the group's focal point. Despite shared songwriting and vocal duties among all four members, Hoffs attracted the bulk of attention as primary lead singer, and her casting in The Allnighter, a comedy written and directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs, placed her at the center of the film's promotional efforts, further disrupting band equilibrium. The Bangles disbanded by the close of 1989.
Hoffs issued her first solo album, When You're a Boy (its title drawn from David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging," which she covered), in 1991; "My Side of the Bed" garnered consistent MTV rotation and peaked at number 30 on the Hot 100. She married film director Jay Roach in 1993, and the couple welcomed their first child two years later. Her self-titled second solo album arrived in 1996 to positive critical response, with lead single "All I Want" reaching number 77 on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1997 she joined Matthew Sweet, Christopher Ward, and Mike Myers to create Ming Tea, a fictional British rock band featured in Jay Roach's comedy Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, contributing the track "BBC" to the soundtrack. Ming Tea developed a modest cult following after the film's success and reappeared in its two sequels.
Beyond performing "The Look of Love" and "What's It All About, Alfie" for the Powers films, Hoffs reassembled the Bangles to cut "Get the Girl" for 1999's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; the group then toured and returned to the studio for the new album Doll Revolution in 2003. (The title referenced Elvis Costello's "Tear Off Your Own Head [It's a Doll Revolution]," and Costello, pleased with Hoffs' vocal on their version, invited her to perform it at a concert later documented on his 2011 live album Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!)
Hoffs and her Ming Tea colleague Matthew Sweet collaborated in 2006 on the duet album Under the Covers, Vol. 1, interpreting 15 '60s pop classics. The project received strong reviews, leading to Under the Covers, Vol. 2 in 2009, which centered on '70s material. They also performed live as Sid 'n' Susie, a nod to Sweet's Ming Tea persona Sid Belvedere. (Hoffs' Ming Tea character was the distinctly British Gillian Shagwell.) The pair reconvened in the studio when Sweet produced the Bangles' 2011 album Sweetheart of the Sun. Hoffs delivered her third solo effort, Someday, in 2012, largely comprising songs co-written with guitarist and songwriter Andrew Brassell. The following year she reunited with Sweet for Under the Covers, Vol. 3, covering '80s pop songs.
She revived her solo work with the 2021 album Bright Lights, spotlighting interpretations of classic singer-songwriters including Emitt Rhodes, Nick Drake, Chris Bell, and Michael Nesmith; Aimee Mann joined her on a take of Pete Ham's "Name of the Game." A further covers collection, The Deep End, followed in 2023, spotlighting material associated with the Rolling Stones, Lesley Gore, and Squeeze.
Albums
The Lost Record
2024
The Deep End
2023
Under My Thumb
2023
Bright Lights
2021
Under The Covers, Vol. 3
2013
Someday
2012
Under The Covers Vol. 2
2009
Under the Covers, Vol. 1
2006
Under The Covers Vol. 1
2006
Susanna Hoffs
1996
When You're A Boy
1991
Singles
