Vixen

Vixen rose to prominence as an all-female American outfit devoted to melodic hard rock infused with glam and pop-metal stylings. In the final stretch of the 1980s and the first years of the following decade, the quartet notched commercial victories via the singles “Edge of a Broken Heart,” “Cryin’,” and “How Much Love,” each of which received extensive MTV exposure. Their momentum diminished amid the grunge and alternative surge, prompting repeated breaks and personnel shifts, yet the band persisted in crafting fresh material and mounting tours well into the new millennium. They navigated repeated setbacks, most devastatingly the loss of founder and guitarist Jan Kuehnemund in 2013. The surviving members of the classic configuration—Janet Gardner, Roxy Petrucci, and Share Pedersen—chose to continue performing in her memory, eventually issuing the live album Live Fire in 2018 after an extensive road itinerary.

Jan Kuehnemund assembled the initial version of Vixen in St. Paul, Minnesota, though the ensemble did not finalize its name or stable roster until settling in Los Angeles during 1985. The lineup anchored by Janet Gardner on vocals, Roxy Petrucci on drums, Share Pedersen on bass, and Kuehnemund on guitar logged countless hours on the L.A. and Hollywood club circuit prior to inking a deal with EMI in 1987. Their self-titled debut surfaced the next year and moved millions of copies, driven in part by “Edge of a Broken Heart,” a composition credited to Richard Marx and Fee Waybill of the Tubes. Additional singles “Cryin’” and “Love Made Me” also registered on the charts, allowing the group to share bills with Bon Jovi, Scorpions, and Ozzy Osbourne. Vixen’s follow-up, Rev It Up, arrived in 1990 and contained further radio-friendly fare such as the hit “How Much Love,” yet the ascendance of Nirvana and Pearl Jam rendered the band unfashionable, leading to an official split in 1992.

Reformation attempts surfaced in 1997 when Gardner, Petrucci, and guitarist Gina Stile convened to deliver the third studio effort, Tangerine, through CMC International. That revival proved fleeting. Kuehnemund reconstituted the project in 2002, bringing aboard Lynn Louise Lowrey on bass, Kat Kraft on drums, and Jenna Sanz-Agero on vocals; the new configuration later documented a Sweden Rock Festival appearance on Extended Versions and released the studio album Live & Learn in 2006, which earned a nomination for Best Album: Hard Rock/Metal at the 2007 Independent Music Awards. In 2012 Kuehnemund contacted Gardner, Petrucci, and Pedersen to explore a full reunion, only to receive a cancer diagnosis days before the announcement. She died on October 10, 2013. The subsequent year brought a series of domestic and international concerts featuring Gardner, Petrucci, Pedersen, and Stile, while 2018 saw the issuance of Live Fire, captured at Chicago’s Arcada Theater on the 2017 tour.