She stormed charts in the 80s with her iconic all-female pop rock band and nearly four decades later Susanna Hoffs is still as vibrant as ever.
The Bangles shot to fame in 1986 with the single Walk Like an Egyptian as well as Manic Monday, which was written by none other than Prince.
Susanna, 65, sang lead vocals on the track which landed at number two in the US charts — kept off the top spot by Prince’s Kiss.
The group also consisted of sisters Vicki Peterson and Debbi Peterson, who regularly sang lead vocals too, and bass guitarist Micki Steele.
A whopping 38 years on from their chart success, the rarely seen Susanna was spotted out and about in Los Angeles after dropping a brand new solo album.
She grinned while shopping, wearing minimal makeup and a cosy pink cardigan with casual joggers — a far cry from her rocker getup of the 80s.
For many years, Susanna has steered clear of the spotlight and enjoyed a quiet life with her filmmaker husband Jay Roach who she married in 1993 — after apparently dating Michael J. Fox.
Together they have two sons; Sam Rayfield Roach, 25, and Jackson Roach, 29.
After years away from music, the In Your Room singer has just released a brand new solo album called The Lost Record, featuring songs originally recorded in the 90s but were not released at the time.
Before her solo stint, she was a founding member of The Bangles, formed in 1981 as part of the Californian Paisley Underground scene, influenced by 60s psychedelic rock.
Originally, the line-up featured Annette Zilinskas on bass guitar but she left in 1983 with Micki, formerly of The Runaways, stepping in.
A year later the group signed with Columbia Records and released debut album All Over The Place, touring as the opening act for Cyndi Lauper.
At this time they also attracted Prince’s attention, who provided Manic Monday for their second album Different Light and helped cement The Bangles as one of the biggest bands around.
The Bangles even won the Brit Award for Best International Band in 1987, beating the likes of A-ha, Huey Lewis and the News, and Bon Jovi.
However, just three years later after the release of their third record, the group disbanded and Susanna launched her own solo career.
Despite positive reviews, the Eternal Flame singer’s two albums failed to find the same levels of success as The Bangles.
It was in 1998 that the group reformed, with Susanna’s husband Jay behind the reunion as they recorded a track for his film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Two more studio albums were released after this reunion — in 2003 and 2011 — but these new songs couldn’t match the 80s chart highs.
Since the mid-2010s, Susanna has been fairly quiet in public life but last year, along with recording her album, she released a novel.
The romantic comedy, This Bird Has Flown, is about a struggling musician and the adaptation rights have already been purchased by Universal Pictures.
Susanna rarely gives interviews but recently told Billboard the lost songs were ‘just reaching out’ to her to be released.
The tracks were recorded in 1999, after the birth of her sons, with help from Dan Schwarz and some songs co-written with the Go-Gos’ Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey.
‘I grew up in the Bangles but the Go-Go’s had come before that and they had really inspired me, the idea of an all-girl band,’ she said. ‘So to write with Charlotte and Jane was really special.’
She explained that the album wasn’t released at the time due to a number of reasons, including the reunion of The Bangles.
Susanna shared: ‘I think it became a little bit fraught. There was some discourse between some of the personalities, I think, and maybe it was because the Bangles wanted to get back together and I felt that I had to park this, somehow, for the greater good. It was so long ago. It was just, like the stars were not aligning or something, and I had to shelve it.’
‘I’m bouncing around, doing music and my next book and whatever,’ the icon concluded. ‘I live for art, and art and music have always driven me.’
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