Patty Donahue

Originally, like Chris Butler, from Ohio, Patty first appeared on record as Patty darling on the Waitresses track "Astronettes" recorded in Ohio.

Patty moved to New York when the band relocated and continued to work there after the end of the band.

Whilst the other members of the band have remained active musicians to the present day, Patty Donahue, whilst remaining in the music business, kept to a largely backstage role. During the 90's she worked in A&R helping to nurture new talent and, by all accounts inspired her aspiring 'charges'.

As a result of a huge bust up during the recording in England of the second LP, some of the tracks had to be completed without her which probably accounts for the slightly darker disjointed nature of Bruiseology compared to it's predesessor. Only those close to the situation know the real reasons behind this and it's not my place to comment on them. It was the same collection of sometimes diverse personalities, backgrounds and egos that produced the first LP. If it all went wrong at the wrong time then sobeit.

It's important to remember that the songs Patty sang as the Waitresses lead singer were those of Chris Butler and was expertly portraying what amounted to a fictional character although it appears that some elements did indeed mirror her own life.

Little seems to have been heard of Donahue on the recording scene since the Waitresses demise although she was credited with "vocals and Sarcasm" on the 1981 Alice Cooper LP "Zipper Catches Skin".

I'm very keen to know if anything else is available with Patty singing on it.

Sadly, Patty fought a losing battle against lung cancer and died, aged 40, on December 9th 1996.