Why did you do this site? I was inspired to do this site after seeing another great page dedicated to overlooked women artists -- The Women of 1970s Punk. "What a great idea," I thought, and sought to create a resource about women of 1970s funk. I decided that I had to expand the range to include soul, disco, and rare groove, three genres that I also love, and push the time limit to go up to about 1985 instead of just ending at 1979. I sincerely hope that you enjoy these pages, which were created for entertainment and informational purposes only. Why isn't (_insert artist name here_) included on your pages? Ask yourself the following questions: Did the artist's career take place mainly during the 1970s-1985? Did the artist specialize in funk, disco, soul, or rare groove music during that time period? Is it hard to find other web pages or info on the web about the artist? If the answers to the questions are "no," then you know why the artist is not on Bold Soul Sisters. It has nothing to do with whether or not I like the artist or not, but rather what the subject matter of this page is. I have added a page of additional links where some of you looking for 60s or 90s artists will be able to find them. Also, if the artist is not included in my main section, they might be on the Other Artists section, which features names of people I want to do sections on, but haven't because I don't have the resources (i.e. music, pictures, info) yet. However, if you could answer yes to the above questions and I have inadvertently left an important female artist off of my pages, by all means let me know about it by emailing me. But please be kind to the webmistress. :) What makes you an expert on these artists? Absolutely nothing. As a matter of fact, I do not claim to be an expert on, or even (in a few cases) a huge fan of the artists I choose to cover. But I think it's time that some record of their work be given tribute on the web. (In case you haven't noticed, pages dedicated to African American musicians prior to 1990 are indeed scarce. If you don't believe me, try looking for a decent Marvin Gaye fan page.) The only thing that qualifies me to do this page is the fact that I know a little HTML, I own a scanner, and I happen to love the music and spirit of these women. I don't know tons of personal facts about them, and that's why I choose to integrate the mini-bios with my own personal recollections of the artists. Who are you, webmistress? Hi, I'm Melissa. I'm a college student in New Orleans. I've done a rare groove radio show on community radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM for about 6-7 years now. It's called "Soul Power" and my on-air name is the "Soul Sister." I invite you to visit my Soul Power page, and to listen to me live online each Saturday night/Sunday morning from midnight until 2am, US Central time. In my spare time, I like to go record (vinyl) hunting, check out the great local New Orleans music scene (especially brass bands like the Rebirth), and make crazy web pages like this one! Where did you get the title "Bold Soul Sisters" from? "Bold Soul Sisters is taken from the title of a funky Ike & Tina Turner song that you can hear here. I like the terms "bold soul sisters" or even "heroines" instead of "divas" to describe the women on these pages because of the earthy, personal tone that I believe these artists exude. And several of them were not huge pop commercial stars. That's the purpose of this site, to feature women who are not as well known, in addition to saluting those who are a bit more well known. Besides, there are plenty of other "diva" sites on the web. Would you let me write a bio for the site? You betcha, provided the artist you want to write about fits the guidelines of this website. You will also have to provide at least one picture of the artist and audio, if I don't have either. Write me at bssweb@netnoir.net if you're interested in writing a little thing for the BSS page!