Brie Darling remembers vividly the first time she met June and Jean Millington. It was 1966, and Darling had traveled from California to Nevada to audition for the Millington’s high school band, the Svelts, as their newest hot drummer during a performance at The Lemon Tree in the town of Sparks. Just 16 years old, Darling approached the sisters – whose music she already knew well – in the parking lot.

“I still see that picture,” says Darling now. “They were just like goddesses to me. They looked bigger than life. And we just immediately bonded.”

What eventually followed was the groundbreaking formation of Fanny, the California-based band that would pave the way for women musicians for decades to come. Captured in the documentary ‘Fanny: The Right to Rock’, which tells the story of the legendary all-women band, the barriers they broke, and coming back together to release their first album in over 50 years as Fanny Walked the Earth on Blue Elan Records.

After formally coming together to form the group and relocating to Los Angeles, Fanny landed a deal in 1969 with Reprise Records, becoming the first-ever all-female rock band to sign a record deal for a full-length album. In 1975, the band had a breakout hit with “Butter Boy,” which hit number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song, written by Jean, was about her then-lover, David Bowie. “It was tongue-in-cheek,” she says. “He was the inspiration.”

Over the years, Fanny became major influences for bands like The Runaways, The Bangles and the Go-Go’s, and have been recognized as the trailblazers for decades since. NPR described the band as “the most masterful all-female band of the classic rock era,” and Pitchfork recently labeled June a “rock n’ roll pioneer.”

Fanny broke up soon after “Butter Boy” hit the charts, but stayed in touch as they went their separate ways, always keeping their music and their experiences close to their hearts. 2018’s Fanny Walked The Earth is an 11-track, all-original LP that’s shot through with the same raucous courage and fearlessness as their original works. The album features appearances by rock legends Currie, Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go’s, and Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson and Debbi Peterson of The Bangles.