Original subtitles

[sighs] No.

[♪ "Screams in the Night" by Hellion playing]

♪ Waiting and waiting until it was done ♪

♪ It shined like a star and burned like the sun ♪

[Wendy Dio] Ann Boleyn should have made it.

-♪ Oh ♪ -She was a star, you know?

She was a star.

♪ Nowhere to hide ♪

♪ And there's nowhere to run ♪

I'd never heard anything like Ann.

♪ In no one's lies, now ♪

[Jeanne Hill] Her hair's out there, and she has these cool costumes

and then she opens her mouth to sing

and you're just blown away by it.

♪ Ah! ♪

[♪ "Screams in the Night" continues playing]

The metal fans, they loved her. She was like a queen.

♪ Ah! ♪

[Vinnie Polselli] But it really wasn't a fair game.

Women just weren't treated equally back then,

or... [chuckles] now.

[♪ solemn music playing]

Metal was for guys.

They just didn't see a woman as being anything other than maybe a fan,

or probably a groupie.

♪ Morning comes much too soon ♪

♪ I'm lying in a heap ♪

When MTV came out, that was a godsend for metal bands.

[Jeanne] When you got into heavy rotation on MTV

that was saying something.

The success led to great things for the guys in the band,

and then other things for Ann.

-[keys clinking] -[♪ soft music playing]

There was no such thing as sex harassment lawsuits.

[Jeanne] They put their hands on her. she was scratched up and bleeding.

[Ann Boleyn] People don't take women seriously

when they say, "I have a stalker."

People told her she was crazy,

but there was definitely sexism going on.

I remember going into clubs where it was dangerous, you know?

There's no place to escape.

Really takes a tough constitution,

because it was a playing field for the creeps.

[Ann] I'm not gonna put myself in danger. I've done that.

I gotta do something different.

-[VCR whirring] -[♪ heavy metal music playing]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Ann] The '70s, it was a great time for music.

I identified with bands like Black Sabbath.

♪ Happiness, I cannot feel, and love to me is so unreal ♪

Judas Priest.

♪ She's a grip and choke ya, heavy smoker ♪

Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin.

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

And especially Deep Purple, that was my favorite band.

♪ Ah ♪

♪ Ah ♪

[♪ soft music playing]

[Tom Hull] She wanted to do air bands before air bands were even air bands.

I'm Anne Hull's older brother.

She was eight years old and I was ten years old,

but there was no doubt that she was the leader of the band.

I think that I may have been responsible for the cardboard guitars

and the Tinkertoy microphones.

[Tom] She would dress us up and she would get out her records,

and the room is packed full of the neighbor kids

and the neighbor's parents.

I mean, it's a packed room.

She always has a thousand ideas,

and the strange thing about it is that a lot of 'em come true,

or a lot of 'em she makes come true.

She wasn't satisfied with that. She had to have a real band.

[♪ gentle music playing]

[Ann] Back in high school, this Air Force recruiter came to visit.

I was a big fan of the space program,

so I went to talk to him.

"What's the path to-- to becoming an astronaut?

What-- What do you have to do?"

They said, "Okay, well, I'm sorry.

"Uh, we can't put you

in any kind of tr-- you know, trajectory to do that."

And I was like, "There's women that fly planes.

Why can't I fly planes?" "Well, we just don't allow that."

At that point in time, I realized this is not very fair.

Around the same time, what I really wanted outta life

was to be in a band and see the world.

But nothing's gonna happen unless somebody goes out and gets the gigs.

I needed to earn some money for music gear.

The Fox Theatre was a big old theater

that didn't have that much business.

I sold popcorn and made sure people weren't smoking in the theater.

One time, I had seen someone going down under the stage.

That's where people would open the door and let their friends in.

So, I went down there...

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

...and I was grabbed from behind.

[♪ suspenseful music continues playing]

I was so scared, I couldn't even scream.

[panicked breathing]

This guy had his arm around my neck...

-[echoing screams] -...and just let go

just a little bit to kick that door.

And I ran like hell, back around the front

to get in through the front door.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

I told my parents and the owner of the theater.

They were saying, "Please, don't report this.

We're already having problems keeping this place open."

I understood the reasoning, but it was kind of demeaning.

My mom was approached by law enforcement.

They said, "We know this guy is in your area,

stalking women that have a certain appearance,"

which was the dark hair parted in the middle.

They said he was stalking myself and one other girl

that was also in high school.

That person was Ted Bundy.

Yeah.

[♪ eerie music box playing]

Today, Bundy was found guilty of yet another murder.

Bundy is also a suspect in the sex slayings

of three dozen other young women.

Bundy has confessed to killing 20 more people.

[♪ eerie music box continues playing]

[Ann] I remember very much wanting to get out of Centralia.

[♪ music box stops playing]

I could see that the music business was moving fast in those days.

Whether it was at the local college

or whether it was at an arena,

I would always go early to watch the bands set up their gear.

I'd try to go in and jam with the band.

[Tom] Ann can make friends in a second.

She was more like adult about it, even back then.

[♪ "Jessica" by The Allman Brothers Band playing]

The Dickey Betts band were having problems at that time

with their keyboard player.

Well, guess what? I knew how to play Jessica.

So, at soundcheck, I got to sit in and do soundcheck with them.

This is an opportunity, I'm not gonna let it pass.

I talked to a couple of the crew guys

saying that I play bass and I play keyboards,

and, uh, I'd love to be touring around with the band.

I was a senior in high school, probably 17.

[phone ringing]

About a week later, I get this call from a person named Kim Fowley.

[phone continues ringing]

Kim Fowley was a very interesting character.

He claimed to be Howard Hughes' son.

He was involved in all kinds of strange activities. [chuckles]

A lot of different ways that he could insert himself

into the music business.

Everybody made records in high school.

We were always going down and trying to get record deals,

uh, in the junior and senior years.

[Ann] He was putting a band together called The Runaways.

♪ Hello, Daddy, hello, Mom ♪

♪ I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch, cherry bomb ♪

And they were trying to put this band together

and they already had a booking agent.

But he said, "We've got a record deal on Mercury Records

"and we're in the middle of recording an album.

"We need a bass player.

"We're having problems with our bass player.

Come down." Who doesn't wanna go to LA?

My parents were not happy.

You're in high school, you're a girl.

You don't jump in your car by yourself

and go to Los Angeles to be a rock star.

This world can be a dangerous place.

Already one nutcase tried to grab her one night.

[Ann] "If you go out with these guys,

you'll be crossing state lines and we're calling the police. No way."

I didn't wanna lose an opportunity.

I needed to be there now.

The reaction was ugly.

It became physical.

My stepdad realized this has gone outta control.

"Go."

[Tom] I think they were kinda hoping that she'll figure out

that this is not gonna be possible, you know?

That she'll come back and got it out of her system,

and it'll be alright.

[Ann] I remember getting off the freeway

and seeing all the palm trees.

I was told that when I got to LA,

that I needed to go to a specific payphone

and it was in front of a grocery store.

Made the call to Kim Fowley,

and I had the impression that he was probably watching me.

He said Fidelity Studios was where they were recording.

It wasn't really like you would call an audition, you know?

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

There were people that were coming in and out,

and I was goofing around on the piano, I remember that much.

Kim Fowley said, "We need a bass player."

I told Kim, "I'm not a great bass player,

I'm a much better keyboard player."

And he said, "Don't worry about it.

We've got a guy named Nigel, and he plays behind the amps."

I didn't want to be some person that's up there

with a cardboard guitar pretending that I'm playing

like I did when I was in grade school.

I wanted to be really good.

[♪ dramatic, suspenseful music playing]

After, Kim had me go to his apartment.

I turn around, he's got his pants down and his weiner out.

I told Kim, "This ain't happening."

If Kim Fowley's bothering you or giving you a problem,

just tell him to fuck off.

That's all you needed to do.

It's just what happened, you know? It's-- It's in the '70s.

And the thing that that taught me was,

I need to be putting my own band together

so I don't have to worry about some manager saying,

"Go out and stand and pretend like you're playing your instrument."

[♪ rock music playing]

In Los Angeles at that time, if you put a band together

and you can draw a good crowd,

record companies are gonna wanna take advantage of that.

Back then, they were signing bands le--

I mean, everybody was getting-- it was incredible.

Armored Saint, and W.A.S.P., and--

just the list is unbelievable.

When I look back now, I didn't realize it then,

like how much was really going on.

I was in the middle of it, man.

Rainbow, Roxy, Whisky, I worked 'em all.

Central. I mean... [laughing]

Lingerie, Club Lingerie, Gazzarri's.

[laughing]

Back then, it was a man's world, especially in heavy metal.

Rock Asylum is a hot band from New York.

[band members shouting indistinctly]

[Penelope Spheeris] I was just coming off the whole punk rock thing,

and I saw a big crowd out in front of the Whisky,

and I went, "Ooh, something different's happening here."

♪ Attention, everybody ♪

[Penelope] Then I made Decline of Western Civilization Part II

about the metal scene here in Hollywood.

Thank you, goodnight!

-[Penelope] Where are you gonna go now? -[band member] What we're gonna go do

is go fuck our brains out, that's what we're gonna fucking do.

Hollywood, USA, baby!

[Penelope] All of a sudden, the girls became extremely feminine

and sexy, and the guys started looking like girls.

At the same time, it was perceived as such a dude thing, you know?

Metal was for guys.

This is the way you wanna live, then you can live like this.

[Penelope] And we can safely say that since this is a documentary film,

that you actually do live like this?

[Paul Stanley] As often as I can.

There were very few girl bands,

metal bands back then. Very few.

Musicians are opportunists.

And when there's a certain genre and there's a certain momentum happening,

it does not last forever.

The clock was just ticking.

I had a 4th of July party at this house I was renting.

I said, "Let's get some people together and let's just play.

We'll take turns singing."

I've got a pretty low voice for a woman,

so I was the one that could sing your Black Sabbath,

and your Dio, and your AC/DC, and Scorpions and things,

where it was ironic that the guys,

they could sing the Tom Petty or the Uriah Heep.

[artist singing indistinctly]

[Ann] We kept doing the party every couple weeks,

and it got bigger and bigger.

After, we got a note in the mailbox,

called us a bunch of hellions.

We thought, that's a great name for a band!

♪ Modern days of science ♪

♪ Could not destroy the knowledge of the past ♪

I remember hearing Hellion and going, "Who the hell is that?"

♪ Oils and candles burning bright ♪

[Vinnie] She had such a different style of voice,

so raw and so dangerous.

I started doing club dates with them.

The Troubadour, the Whisky,

you know, all those LA hangouts.

The shows were intense, and it was really all her.

It was all Ann.

[♪ "Break the Spell" continues playing]

♪ 'Cause I'm not a fool ♪

♪ I've got power just as well ♪

♪ Through the day and the night ♪

♪ Break the spell ♪

[♪ heavy metal music continues playing]

[Chet Thompson] I think the audience felt that Ann was onto something.

I think everybody felt that they were on the verge,

of something happening that was going to be new.

[Jeanne] I'd never heard anything like Ann.

She does not have a voice that is typical of most female singers,

not even typical of most male singers.

And she put it out there unapologetically.

I saw an ad in Music Connection that said, "heavy metal intern."

It was exactly what I was looking for.

Hellion was really taking off.

♪ He says I'm lazy, ain't worth a damn ♪

[Ann] We made a demo tape, we were selling them at the shows

and we'd sell as many of 'em as we bring.

That's when things really started going.

♪ And I won't take it no more ♪

Our demo ended up landing on number six on the UK charts.

[♪ "Don't Take No (For An Answer)" song ending]

I sold my keyboards to press our own records.

The distributors were eating 'em up.

They were buying 'em darn near as fast as we could press 'em.

They said, "You know, your record's doing pretty good.

Can you bring us more?"

So, we need to have a record deal very, very fast.

But if you really wanna make something happen...

you gotta take some steps to do it.

[Vinnie] So, we were doing showcases and stuff

for record labels and all that, and they clicked, man.

We were doing a show at the Reseda Country Club.

[microphone feedback]

[Vinnie] All the record labels were there.

I remember being really nervous.

[Ann] I'm backstage waiting to go on.

The bouncer said, "You're not supposed to be here."

I says, "Oh yeah, I am.

I'm the singer, I'm getting ready to go on stage."

And he said, "I've heard Hellion.

they don't have a female singer." [laughing]

I get pushed into the-- what was called the tuning room.

[♪ gentle, suspenseful music playing]

Two guys start grabbing me and feeling me up,

and I took my knee and got one of 'em.

[chuckles] Yeah.

They responded like you would see in a cartoon,

with the two of them going, "Heave! Ho!"

Out the back door as I went sliding on my hands and face.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Meanwhile, my introduction tape is playing.

People are expecting me any moment to come on stage.

What am I gonna do?

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[Ann] Kinda almost like my situation at the Fox Theatre,

run around to the front.

I ended up coming this time through the-- the audience.

We're talking about a rare talent that's being thrown into an alley

and had to, like, crawl back through to the audience

to make her own show.

[♪ "Backstabber" by Hellion playing]

♪ Stick the knife into my back and turn it 'til I bleed ♪

♪ Telling lies you falsify to fit your every need ♪

She slayed it, man. She come out,

and there was take no prisoners.

♪ There is no reason for the foolish things you do ♪

♪ There's no excuses for bad luck that comes to you ♪

[Jeanne] She doesn't surrender.

She knew what she had to offer, and she just kept going.

♪ There's no forgiveness for a backstabber ♪

[Vinnie] Ann was the boss, she was the show.

Just how it was, she was the show.

[Ann] Later on, you know, realize that I'm all skinned up

and scratched up.

People probably didn't even notice or thought it was part of the show.

-[♪ dramatic music playing] -[heartbeat thumping]

[Jeanne] They just didn't see a woman as being anything other

than maybe a fan, or probably a groupie.

It was par for the course.

It's always been a brotherhood.

When I was shooting all the music videos and music docs,

I walked into a studio,

and these long-haired dudes looked at me and they said,

"There's no way a woman is gonna direct our music video."

You know?

And... [chuckles]

I would tell you the band's name,

but, uh, you've never heard of them, ha-ha.

[laughing]

When the metal scene exploded here in Hollywood,

it was mostly guys.

There were not a lot of women who were doing the same thing.

[Ann] Being a female in heavy metal, it was a novelty.

The record companies didn't know what to do with me.

The manager from Van Halen said, "Let me manage you,

"but, you know, you really need to get fake boobs and, you know,

fix your nose and get your teeth done and..."

[camera clicking]

I thought, this is really stupid.

[camera clicking]

You're just a body on stage

fulfilling a job to be in a room.

-[camera clicking] -But everybody had a different idea

about what needed to happen.

Pat Benatar was, of course, very popular.

♪ We are young ♪

♪ Heartache to heartache, we stand ♪

People came around, they said, "We can make you

the heavy metal Pat Benatar."

[Chet] Pat Benatar, The Bangles, Cyndi Lauper.

Female singers in the '80s were cute and pop, right?

And Ann was cute, but she wasn't pop, right?

And so, executives in the music industry didn't really know what to do with Ann.

[Ann] I'd hear it all the time.

"You guys aren't gonna get a deal with her.

You're not gonna get a deal with that girl."

[Vinnie] The scuttlebutts, they were in the other guy's ears

talking about they needed a-- a male singer.

[Ann] My job as the lead singer of the band

was very much at risk.

[♪ "Shame on the Night" by Dio playing]

♪ Wonder what it means, and oh ♪

♪ Shame on the night ♪

[Ann] I met Ronnie James Dio at the 10K run.

Ronnie and myself, we had a few things in common:

Getting kicked outta bands... [chuckles]

...and, uh, the music business didn't have any faith in the image.

They thought Ronnie was too short.

But that first Dio album,

it sold out like nobody's business.

Ronnie James Dio was, in my opinion, the greatest metal singer of all time.

He was massive back then. He was so big.

Ronnie saw something that nobody else saw

and nobody else was willing to take a shot on.

[Ann] He gave me his phone number, he said, "Call me."

But it was really because he'd asked if he could produce our band.

Wendy Dio was, of course, Ronnie James Dio's wife,

and she was starting a management company.

Ronnie was really adamant about wanting to keep the band together

with Ann singing, 'cause she-- she was a star.

He liked her voice and also her stage presence.

She got great stage presence.

[Ann] We thought with Ronnie producing the band,

she can get a deal for Hellion.

[Vinnie] I know that that was a really special time for her

and for the band to be working with Ronnie.

I don't know where the wheels fell off on that.

Right now, I have with me Ann Boleyn,

who is the lead vocalist of Hellion.

Hellion was discovered by Ronnie James Dio in 1984.

We worked together for a while, it was great.

[interviewer] Oh, so you're not working with him any longer?

Not presently, um...

Did you learn a lot? Do you think--

[Ann] There was a new company in-- in England called Music For Nations.

They wanted to give us the same deal that Metallica had.

I said, "We gotta do it. We absolutely have to do this."

But our management company, Wendy Dio and those folks,

they didn't wanna have the independent record deal.

I unfortunately took the high road

and said, "No, let's get a bigger record deal."

So, that became a big problem.

'Cause the guys were thinking, "Why don't we have a major record label?

You're holding us back."

No matter what we did, whether it was working with Dio,

or whether it was, you know, playing in front of, you know,

all the people that we played in front of,

um, a lot of the major record companies here in America

were very hesitant about signing a band with a girl singer.

And in the end, after hearing, "No, we can't get a--

you know, a deal with a-- a female singer,"

they went off and started a group called Burn,

-which I wish, you know, the best of luck. -[interviewer] Right.

[♪ gentle, suspenseful music playing]

[Wendy] They fired her out of her own band

for the simple reason that she was a female.

[Vinnie] Tried to keep the name Hellion

but they ended up having to change it to Burn.

They tried to take those songs because they didn't have songs.

[Ann] The songs that I wrote, the lyrics were replaced.

[Jeanne] They recorded over her vocal parts without any thought.

It didn't occur to them that this was not gonna work out well, and it did not.

[Vinnie] I remember them asking me about it, and I was like...

they sound like Whitesnake.

I mean, it didn't do anything. They didn't-- Never got signed.

They were horrible.

The band was horrible. I had nothing to do with them.

Ronnie always used to say, you know, you just keep on,

and if you believe in yourself, just carry on,

because one day you'll get there.

[Chet] Ann's former lineup did get a guy singer,

and they were just another guy band.

They failed to understand

that they could have been on the verge of something better.

[Jeanne] A lot of people would just say, "Oh, God," you know, and give up.

Not Ann.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

I'm a big believer that in order to achieve anything

that's really worthwhile, you've gotta make sacrifices.

So, in comes the new Hellion.

-[siren wailing] -[♪ rock music playing]

[Chet] When I met Ann,

I had some sort of telepathical connection with her

when I saw her.

[♪ rock music continues playing]

[Ann] Chet Thompson is an amazing guitar player.

He was trained by Randy Rhoads, and he had some--

just skills that I've never seen before.

[♪ guitar playing]

He has this one thing where he plays the guitar upside down

and did the tapping, and just remarkable guitar player.

Everybody's wondering how he plays that guitar that way.

Chet Thompson.

[Chet] The great thing about joining Hellion was,

Ann wanted a completely different type of sound

'cause she was evolving into what she would eventually become,

and so was I as a guitar player.

So, we were both on the same journey.

Let's get heavier and darker,

and more, uh, heavy metal orchestrated,

and see what we can come up with.

[♪ "Screams in the Night" playing]

We created the first material for Screams in the Night.

It was obvious we were onto something.

♪ Waiting and waiting until it was done ♪

♪ It shined like a star and burned like the sun ♪

[Vinnie] The Mach Two version of Hellion

was heavier but more melodic than the original version.

♪ Nowhere to hide and there's nowhere to run ♪

[Vinnie] Hellion, it was still Ann, it just--

she got three incredible musicians to back her.

Chet Thompson,

Alex,

and Greg Pecka.

♪ No turning back, I stayed to fight ♪

♪ Now there's screams in the night ♪

[Vinnie] I remember they came in for a rehearsal

and I was just blown away.

[♪ eerie music playing]

[Chet] Ann and I would alternate.

She would come in and do vocals, I would come and do guitars.

For her to sing, the lighting had to be dark,

candles had to be lit.

So, I would be doing my leads

in that same dark with the candles. [chuckles]

[♪ "The Hand" by Hellion playing]

With Ann's range,

I could exercise all my wide variety

of range on guitar with heavy metal and classical, and she could hang

and just sing to all of it, and it was just great.

So, the-- The sky was the limit.

♪ Inside my hand lies my destiny ♪

♪ It lead me to your door ♪

[Vinnie] Watching them play, they were so good.

They were so good.

♪ I do not know ♪

Oh, I miss 'em, I miss it.

I miss it, I wish I could go back, you know?

When we were done, we came out, there was like all these people

in the-- listening by the door.

That album Screams in the Night, just one of my favorites to this day.

♪ Ohh ♪

Anything that was not where we wanted to head, Ann knew,

and kept us focused like a laser.

The music industry killed itself.

In Los Angeles, the record companies signed bands

that had a certain formula,

and that was a-- you know,

bands that looked-- with really cute-looking guys.

Hello, suckers!

Thank you, and give us your money.

She was like, you know, "Damn it, if they don't take me,

I'm gonna make my own record label."

Who in their right mind wants to do that?

[Vinnie] At that time, that was unheard of.

Even Sharon Osbourne, Wendy, they didn't have their own labels.

Nobody did that.

[Ann] I started the record label to put some Hellion music out.

It was selling enough at one point

where we could, like, subsidize our rehearsal room rents

and things like-- We're not talking like living off of it or anything,

but it was doing well.

I had people wanting more.

And I didn't have any money to go out

and record bands, albums, or anything.

But I sure knew a lot of bands that had demo tapes.

So, we started putting together compilation albums.

She'd get all these cassettes in and give them a chance to be heard.

[Ann] We were running the record company out of a one-bedroom apartment.

[Jeanne] Within a six-month period, we moved to Floyd Street in Burbank,

where we had office space and also warehouse space.

So, things were really taking off.

We were doing it not because of money, necessarily,

because we wanted to do something,

and create something, and have something happen.

[♪ "Bad Attitude" by Hellion playing]

[Chet] We knew that Bad Attitude,

that was a song that we could do something with.

Bad Attitude was a song that we wrote

for the purpose of, hopefully, this'll be a commercial enough song

to get it on the-- the air.

♪ Bad, bad, bad attitude ♪

[Ann] We did a video, people thought this was crazy.

At that time period, videos cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

to shoot well.

[Jeanne] It was a 14, 16-hour day,

and you know, we had the dry ice and all this stuff going.

And I know there was a part where Ann

had to, um, fall on her knees.

And she must have done it 40, 50 times.

It was a long, long day, but we were so proud.

We had a sense of satisfaction for the team of people

that were working with us,

and lots of people working for nothing.

I was at a party and somebody said,

"Hey, dude, you're on TV!" [laughing]

There we were.

Hellion on MTV.

[♪ "Bad Attitude" playing]

♪ Morning comes much too soon ♪

♪ I'm lying in a heap ♪

I couldn't believe it.

♪ My head is pounding ♪

I just remember people telling me that they'd seen it.

♪ I wanna go back to sleep ♪

[Ann] I was shocked.

♪ Don't tell me how to live my life ♪

[Jeanne] I had the TV on and it just kept coming on and coming on.

They played her, gosh, at least once an hour.

♪ What you said ♪

♪ You wouldn't be here too ♪

[Jeanne] You know, when you got into heavy rotation on MTV,

that was saying something.

♪ Out of my mind and out of control ♪

♪ Don't you try to tell me what to do or say ♪

It was the fire that ignited our career.

♪ I got a bad attitude ♪

[Chet] MTV played a huge part in boosting Hellion

to the forefront of metal.

♪ Ain't nobody's fool, I got a bad attitude ♪

[Chet] And it really elevated Ann

because people could now put a face to the music.

♪ Bad attitude ♪

[Ann] It was definitely a breakthrough.

Especially in America, that really helped us.

Things were just starting to go good.

[Chet] I got tons of endorsements, I got free guitars,

free amps, magazine ads.

It was great for me.

The success led to great things for the guys in the band,

and then "other things" for Ann.

[phone ringing]

[♪ gentle, foreboding music playing]

[Ann] You have creepy guys that call you late at night.

Messages from staff saying, "This person came by,

and they were asking for details about when you're coming in."

[Jeanne] After she gained a certain amount of celebrity,

that came on real fast.

[Vinnie] These fans, like, walk into the dressing room

or hug Ann, or grab her.

There was a lot of that going on.

[♪ gentle, somber music playing]

[Jeanne] We did have a couple fans that they knew

she and I were generally together.

If they pounded on her door and got no response,

they'd be pounding on my door.

It's frightening, it's insulting to be treated like that

just 'cause you're a woman trying to rock.

[♪ dramatic suspenseful music playing]

[Ann] I remember one of our first arena shows.

And the limo was followed all the way back to the house.

And then after that, I started getting roses,

dead roses left at the door,

and just all kinds of weird stuff.

While all this stuff's going on,

you've got people that don't necessarily believe you.

The police were always thinking of an alternative reason

for you to go and make a report.

"What are you trying to hide? Are you pregnant?"

[laughing] You know?

Stuff like that.

[Jeanne] You know, we're two intelligent women telling 'em,

"Look, this is something really creepy and wrong."

They didn't take it very serious.

And I was frightened, I was frightened for her.

[Ann] I'm telling a couple guys, this is what's going on.

And the response was, "Well, if it's that serious,

why don't you tell me, and I'll go out and kill 'em?"

[♪ gentle, suspenseful music playing]

[scoffs]

You've gotta watch yourself.

[Chet] The reality is, in the music business,

as probably any woman would tell you,

uh, there's always that male attraction.

You know, the woman unfortunately has to--

a precarious p-path to balance.

[♪ eerie music playing]

[Jeanne] I think the-- the unknown of it was one of the worst things.

You know, you walk up to your vehicle,

wondering if somebody's in it, behind it.

Wondering if somebody's been inside your apartment.

Going in your apartment and seeing that things have been moved.

[doorknob rattling]

You really don't know what someone could do.

[♪ tense suspenseful music playing]

[♪ ominous music playing]

[Ann] Anytime that I'm at a gig,

it's an invitation to come into my house

or do some creepy things.

They know you're not home.

I just remember that it was always, uh, dangerous, you know?

And meanwhile, the pressure

started happening again from-- from the band.

"Why don't we have a major record label?

"We've got this video on MTV.

We should be on a big label, not your stupid record label."

[Chet] People are in your ear, you know.

"We should have been on tour by now,

we should have been doing the album by now."

That became, you know, a pressure situation.

[Chet] You talk amongst the band, but you leave Ann out of it.

And then it's like, "You know, maybe we should leave, right?

Maybe everybody else is right."

♪ Steamed hot towel on my face ♪

[Ann] And then, in comes Nirvana,

and heavy metal, it was regarded as passé.

You market yourself, and there's no MTV

and no radio playing you anymore.

The grunge scene came in and that wiped everything out.

I mean, any type of heavy metal, done.

You were-- You might as well just pack it up and go home, you know?

And a lot of 'em did.

I said, yeah!

[audience] Yeah!

Yeah!

[audience] Yeah!

Come on, man, I think you guys can do better than that.

The '90s were really hard, and I still had some stalkers.

[♪ gentle, suspenseful music playing]

I wasn't as safe as I'd been when I was doing big shows

and when we were on MTV.

There was two creeps at the same time that were particularly scary.

One of 'em made it known that he was hiring

a private detective to follow me,

and intended to take me back to his home country.

And he planned on basically throwing her in her car

and taking her to the airport.

And the police got involved in that,

and they said, "This is no joke, lady."

[Ann] Things had been disappearing out of my place...

such as my passport.

Sure enough, I had one of 'em come to my door

fiddling with the keys.

This person had somehow convinced the building manager

that he was the owner of the unit.

But, uh, I changed the locks.

[Jeanne] I remember her calling.

We jumped in the car, it was only a couple blocks away,

and we were there running up with a tire iron.

The guy barely got scared off.

I mean, we're talking about persistence.

-[siren blaring] -[♪ gentle, suspenseful music playing]

[Ann] And the police asked me if he had anything around his waist.

I said, "Yeah, he does." And it looked to me

like it was the type of fanny pack you have with a gun.

The police said, "He was probably going there

to kill himself and you."

It came to a point where I'm not gonna put myself in danger.

I've done that. I gotta do something different.

If a creative person makes, um,

music or movies their self-definition,

they're off the track, 'cause that's not who a person is.

You gotta be your normal, pure self,

and be happy with that

without having to be rich, and famous, and successful.

Just try to make a living, pay the grocery bill, you know?

[Vinnie] You just don't think someone like her is ever gonna stop.

But she became a lawyer. Like, I didn't expect that.

[Ann] I went to law school.

What else are you gonna do?

Life's short.

-[school bell ringing] -[students chattering]

[Jeanne] Ann went to junior college, and then UCLA,

and then law school.

When Ann went back to school, I went back to school and got my MBA.

Now, I'm her law clerk.

[♪ soft music playing]

She knows what it's like to be sometimes the odd person out,

or not to be treated correctly, to be devalued.

[Ann] I've experienced all kinds of discrimination, I guess,

things that just aren't fair.

This guy said, you know, "You'd be really good

doing this employment law."

When you've got a worker who was fired

because they reported harassment or they've reported being assaulted.

You've got somebody that is trying to turn it around,

"Oh, we're firing you because you clocked in late."

I like those cases.

[Vinnie] You didn't wanna mess with her on stage.

I don't think you'd wanna mess with her as an attorney, either.

She tough lady, man. She's a tough lady.

Ann handled a case for my sister-in-law

who got screwed out of a job and they tried not to pay her.

No attorney would touch it, because it was a hard case.

Ann won the case

and got more than they ever expected to get.

I mean, she killed it.

My sister-in-law loves Ann.

I mean, you say something about Ann, you'd probably have to fight her.

[Simon Wright] She'll be by herself

and there'll be like 30 lawyers in the room,

but she's fearless.

She don't care. She just focuses on her client.

We met in 2012 at the Playboy Mansion.

We just got along really well straightaway,

and it's been going on like that for 12 years now.

-[♪ rock music playing] -Okay.

[Simon] We went out with Hellion in 2014.

[cheering and applause]

Ann has an amazing stage presence.

♪ How do you know who your friends are ♪

[Simon] She's up there singing here heart out.

Which is the kind of singers I've usually been associated with,

the Brian Johnsons, and Ronnie, of course.

And she's a great front person.

♪ Betrayer, blackmailer ♪

[Ann] Kinda weird, you know, we still would have people

that'd show up with their tattoos of Hellion on their-- their arms,

and people would be bring-- bringing their kids.

They'd say things like, you know...

"This was my hero."

[♪ "The Hand" playing]

♪ Here I am, like the gypsy said ♪

I think Hellion should have been a huge band.

Both lineups were excellent,

really good, quality, first-rate stuff.

I think when Ann left the music industry,

I think they really lost out.

They should have got a major record deal.

They should have made it.

♪ I'm finding it hard to believe ♪

The stupidity behind the former lineup and our lineup is,

we failed to realize if we just had a male singer,

then we would just-- just be another band.

If we would've just held on a little bit more to the uniqueness,

we would've made it through even greater success.

[Vinnie] She was way ahead of her time, and a lot of these other singers

got all the accolades and all that.

But if it wasn't for Ann,

they wouldn't have got to where they were.

I believe that.

[Jeanne] I would definitely consider Ann a trailblazer.

She made it what it is today for women in metal,

and thrash, and hard rock.

As time has gone on, we see how people like Ann

and Doro and other women really paved the way

and had the-- the balls to do it,

because it-- it couldn't have been easy.

It wasn't easy.

[Ann] That's all you can say, is you-- you got one life here, right?

Just go for it.