THE UNTOUCHABLE were a five piece all girl rock band founded in 1965 in Princeton, New Jersey who instantly gained notoriety and worked steadily, first in Princeton and later across New Jersey, to Philadelphia and New York City.
They were one of the first all-girl rock bands that played their own instruments and sang in 4-part harmony, in the tri-state area, and possibly in the country. At least during their duration, they never saw nor heard of any other. So one could say they had the market cornered, at least for the four years they were together from ’65 to ‘69.
Founding members, Molly York, Dodie Pettit and Sheri Oman first formed a folk trio on acoustic guitars in 1964 which quickly changed to a rock band (with the inspiration of The Beatle’s success) in 1965 consisting of Dodie playing lead on electric Guitar, Molly bass guitar, Sheri lead vocals, recorder, and tambourine, Dodie’s sister, Kathy Pettit on drums and completing the band, Geri Lombardo on rhythm guitar.
Beginning gigs were mostly free. “Battle of the Bands” at Princeton High School and Princeton Hospital Fete. This instantly introduced them to the local scene and the much-coveted jobs at the Princeton University Clubs on Prospect Avenue, beating out the local “guy” bands. And why not hire them? They played all the same songs party-goers wanted, and wore micro miniskirts, so what was there not to like!
Before the year 65-66 passed, The Untouchable were working almost every weekend. Geri’s big brother, Tom Lombardo, stepped in as “Manager/ Road Manager” as well as Fred Cohen who took care of some of their Philadelphia bookings. It was mainly big brother Tom who literally took care of the girls to make sure they got to their gigs and safely back home as they were all too young to drive! They also needed a “bodyguard type” accompanying them as they were such a hit at gigs, and Tom was a football player so people thought twice before messing with him.
Notable Gigs and TV Show appearances from ‘66-‘69 include The 1966 Prince Tiger Dance, Princeton University with Jr Walker and the All Stars, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, The Lemon Pipers, The Critters and Lester Lanin and his Orchestra ; Jerry Blavat’s TV Dance Party, The Zachery TV Show, and Ed Hurst’s Aquarama TV show.
Later in ‘67-‘68 they performed at The Palace Theater, Broadway, Central Park and Bryant Park for Helena Rubinstein events; and several times at The Electric Circus on St Marks Place opening for such acts as: The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd & Deep Purple. During this time they also were one of the opening acts for The Beach Boys at Rider College (now University).
It was in the summer of ’67 that the girls met Iggy Pop and The Stooges in New York’s Greenwich Village. (Before the Stooges fame, when “Iggy” was Jimmy Osterberg and when Scott and Ron Asheton were from a band called “The Chosen Few” ) The girls convinced the band that they too had a band. The guys didn’t want to believe them and so Geri and Dodie convinced them to come to New Jersey to hear them play in their rehearsal digs. (The basement of Geri’s parent’s house). After the girls gave the guys a mini concert, the guys were sufficiently convinced and declined to regale the girls. The rest of that visit is remembered in various ways by different members of the band, which can be read in the interior pages. But a good time was had by all.
A new bass player, Jeanette Huber, joined the band replacing Molly York in 1967 just as The Untouchable gained a new management company, Koppelman & Rubin, in New York. Koppelman & Rubin were the managers of The Lovin Spoonful, Barbra Streisand and The Turtles, who had big hit records at the time. Koppelman and Rubin then paired up the girls with producer John Boylan to record original songs “Toll Booth” and “Sounds of Happiness/ Way to Fly” for single release under a new name chosen for them “Calliope”. Sadly, the band broke up in early 1969 before their big single “debut” could happen. One wonders what would have been…
Meet The Untouchable |
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Sheri Oman
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Kathy Pettit
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Dodie Pettit
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Geri Lombardo
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Molly York
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Jeanette Huber
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