Helen Reddington

Helen Reddington played bass in punk bands in Brighton in the 1970s, before forming the bands The Chefs and later, Helen and the Horns, both of whom recorded several sessions for Radio 1’s John Peel. After seven years touring and recording in the independent sector and a deal with RCA, she left the pop music industry to run songwriting workshops on estates in South London. This led to lecturing on the fledgling BA Commercial Music course at the University of Westminster, where she completed a PhD which became the book The Lost Women of Rock Music: Female Musicians of the Punk Era’ (Equinox, 2012). She now lectures in songwriting and professional practice at the University of East London on the BSc Music Technology and Production and the BA Music Performance and Production courses, and at the London College of Creative Media on the MA in Creative Entrepreneurship. She is completing a book on female producers and engineers in the UK, Outside the Box: Women Engineers and Producers in the British Pop Music Industry in the Early 21^st Century, which will be published by Equinox, making a DIY documentary with The Raincoats’ Gina Birch on the women musicians in 1970s punk bands, Stories From The She-Punks: Music With A Different Agenda, (which includes many women interviewed in her book), and performs regularly as a solo/DIY artist under the name Helen McCookerybook all over the UK and beyond, promoting her 2017 album The Sea.

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Research Interests
Women and music technology, subcultures, punk, songwriting and empowerment, scenes and local music making.

Publications

Reddington, H. (forthcoming). ‘Détournement and Female Punk Bands of the 1970s’, in G. Lee (ed.), Rethinking Difference in Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Music: Theory and Politics of Ambiguity, London and New York: Routledge.

Reddington, H. (forthcoming). Outside the Box: Women Engineers and Producers in the British Pop Industry in the early 21^st Century, Sheffield: Equinox.

Reddington, H. (forthcoming, 2018). Stories from the She-Punks: music with a different agenda. Documentary film, in collaboration with Gina Birch.

Reddington, H. (2016). ‘The Political Pioneers of Punk: just don’t mention the f-word’, in M. Dines and M. C. Worley (eds.), The Aesthetics of Our Anger: anarcho punk, politics and music, New York, Port Watson: Minor Compositions.

Reddington, H. (2015). ‘Entrepreneurship and Music Technology Practitioners’, in A. Dumbreck and G. McPherson (eds.), Music Entrepreneurship, London: Bloomsbury.

Reddington, H. (2012). The Lost Women of Rock Music: female musicians of the Punk Era, Sheffield: Equinox.

Reddington, H. (2004). ‘Hands off my Instrument!’, in A. J. Randall (ed.), Music, Power, and Politics, London: Routledge.

Reddington, H. (2003). ‘Lady Punks in Bands: a Subculturette?’, in D. Muggleton and R. Heinzl (eds.), The Post Subcultures Reader, London: Berg.

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