Christine Ohlman
Singer-songwriter-guitarist Christine Ohlman (aka “The Beehive Queen”), who has called Connecticut her home for decades, has been called a “living legend” by both the New Haven and Hartford Advocate and the comes as no surprise given her extensive list of musical collaborations and achievements.
When she was a 16-year-old high school student, Ohlman was the lead singer in a New Haven-based blues/rock band called The Wrongh Black Bag and her younger brother, Vic Steffens, was drummer. The next band the pair formed was Fancy and they recorded one album, Fancy Meeting You Here, and a 45, “All My Best,” on the Poison Ring record label at Thomas “Doc” Cavalier’s Trod Nossel Studios (formerly Syncron). Later, Steffens joined the Connecticut band Napi Browne and opened his own recording studio, Horizon Music Group (in West Haven).
THE SCRATCH BAND, THE SOUL ROCKERS, SNL, REBEL MONTEZ
Once Fancy disbanded, Ohlman formed The Scratch Band, which became very popular in the Northeast for their thrilling live shows. The band included Hall & Oates and Saturday Night Live guitarist extraordinaire G.E. Smith, along with New Haven drummer-vocalist Mickey Curry, who has worked with a number of major stars, including Hall & Oates, Bryan Adams, David Bowie, The Cult and Alice Cooper. After the Scratch Band, Ohlman founded Christine Ohlman & The Soul Rockers.
Currently, Ohlman is the vocalist with the Saturday Night Live Band. In 1991, she reunited with Smith when she joined that group as the lead singer. She’s also the leader of Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez, who’ve recorded six CDs and toured throughout the Northeast. Their 2010 release, The Deep End, landed on numerous national year-end top-ten lists.
NOTABLE APPEARANCES, COLLABORATIONS
In 2017, she appeared at the Rhythm & Roots Festival in Charlestown, Rhode Island, where she guested with both Rosanne Cash and The New Orleans Suspects. Also in 2017, at the Little Kids Rock gala in New York City, she took the stage with Bonnie Raitt, Keb’ Mo’ and Elvis Costello. She has performed at The Paris Conservatory with The Sessions; was part of the SNL 40th Anniversary post-broadcast concert at the Plaza Hotel; has made multiple appearances on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon; appeared on the soundtrack for the HBO series Vinyl (a duet with Elvis Costello); was part of the Carnegie Hall Tribute to The Rolling Stones and Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction concerts in Cleveland. At the WC Handy Festival in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, she’s been the special guest of the Blind Boys Of Alabama and led an All-Star Shoals tributes that included Bonnie Bramlett, Candi Staton, and Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Her numerous studio and live collaborations encompass Grammy-nominated recordings and include duets with Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack, Dion, Ian Hunter, Marshall Crenshaw, and Charlie Musselwhite, plus appearances with Al Green, Steve Miller, Smokey Robinson, Bruce Springsteen, and the late George Harrison. With JoJo Hermann of Widespread Panic, she leads the “Down On The Bayou” New Orleans Jazz and Heritage benefits for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. She guests on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s The ALO Orchestra Sings The Rolling Stones Songbook Vol. 2, named “Coolest Record Of The Year” by SIRIUS/XM’s Little Steven’s Underground Garage. She frequently collaborates with another true Connecticut legend, “Big Al” Anderson of The Wildweeds and NRBQ fame.
MUSICOLOGY, COLLECTING, AWARDS, ACCOLADES
Ohlman is a noted musicologist and record collector who was one of the original contributing editors to the All Music Guide. Mixing a fiery brand of rootsy Americana with an old-school soul music flavor, she serves up a style that’s been dubbed by SIRIUS/XM’s Dave Marsh “contemporary rock R&B.” Onstage, she performs songs from her six CDs: The Hard Way, Radio Queen, Wicked Time, Strip, ReHive and The Deep End.
In 2017, Ohlman was inducted into American Heritage International’s National Blues Hall of Fame, and she landed the Top Female Americana Vocalist honors in The Alternate Root’s international readers’ poll (sharing top spots with Paul Thorn, The Mavericks, and Rodney Crowell). “I’ve come here to set your souls on fire,” The Beehive Queen often tells her audiences when she takes the stage. And she does.
(by Tony Renzoni)
Tony Renzoni is the author of Connecticut Rock ‘n’ Roll: A History (The History Press, 2017) and portions of the above are from that book.
