{"id":487395,"date":"2026-06-20T18:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T18:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/487395\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T18:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T18:48:18","slug":"suzi-quatro-on-henry-winkler-and-her-happy-days-tv-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/487395\/","title":{"rendered":"Suzi Quatro on Henry Winkler and her Happy Days TV debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suzi Quatro<\/a> didn\u2019t become a star in America by having a hit record. The Detroit-born bass<\/a> guitarist found fame playing a version of herself on one of the biggest TV sitcoms of the 1970s: Happy Days.<\/p>\n

By then she\u2019d become a star in Britain and Europe, scoring hits with songs like \u201cCan the Can,\u201d \u201c48 Crash\u201d and \u201cDevil Gate Drive.\u201d As the leather-clad leader of her own band, she\u2019d helped blaze a trail for women in rock years before acts like Heart<\/a> and the Runaways<\/a> broke through.<\/p>\n

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Acting, however, was another matter. Quatro was completely green when she received an unexpected invitation to audition for Happy Days. The role would eventually make her familiar to millions of U.S. viewers as Leather Tuscadero, but when she first arrived on set in 1977, she was a musician stepping into an entirely different world.<\/p>\n

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And, despite years of experience performing live, she was nervous.<\/p>\n

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\"(from\n<\/p>\n

On the set wIth Ron Howard (center). (Image credit: Alamy)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was touring Japan when I got a call from my agent asking would I like to audition for Happy Days,\u201d Quatro told Louder<\/a>. \u201cI didn\u2019t know the show, but he said, \u2018Believe me, you\u2019ll want to do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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The audition itself seemed almost preordained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d never acted before. I was wearing my \u2018street leathers,\u2019 a jacket and pants, different to my stage outfits. The producer, Gary Marshall, said, \u2018Oh, very clever of you to dress in the part.\u2019 I said, \u2018What do you mean?\u2019 He said, \u2018The character is called Leather Tuscadero.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

Quatro got the job and went on to appear on the show from 1977 through 1979. But before she could become one of Happy Days\u2019 most memorable recurring characters, she had to survive her first appearance in front of a live studio audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d done the rehearsals, but this was in front of a live audience,\u201d she recalled. \u201cHenry Winkler, as Fonzie, came up to me and said, \u2018How you doing? Okay?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Quatro admitted she wasn\u2019t entirely comfortable.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI said, \u2018Henry, I gotta tell you, I\u2019m a little bit nervous.\u2019 He said, \u2018I\u2019ve watched your rehearsal. You\u2019re gonna kill it. Go \u2014 you\u2019re on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Suzi\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: ABC Photo Archives\/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Reassured, Quatro headed out for her entrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I walked out, doing my Leather Tuscadero saunter, thinking, \u2018I got this.\u2019 I got to my mark and went to speak, but the director said, \u2018Excuse me, Miss Quatro. What are you doing here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The comment left her stunned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like somebody threw water in my face. I said, \u2018That was my entrance.\u2019 He said, \u2018No, you\u2019ve got another page yet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Certain she\u2019d blown her first scene, Quatro retreated backstage \u2014 only to discover she\u2019d been the victim of a practical joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked back, and Henry was on the floor, laughing. He did it on purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winkler\u2019s prank, it turned out, wasn\u2019t meant to embarrass her. It was meant to relax her.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Suzi\n<\/p>\n

Winkler\u2019s \u201cFonzie\u201d was one of the most recognized characters on TV in the 1970s and launched the actor\u2019s career. (Image credit: ABC Photo Archives\/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said to me, \u2018Now nothing more can go wrong. Go out and enjoy yourself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The advice worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat took my nerves away. And when I came out again the applause was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, Quatro<\/a> is still making music. The bassist and singer released her latest album, Freedom, in 2026 and remains an active touring artist at 75, nearly six decades after she first picked up the instrument that made her famous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Suzi Quatro didn\u2019t become a star in America by having a hit record. The Detroit-born bass guitarist found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-487395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}