“Cher” or “Madonna”) to Karli Redd (red-haired rocker chick) to Cheri Redd (a tad “stripper-esque”?)
to Karli Bonne ( a throwback to her “Church Lady” conformist days)…then back to Karli Redd. Karli is a
practical gal, she figures if she gets divorced, she doesn’t have to change her name again…no muss, no
fuss!
Regarding the “Karli Bonne” name--she shares that it represented the “married lady/good mother” time in
her life. At one point she was performing in church and doing Christian music—even drank the “Kool-Aid”
(in her words)--until she found out the church was more corrupt than the government!
And then there have been the changes of costume. A lover of the theatrical, Karli (both a singer and actress)
has played MARILYN MONROE, JESSICA RABBIT…and now, the obvious next step--a vampire—the character
she assumes with her band MASQUERADE.
Karli knew she wanted to sing as far back as she could remember. Her mother was a barkeeper and hoisted
young Karli on top of it at the tender age of 6. She belted a rousing rendition of “Rock Around the Clock
to thunderous drunken applause. Karli knew she had come home! As the years went on, she would spend
hours singing to rock songs in her room. One day, at 14, she was riding in a car with a bunch of older boys
(weren’t we all?) that all happened to be in a band. The song “Closer to the Edge” came on the radio and
she began to sing along. Little did she know, this turned out to be her first audition—and she was offered the
job of lead vocalist on the spot.
The band was named STAND UP and they were the “headliner” in the very prestigious basement of a Chinese
Restaurant (MONA KI). Upstairs they served Moo Goo Gai Pan and downstairs, the under-aged were served
liquor. Karli’s mom was again onboard for this mother/daughter bonding moment. Says Karli, “Mom taught
me to drink.” And mom kept young Karli pretty liquored up. It was a two-night gig—with Karli donning
sunglasses to overcome her stage fright—and popping Pepto Bismol by the second night to overcome her
hang-over nausea.
However, Karli was unhappy with the song list in Stand Up--for they were all sung by male vocalists of the
time. She longed to perform music by her favorite female rockers—PAT BENATAR, THE PRETENDERS,
BLONDIE and THE RUNAWAYS. And the opportunity presented itself when she was 18, and the girls’ softball
team she played on stopped off at another local underage bar called POETS. That night, the lead singer of
the band, BACK TO BACK, suddenly up and quit. The whole “sloshed squad” began to scream for Karli to
take the stage. She did--and smacked them square between the eyes with “Hit Me with Your Best Shot.
She scored the job.
However, the scene was shifting and Punk had emerged as the new wave of music. Off came the fiery hair
and it was cut short and dyed black. She hung out at THE PEPPERMINT LOUNGE, where a one-cent cover
was charged on Mondays. This was her “Androgynous ADAM ANT Phase”--complete with English accent.
She formed a band called THE PUT DOWNZ and started writing original material.
Karli was working at CANAL JEANS when she met THE THOMPSON TWINS (That is Karli singing backups on
“Hold Me Now”). She was a salesgirl and waited on them, and they were taken by her larger-than-life
personality and her even bigger voice. One day, they said, “Come across the pond with us!”--and at risk of
being sold into white slavery, Karli agreed. Anyway, CHRISSIE HYNDE was recording in England at the time-