RIP Connie Hanzy

[Vandal]

Connie Hamzy, best known to classic rock fans as “Sweet Sweet Connie,” the groupie immortalized in Grand Funk’s 1973 hit, “We’re an American Band,” died yesterday (August 21, 2021). The death of the Arkansas native at age 66 was first reported by Little Rock news outlet KARK, noting that she passed after a brief illness.

Hamzy, born January 9, 1955, in Little Rock, Ark., was a teenager when she earned a reputation for having sex with rock bands that performed in the area.

Hamzy was a 17-year-old senior in high school when Grand Funk’s manager told her about the song lyric.

“He called me and said, ‘You’re never going to believe this,” Hamzy told KTHV-TV. “But Grand Funk’s written a song called ‘We’re an American Band,’ and your name is in the first lyrics.”

Grand Funk’s drummer-singer, Don Brewer, told Best Classic Bands how he came to write the song. “I wrote [it] while on tour in 1972 based on my observations and the thought in my head ‘we’re comin’ to your town will help you party it down.’ The rest of the song I put together from things going on on the road. Up all night playing poker with Freddy King and his band. Four young Chickitas in Omaha. Sweet Sweet Connie in Little Rock. And the tag ‘We’re An American Band’ just because it sounded great when I sang it to myself.”

https://bestclassicbands.com/sweet-swee ... reFQVVn13Y

[jaybee]

"Grandma, was that song really about you?"

"Why yes dear, it is"

"Why?"

<Dreamy smile>