The GTOs

The GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously) were an all-girl group from the Los Angeles area, specifically the Sunset Strip scene. Active for only two and a half years (1968–1970) with a single reunion in 1974, their only album, Permanent Damage, produced by Frank Zappa, was released in 1969. Personnel Miss Pamela, born Pamela Ann Miller (later Pamela Des Barres) on September 9, 1948, in Reseda, California, is the most commercially successful of the GTOs. Miss Mercy, a.k.a. Mercy Fontenot, was born Judith Edra Peters in Burbank, California on February 15 or 16, 1949. After the breakup of the GTOs in 1971, Fontenot married the guitarist Shuggie Otis. They divorced, and their son Lucky Otis (also a musician) was raised by his grandparents, the R&B musician Johnny Otis and his wife Phyllis. Miss Mercy died on July 27, 2020. Miss Cynderella (also spelled Miss Cinderella) was born Cynthia Sue Wells (later Cynthia Cale-Binion) on January 26, 1952, in Los Angeles, California. Wells married John Cale of The Velvet Underground in 1971, but the marriage was rocky, and they divorced in 1975. Cale's song "Guts" opens with the line "The bugger in the short sleeves fucked my wife" (referring to Kevin Ayers' sleeping with Wells in 1974). Miss Christine, born Christine Ann Frka on November 27, 1949, in San Pedro, California, was the first babysitter for Moon Unit Zappa, Frank Zappa's first daughter. She is shown on the front cover of Frank Zappa's 1969 album Hot Rats emerging from an empty swimming pool on Errol Flynn's former estate in the Hollywood Hills. She dated rock musician Alice Cooper and is credited with creating his stage persona. Frka also dated Todd Rundgren and Russell Mael; Frka died on November 6, 1972, of a barbiturate overdose in a house in Cohasset, Massachusetts, which at the time was being rented by Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers. She overdosed shortly before her 23rd birthday. Miss Lucy was born Luz Selenia Offerrall in Puerto Rico. After moving to Los Angeles, she met two of her future bandmates, Miss Pamela and Miss Sparky, at the house belonging to Vito Paulekas. Miss Lucy was not an original member of The GTOs; she joined the group after the recording of Permanent Damage. She later left the group, claiming they were becoming too commercial. She was married to the late Gordon McLaren (bassist for a New York City band The Groupies) from 1975 to 1981.