From Detroit, Michigan. While performing at a Detroit dance hall, Quatro was spotted by British producer Mickie Most. Best known for his work with Donovan, Lulu, and Herman's Hermits, Most saw Suzi's star potential and signed her as a solo act. Her first single, "Rolling Stone," was released in 1972. With Len Tuckey (guitar), Dave Neal (drums), and Alistair McKenzie (keyboards, soon to be replaced by Mike Deacon), Quatro hit the road with Slade later that year.

The debut single failed to make an impression so Most sought help from The Sweet's zero-cred but incredibly successful songwriting team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman - responsible for some of the most dire UK pop of the 70s, Chapman would later produce hits for the Knack and Blondie.

The Chinnichap machine provided Quatro with a stream of a dozen hits starting with "Can the Can" in 1973 and followed by "48 Crash", "Devil Gate Drive and others. Her image, having been spooned into a leather catsuit and kitted out with the biggest, longest bass guitar in the UK helped make Suzi a UK and European sensation, but she saw little chart action in the US, where she is remembered more as a TV personality than as a singer. She played the predictably leather-clad Leather Tuscadero (pretty much her on-stage persona) in Happy Days and often performed on the show. To Quatro's credit, she never appeared as anything less than a proud, raunchy totally-in-control woman.

With the arrival of more convincing black leather stars in the punk explosion, Quatro and her glampop peers were headed for the shelf. Although she continues to record and perform (most notably in a British revival of Annie Get Your Gun), Suzi Quatro's heyday came and went in the 1970s. Her guitar-driven songs and aggressive on-stage manner paved the way for female guitar-rock acts from Joan Jett and the Runaways right up to the Riot Grrl movement.