Holly and the Italians were a short-lived American pop punk band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978 by Chicago born singer and guitarist Holly Beth Vincent, bassist Mark Sidgwick, and drummer Steve Young.They relocated to London, England and after playing on the pub circuit extensively, they quickly came to prominence as the opening act for fellow Americans Blondie, and were signed to disc jockey Charlie Gillett's record label, Oval.

The 1980 release of the single "Tell That Girl to Shut Up" garnered the band a recording contract with Virgin Records. While the single wasn't a very big hit for Holly and the Italians, it would be in 1988 when covered by Transvision Vamp. The band recorded their only album, The Right to Be Italian, produced by Richard Gottehrer. In August 1980, they played the major Heatwave festival near Toronto.

In 1982, Holly Beth Vincent released a solo album entitled Holly and the Italians. The album was critically acclaimed, and the subsequent video gained some airtime on MTV. Later that year Vincent recorded a duet of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" with Ramones frontman Joey Ramone.

After a brief period replacing Patty Donahue in The Waitresses, she sang in a combo called the Wild Things with Anthony Thistlethwaite (The Waterboys) and Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones) and recorded an album, America, under the name The Oblivious for Amy Ray's label Daemon Records. In 1995, Holly toured and teamed up with Concrete Blonde singer Johnette Napolitano for a musical side project entitled Vowel Movement.

In 2007, Holly completed a new record, Super Rocket Star, which is available on CD Baby.

Holly and the Italians discography

• "Tell That Girl to Shut Up" b/w "Chapel of Love", 1980, Oval Records
• The Right to Be Italian, 1981 – Virgin Records (reissued with bonus tracks 2002 by Wounded Bird Records)
• Holly and the Italians, 1982 – Virgin Records (reissued with bonus tracks 2002 by Wounded Bird Records) Credited to Holly Beth Vincent.
• America, 1994, Daemon Records
• Vowel Movement, 1995, Mammoth Records
• Demos Federico, 2003, Wounded Bird Records
• Super Rocket Star, 2007, CD Baby

External links

• Holly and the Italians at Trouser Press