The Bloods

Adele Maria Bertei was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1955. Her father was an Italian immigrant and her mother, 1st generation Irish and French Canadian. She began writing poetry at a very young age and was discovered as a singer by legendary Cleveland musician Peter Laughner, who mentored her and convinced her to pursue a career in music. The artist Martin Kippenberger brought Bertei to Berlin in 1980 to perform solo at his SO36 club and on her return to the U.S. Bertei started the all-girl punk-funk band the Bloods with guitarist Kathy Rey. The Bloods are considered the first rock and roll band of gay women who were publicly out of the closet. The band toured internationally, opened for the Clash in New York and released the single "Button Up", a John Peel favorite on the Au Pair’s label Exit Records in 1981.