Margot Olavarria Death Fact Check
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Margot Olavarria - Biography
1980 Dec Margo is fired Major shake-up to the Go-Go line up.......Margo is fired from the band! oooooooooohHow the story goes.When the Go-Go’s returned to Los Angeles in the summer of 1980, they were an incredibly tight band. They had improved tremendously. They also were attractive to different styles of music emerging. In England, punk music was on its way out fashion-wise. Punk wasn’t a force in England anymore. The younger kids were looking for something new. They were more into the mod ska look and sound.Jane recalled, The whole LA scene had changed by the time we got back from England in the early 1980’s. It had been taken over by all these real angry young white boys, like Black Flag. We were like, “What’s this all about” It was really gross. We were lumped in with all those stupid bands - but we never even knew those guys.At this time the GoGo's were starting to evolve into a more pop sound band. Margot was not happy with the direction they were going in as a band. She wanted the band to go after a more hard sound.Margot started to hang out with different people. She had different interest and friends. Then she became ill with type A hepatitis, and they all had to get shots. The others in the band were frustrated with her. Then Margot Olaverria had been arrested. She was at the Starwood and had bought coke for a friend. She was in jail overnight. Friend John Bonebrake from the band X bailed her out.Margot now had a police record. Others in the band were getting fed up with her. They were nervous her arrest record would prevented them from touring in Japan.The GoGo's were under a lot of pressure. They had six sold out shows at the Whisky coming up in December. They knew Margot was in no physical condition to play. Anxious for success at this critical point in their careers, - they started auditioning other bass players to fill in for her. They had heard about Kathy Valentine. She was currently in a local popular band called the Textones. Kathy was also a pop songwriter.Kathy agreed to filled in for those dates at the Whisky. However, the GoGos decided to replace Margot with Kathy Valentine permanently.When they kicked Margot out this offended many in the local music scene. They accused the GoGos of selling out. Many were angry with how Margot was treated.Margot admits she was devastated when she got fired. She considered the GoGos her band. Exene from X was very sad and angry about it. She felt that band members should stand by each other. You didn’t replace someone like Margot. She was one of Exene’s closest friends. When Margot got fired from the band - the GoGos were no longer cool with the X crowd.This transition was anything but smooth, with Margot Olavarria suing the rest of the band (a settlement was later reached out of court).NOTE: After Margot was replaced by Kathy, she moved to New York and worked as a waitress for a while. In 1987, she along with Geoff Smyth and Matin Adkins formed the group Brain Brain. They signed with New York's Moving Target/Celluloid label and released an lp called Time Flies When Your Having Toast on May 1st 1987.
