By Joanna Stingray and Madison Stingray

416 pages, 150 black and white illustrations.
September 2020. Paperback.
Ebook also available.

$32.95 | 9781733957922 (pb)

The story of the American musician who opened the clandestine world of Leningrad punk and rock n’ roll to the West.

What an adventure Joanna Stingray’s life has been. Red Wave is wild and vivid — a rollicking memoir of romance and rock ‘n’ roll in an era of upheaval and transition. From Los Angeles to Leningrad and back again, Joanna’s story is borne along by her infectious, headlong enthusiasm. It’s quite a ride.
– Patrick Radden Keefe, award winning staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

At home in California, Joanna Stingray [works in] real estate with two additional jobs. But in Russia, Stingray is a near-legend, feted by rock fans and musicians for her fearless championing of Soviet underground music during the Cold War. “You are the mother of Russian rock!” a fan shouted as Stingray promoted her new autobiography at a Moscow bookstore. … The California musician aroused the suspicions of the KGB and the FBI as she bravely championed the Soviet underground in the 1980s. The Red Wave LP, released in America in 1986, introduced western audiences to Russian rock and helped end the Kremlin’s censorship of homegrown groups.
– The Guardian, Joanna Stingray – the woman who smuggled punk rock out of the USSR

A memoir by an American who almost single-handedly introduced Soviet rock to the free world…[Red Wave] captures her daring amid an atmosphere of liberation and fear (David Bowie and Molly Ringwald each wanted to adapt her story), and she’s a study in moxie and enthusiasm.
– Kirkus Reviews

As one of the first American musicians to break through the Soviet scene, and one of the few women to be seen as an equal amongst Leningrad’s pantheon of rock superstars, Stingray’s perspective on the development of late Soviet rock is truly one of a kind. This memoir is probably the single most important source for researchers who want a birds-eye view of late Soviet youth culture, and Stingray’s stories are as entertaining as they are relevant and illuminating. 
– Alexander Herbert, author of What About Tomorrow: An Oral History of Russian Punk Rock from the Soviet Era to Pussy Riot