About Christa Hillhouse

I am best known for my work as a founding member and bassist of the multi-platinum selling rock band 4 Non Blondes. My band was a huge success in the early 90’s, back when the only all-women bands hitting the charts were The Go-Go’s and the Bangles, and K.D. Lang and Melissa Etheridge were still in the closet.

I began playing music professionally while still a teenager in the late 70’s, in very homophobic Oklahoma. I came out openly as a lesbian in 1978 at the age of 17, dropped out of high school and began frequenting the gay bars. I met a singer/songwriter named Paula “Tuffy” Eldridge, and along with drummer Elyse Angelo we formed a trio and frequented the limited original music circuit in our hometown of Oklahoma City. In 1980, we produced and headlined the first all woman art and music festival in Oklahoma, appropriately titled “Sisters of the Arts”. 

A chance to see Cris Williamson perform in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1980 served as a beacon for me, illuminating my way to Northern California, and, more specifically – the gay microcosm of San Francisco. In April 1981 I moved to San Francisco in the wake of the White Night Riots and the prelude of AIDS.

I started gigging upon arrival, and from 1983 until it’s demise in 1985 was a regular performer at The Baybrick Inn, a small haven for (mostly women) musicians located in the South of Market district. The club showcased solo performers and bands in a cabaret setting, and featured such talent as Bonnie Hayes (who eventually wrote the hit song Love Letter for Bonnie Raitt’s first grammy winning album), Vicki Randle (a regular player in the Tonight Show with Jay Leno band), Lady Bianca, Linda Tillery, Debbie Saunders, comedians like Marga Gomez and Jane Dornaker, and many others.

 In the early days I played at the club often with my  Oklahoma friend acoustic singer/songwriter Tuffy Eldridge, whom I had convinced to move out west. Blues/funk guitarist Pat Wilder, pianist Ginger Doss, and I had a band called System. We led a weekly blues jam at the Baybrick featuring a diverse range of walk-on performers including Gwen Avery, and also performed around the city playing our own style of funk, jazz, and blues. During the mid-80’s, I played in several R&B/jazz bands with pianist Tammy Hall and in 1988 I played in the alternative rock band 17 Reasons, led by guitarist Jim Campilongo (Norah Jones). In 1988 I hooked up with guitarist/songwriter Shaunna Hall, and we started working on original rock material and looking for a drummer. We formed a duo named Cool and Unusual Punishment which featured a song called “Morphine & Chocolate”, a powerful anthem about choosing art over addiction, which would eventually find it’s way onto 4 Non Blondes’ debut album and become an audience favorite.

In early 1989, Shaunna and I joined a band called the Lesbian Snake Charmers, the project of rock/ska/political activist singer Jai Jai Noire. That’s where I met hard-hitting red-headed drummer Wanda Day. Tension in the band’s hierarchy caused us to quit the band and start our own project: 4 Non Blondes. 

We quickly became the “band with the biggest buzz” in San Francisco because of our outspoken opinions, the strength of our songwriting, Linda Perry’s powerhouse vocals, and our over-the-top performances.  We sold out Slim’s (Boz Skags’ club) during our first headlining gig at the venue in 1990. We were voted best rock band by SF Weekly Magazine’s Readers Choice Awards (The Whammies) in the spring of 1991. An opening slot at the Warfield during the Gavin Convention soon after started a courtship by the major labels. As we struggled to maintain uncompromising creative control over their music, we decided to sign with Interscope Records in June 1991. We quickly began pre-production on an album that would eventually sell over 7 million copies worldwide.

The song “What’s Up?” became a huge call-in request across the United States and it’s undeniable popularity launched us to international fame. 4 Non Blondes toured the world, and we opened for such rock legends as Aerosmith, Neil Young, Pearl Jam, and Prince and performed live on television shows including The Dave Letterman show, The Late Show with Conan O’Brien, Arsenio Hall, The Billboard Music Awards, MTV’s Beach House, Jon Stewart’s pilot show on MTV, the E Channel, and England’s Top of the Pops (2x). In 1993, we were nominated for an MTV video award in the category of alternative rock, and nominated for Best New Band in Rolling Stone Magazine Reader’s Pole (singer Linda Perry did win the award for Best New Female Singer). Our debut recording Bigger, Better, Faster, More! climbed up the Billboard Charts during the summer of 1993, peaking at #11. We also did soundtrack recordings for Wayne World 2 and Airheads, and included a jingle for Levi Strauss to our credits. We accumulated a huge international fan base and received gold and platinum awards for sales of the album and single in the United States, all over Europe and beyond.

We broke up in early 1995. Our final release was the featured single “Misty Mountain Hop” on the Led Zeppelin tribute album entitled Encomium. You can find out more about 4 Non Blondes by visiting the website.

I returned to San Francisco and I spent the next 5 years collaborating with singer/songwriter Katherine Chase (in The Katherine Chase Band), songwriter/poet Billy Valentine (in Holy Joe), singer/songwriter Valerie Stadler ( in Nightmare 66), thrash poet singer/songwriter Sandice Alaska (in Dripjoy), and in a collaborative punkabilly-bluegrass band called The Giblet Dribblers. I also attended classes at UC Berkeley, majoring in Drug and Alcohol Abuse Studies during 1995-96, and in 1997-98 attended the Academy of Art in San Francisco, majoring in interactive media.

Always itching for a road trip, in 1999 I joined Linda Perry on a tour opening for multiplatinum singer/songwriter Brian Adams and his band. We had a successful run playing as a duo across the southeast at sold-out venues including the House of Blues in New Orleans. Soon after, I recruited my friend Claudia Paige (Holy Joe, Nightmare 66) to play drums and the three of us toured to promote Linda’s second solo effort “After Hours”.

In 2005 I joined Shaunna Hall (4 Non Blondes founding guitarist/songwriter) for a showcase set at the ROCKRGRL Music Conference with Stephanie Eulinberg joining us on drums. During the past 15 years I’ve played gigs from Omaha to New Orleans to Austin and back to the San Francisco Bay Area with some amazing performers including Bob Malone (John Fogerty), Susan Gibson (wrote “Wide Open Spaces” for the Dixie Chicks), Kiya Heartwood (Stealin’ Horses, Wishing Chair) and LA-based Gina Villalobos.

On May 28 2021 I am releasing an album with Singer/Songwriter Genesis Fermin/producer Gina Villalobos on my Sharpsong Music label.

-Christa Hillhouse (updated May 2021)