Cheryl Vine strutted into The Get Quick’s orbit in 1970 like a cherry bomb in a glitter factory. Hired as part of the audacious, possibly delusional Mammothgon Tour lineup—alongside Mitch, Coco, Christian Hait, and the newly anointed frontman Reed Russolo—she was originally pegged as a backup singer. That lasted about three shows.

With a bawdy laugh, blinding smile, and a vocal range that could melt chrome, Cheryl didn’t just hold her own—she stole the damn spotlight. Her stage presence was pure rock-theater: boots stomping, tambourine wailing, eyes lined like a cabaret sniper. And she wasn’t just window dressing. Cheryl could swap between keys, guitar, percussion, and melodica mid-set without missing a beat—or a wink.

During this stint she penned and crooned the crowd-favorite “Russian Doll,” a slinky, snarling number that’s still bootlegged in all the right circles. But the dream curdled fast. By ’72, with Reed dead on stage in a blaze of shock and feedback and Erik Evol mysteriously back from the beyond, Cheryl saw the hieroglyphs on the wall of the tomb.

She ghosted the scene in a haze of boa feathers and glitter eyeliner, setting off on a well-deserved solo career that’s still bragged about in vinyl shops and velvet-draped dive bars. Her voice still turns up now and again on the odd TGQ record, as if just to prove that their sweet dark magic hasn’t diminished a bit. Some insist she never really left. Some say she was never really there.

Either way, Cheryl Vine remains one of the great spectral queens of The Get Quick mythos—equal parts R&B fury, soul-punk muse, and glitter-dusted riddle.