Lydia Pense is the lead singer of the San Francisco soul band Cold Blood. They were one of the first acts signed to legendary San Francisco promoter Bill Graham's “Fillmore Records." In this edition of Bay Area Beats, Pense sat down to share some stories from her long and illustrious career.
Along with Oakland's Tower of Power, Cold Blood helped usher in the Bay Area's brass heavy funk sound of the '70s known as "East Bay Grease” while Lydia would be forever compared and linked to the late Janis Joplin as two of the pioneering female lead vocalists to emerge from San Francisco’s late '60s music scene.
Lydia Pense is performing with Cold Blood in San Jose at the Blues and Brews Festival on Saturday, June 23.