Bertei began her career playing guitar and singing in the Wolves, her first band with Laughner. She left Cleveland for
New York City in 1977 shortly after Laughner died prematurely of complications due to
alcoholism. Bertei quickly became a prominent figure in the
no wave art and music scene in NYC, playing
Ace Tone organ and electric guitar in the original line up of
the Contortions fronted by
James Chance. While working as personal assistant to
Brian Eno in 1978, Bertei took him to a series of concerts at
Artists Space in New York, which resulted in Eno producing the iconoclastic LP
No New York for the Virgin/Antilles label, featuring the Contortions and three other no wave bands. The artist
Martin Kippenberger brought Bertei to Berlin in 1980 to perform solo at his
SO36 club and upon her return to the U.S., Bertei started the all-girl punk-funk band The Bloods with guitarist Kathy Rey. The Bloods are considered the first rock and roll band of gay women who were publicly out of the closet. The band toured internationally, opened for
the Clash in New York and released the single "Button Up," a
John Peel favorite on
the Au Pairs' label Exit Records in 1981. "Button Up" was re-released on the British label
Soul Jazz Records as part of the compilation
New York Noise, Volume 1, released in 2005. After The Bloods disbanded, Bertei worked as a DJ in
Amsterdam, and upon returning to New York was one of the first solo acts to be signed to
Geffen Records in 1981.
Thomas Dolby produced her first hit dance single "Build Me a Bridge," and the success of the single led to an album deal with Geffen, but the company had alienated Dolby. Says Bertei of this period in the early 1980s: "Back then, female performers couldn't be too wild, and certainly not outspokenly gay, even a little. Defying the rules had its consequences. This was exacerbated by the horrid reputation I had in the 1980s, some of it hyperbole but not all of it completely unfounded. Half-
Piaf, half-
Hemingway… singing and brawling. Wrestling in public with quite a few demons that I should have dragged to a therapist." Dolby invited her to sing backing vocals on his next LP,
The Flat Earth. Bertei sang a
duet with him on the single "
Hyperactive!" which became an international pop hit for Dolby. She performed the song live on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1984. During her years in London, Bertei sang backing vocals with various groups live and in the studio, including
Culture Club and
The Passions. She has written songs for artists as varied as
The Pointer Sisters,
Sheena Easton, Thomas Dolby,
Arthur Baker,
Jellybean Benitez, The Anubian Lights,
Lydia Lunch and
Matthew Sweet. Bertei signed with
Chrysalis Records in 1985 and recorded the song "When It's Over", produced by
David Gamson and
Fred Maher of
Scritti Politti and John Potoker, with
Green Gartside providing guest vocals. The concept for the music video was a performance in a women's prison. During this period she joined Jellybean Benitez for his LP
Just Visiting This Planet, co-writing several songs and singing lead on the international pop hit "Just a Mirage" in 1988. She performed the song with Jellybean on the UK's
Top of the Pops that year. Her debut solo album,
Little Lives, was released in 1988 and included the anti-apartheid anthem "Little Lives, Big Love". Bertei continued to work as a backing vocalist, most notably for
Tears for Fears' Sowing the Seeds of Love tour in 1990 where she also sang backing vocals for the opening act,
Blondie's
Deborah Harry. After a brief stint touring with
Sophie B. Hawkins as a backing singer, she moved to
Los Angeles in 1993 and took a long hiatus from music to write and study directing. Since then her only musical outing has been with The Anubian Lights as lead singer in 2005 and
Phantascope, a CD of co-produced and co-written songs on
Nona Hendryx's label Rhythmbank. == Directing and film ==