Jennifer Finch

Career Music Finch began her musical career in the mid 1980s. She played bass in the San Francisco–based band Sugar Babydoll (or Sugar Babylon) from 1984 to 1986. The band featured Courtney Love, future founder of Hole, and future Babes in Toyland founder Kat Bjelland. Finch subsequently played in the short-lived Hollywood band The Pandoras, formed by bassist Gwynne Kahn.

In 1986, Finch joined the Los Angeles-based punk rock group L7. In the documentary film L7: Pretend We're Dead, bandmate Donita Sparks described Finch as "persistent" and stated that after Finch joined the band, her networking skills and stage energy continued to significantly boost the momentum building within the group. She was also known for her trademark style of performing barefoot. She remained with L7 throughout the band's most successful period in the early 1990s. Finch contributed to the albums L7 (1988), Smell the Magic (1990), Bricks Are Heavy (1992), and Hungry for Stink (1994). Finch was the sole songwriter during this period for several of L7's songs including "(Right On) Thru", "Everglade" and "Shirley". Finch officially departed L7 in 1996. Finch cited health and money issues, as well as grieving over the loss of her father, as reasons for her departure.

After departing from L7, Finch wrote music and sang for her band OtherStarPeople with Xander Smith. OtherStarPeople completed their debut record Diamonds In The Belly Of The Dog in 1998; the group were signed with A&M Records/Interscope and the album was released in August 1999. Joshua Clover of Spin magazine described the OtherStarPeople record as bringing "less weight and more strangeness than Finch's old crew – it's L.A. – slick and punky-dirty".

Finch founded the punk rock group The Shocker in Los Angeles in 2002; they released Up Your Ass Tray as an EP in 2003, followed by a full-length album in 2006 on Go-Kart Records. In January 2011, Finch co-founded new band Sex in Progress along with Evie Evil of Evil Beaver.

In 2014, L7 reformed with their classic line-up of Finch alongside Suzi Gardner, Donita Sparks, and Dee Plakas. The album Scatter the Rats was released on Blackheart Records on May 3, 2019, to generally favorable reviews.

Film, TV, and other activities

Finch acted in the 1994 John Waters film Serial Mom, appearing as a member of the fictional band Camel Lips.

Her song "Then There's None" was included on the Office Space soundtrack.

Finch founded Little Pusher Records. She also worked as a photographer, writer, graphic designer and digital-media professional. Finch was married to Christian Pedersen. They divorced in 2007. but recovered prior to L7's reunion.

On May 7, 2026, L7 announced dates for the first leg of their final tour "The Last Hurrah 2026", starting in October. However, on July 13 the band announced that Finch had been diagnosed with aggressive brain cancer, which prevented her from taking part in the tour. Finch's friends and family set up a GoFundMe campaign to help her pay for her treatments, recovery, and ongoing care, which was contributed to by many well-known musicians and reached nearly $400,000 in just five days. She died in Santa Monica, California, on July 18, at the age of 59.

In the days following it was announced that Finch had finished writing her memoir prior to her illness; Shooting Up and Making Out: A Memoir of My Life in L.A. and L7 is scheduled to be released on January 19, 2027.

Discography L7 L7 (1988) Smell the Magic (1990) Bricks Are Heavy (1992) Hungry for Stink (1994) Scatter the Rats (2019)

OtherStarPeople Diamonds in the Belly of the Dog (1999)

The Shocker Up Your Ass Tray EP (Oglio Records, 2003)