A Merit scholar, Fuchs had gained early admission to UCLA to study math when the opportunity to join the fledgling rock band the Runaways arose. Fuchs was "discovered" dancing at the Starwood by Rodney Bingenheimer, who introduced her to producer/impresario Kim Fowley. Initially she auditioned for lead guitar, but the band hired Lita Ford for that. Some time later, she was called back to play bass; she accepted the offer, and joined the Runaways in 1975, shortly before her 16th birthday. Fuchs played on the Runaways' second studio album, Queens of Noise, but not on their 1976 debut album. According to multiple sources, including Cherie Currie's memoir Neon Angel and the liner notes of the Raven Records release of The Runaways, Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison was hired to play bass on the first album due to Fowley's refusal to let Fuchs play on the record. Fuchs confirms this. Fuchs's final appearance with the Runaways was on their 1977 Live in Japan album. It was during the Japanese Tour on which that album was recorded that Fuchs decided to leave the band. According to Fuchs, in the 2005 documentary film , she was distraught over the band members' inability to get along with each other and called her close friendRandy Rhoads of the L.A. band Quiet Riot, who encouraged her to come home. Victory Tischler-Blue was quickly hired as her replacement. Though she had quit the band three years earlier, Fuchs appears on Flaming Schoolgirls, an outtakes compilation featuring songs recorded during the Queens of Noise recording sessions in 1976. She later appeared on the compilation albumsNeon Angels and The Best of the Runaways. Fuchs played bass at the Runaways reunion in 1994 with Currie and West. Currie's sister Marie also performed with the band that night. Fuchs denied permission for her name to be used in the 2010 feature filmThe Runaways. Instead, the producers created a fictional character, Robin, as the band's bassist in the film.
After the Runaways
In the years following her tenure with the Runaways, Fuchs worked in a variety of fields, most notably as a record promotions executive, a modeling agent, the promoter of Tony Robbins's Firewalking seminars, and most recently an entertainment attorney in the motion picture and television business, representing actors, writers, directors, authors, and producers. In a live rendition of the song "Suicide Machine" by punk rock band the Germs, Darby Crash is heard saying he is looking for Jackie and that the song is dedicated to her. Fuchs earned her B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA in linguistics and Italian, with a specialization in computing, and her J.D. from Harvard, where Barack Obama was one of her classmates. She speaks Italian and French, as well as conversational Greek and Spanish. She has written a script called "Delilah's Scissors" with Victory Tischler-Blue and appeared in Tischler-Blue's 2005 documentary . Fuchs has also written for the Huffington Post blog. Fuchs appeared as a contestant on The Dating Game circa 1980. In 2013 Fuchs appeared as a contestant in the fourth episode of The Chase, and on September 6, 2013, she was a contestant on the syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, then hosted by Cedric the Entertainer. She had banked $16,100, but ended up with only $1,000 after missing a question. In December 2018 she appeared on Jeopardy!, winning four games and $87,089.
Personal life and Kim Fowley assault
In July 2015 Fuchs alleged that Kim Fowley raped her on New Year's Eve 1975 at a party following a Runaways performance at an Orange County club. Sixteen years old at the time, Fuchs was reportedly given Quaaludes by a man she thought was a roadie, and while she was incapacitated, Fowley allegedly raped her in full view of a group of partygoers and her bandmates Currie, West, and Jett; Ford was not present. West's location at the time of the incident is unknown, but Fuchs said that her last memory of the night was seeing Currie and Jett staring at her as Fowley raped her. Kari Krome stated that she saw "Jett and Currie sitting off to the side of the room for part of the time, snickering" during the rape. Jett has publicly denied witnessing the incident "as described," while Currie said she spoke up against Fowley's actions, then stormed out of the room when he refused to stop. Before Fuchs came forward, Fowley allegedly raped an underage girl at the party onNew Year's Eve 1975, though the victim was never publicly identified. Currie described the incident in the documentary and also, in detail, in an updated edition of her memoir Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway. In the chapter titled "Kim Fowley's Sex Education Class," Fuchs is originally mentioned as a bystander, and asks for more food after witnessing the rape. But Fuchs threatened legal action against Currie if the chapter was published in its original form because "the event described in Cherie's book never happened"; Currie edited the chapter to exclude her. Tischler-Blue said that all the members of the group "have always been aware of this ugly event."
