- Wendy & Lisa
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Wendy & Lisa Also known as Girl Bros. Origin United States Genres Funk, pop, rock Years active 1986–present Labels Columbia, SME Records, Virgin, EMI, World Domination Associated acts Prince Website wendyandlisa.com Members Wendy Melvoin
Lisa ColemanWendy & Lisa (briefly known as Girl Bros.) are a composing duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the 1980s before forming the duo Wendy & Lisa in 1986. They have won an Emmy Award.[1]
They have released five full-length albums, the most recent being White Flags of Winter Chimneys, released in December 2008.
Contents
History
With The Revolution
In 1980, Lisa Coleman replaced Gayle Chapman in Prince's touring band[2] on keyboards and piano. Lisa was asked to contribute vocals to several tracks over his next few albums. In 1983, guitarist Dez Dickerson left the band over religious conflicts. Lisa suggested Wendy, who had been brought on tour, as a replacement. Prince accepted Wendy into the band as they began to record Purple Rain.[3] The film and album were a phenomenon, turning Prince and the newly named Revolution into superstars. Prince's personal life also became intertwined with Wendy's when he began dating her twin sister Susannah.
After Purple Rain, Coleman and Melvoin continued to participate in Prince projects, including Parade, the soundtrack to Prince's film Under the Cherry Moon. In interviews, the two reported they felt they were not getting the recognition and credit they deserved despite their growing contributions to his work.[4] During 1986, Wendy & Lisa became increasingly disillusioned with Prince's decision to expand The Revolution with non-musicians, such as Wally Safford and Greg Brooks, and Prince's increasing machismo that these new members brought with them. Unhappy and vocal about their feelings, they were eventually convinced to remain with the band through the end of the Hit N Run - Parade Tour. However, Prince felt spurned and as a result he had already decided he would dissolve The Revolution once the tour was complete. Hence, by October 1986, Wendy & Lisa (along with Bobby Z.) were dismissed by Prince, disrupting the Dream Factory album that was already completed and effectively dissolving The Revolution.[5]
As Wendy & Lisa
The next year, the duo released an album simply entitled Wendy and Lisa with Columbia Records. They released a follow up album, Fruit at the Bottom.
After a few years, the duo signed with Virgin Records (already their label in Europe) and released Eroica. In 1991, Virgin UK released Re-mix-In-a-Carnation, a selection of club mixes from the first three albums as remixed by producers like The Orb, William Orbit, and Nellee Hooper.
In the mid-1990s, Wendy & Lisa worked on several movie projects with record producer Trevor Horn; they also worked on an album with him as producer, but had a falling out and the project was ended, leaving the masters in Horn's hands and acrimony between the parties involved. They have also done session work with Seal, Joni Mitchell and Meshell Ndegeocello, and vocals on the soundtrack for Toys and their first scoring work, for Dangerous Minds. They have since raised their profile considerably in that arena, scoring the popular TV series Heroes for NBC and Nurse Jackie for Showtime.
They released a CD in 1998 named "Girl Bros", and White Flags of Winter Chimneys was released in December 2008. The title is taken from a line in the Joni Mitchell song "Hejira". In 2011 they released the "Snapshots (EP)" which is a 6-song collection of songs that were recorded over the last 20 years of their careers but were never released. Wendy & Lisa are not signed to a major label and have independently self-released all these records.
Awards
In 2010 they received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for their work on Nurse Jackie.[6] They received the ASCAP award for "Composers of the Year" for their work on Dangerous Minds, the theme to HBO's Carnivale, Crossing Jordan and Heroes.
Other projects
Melvoin and Coleman have made numerous contributions to television themes. They wrote theme music and background scores for TV-shows such as Crossing Jordan, Bionic Woman, Carnivàle, Heroes and Mercy, as well as Showtime's Nurse Jackie.
In 2001, they worked with Neil Finn on his second solo album, One Nil.[7]
They have also been featured on several film scores and soundtracks, including Something New, Hav Plenty, and Dangerous Minds. The film Toys, featured their song, "The Closing Of The Year", and most recently they have produced the full-length Heroes: Original Score, released in April 2009 and composed entirely of their full-length compositions for each of the show's characters.
Melvoin and Coleman collaborated with Grace Jones for her 2008 album Hurricane.[8]
Discography
Albums
- Wendy and Lisa (1987), Columbia Records (UK #84)
- Fruit at the Bottom (1989), Columbia Records (UK #45)
- Eroica (1990), Virgin Records (UK #33)
- Girl Bros. (1998), World Domination - Re-released as Wendy & Lisa "Girl Brothers Inc." (1999) (self-released)
- White Flags of Winter Chimneys (2008), W. Melvoin/L. Coleman (self-released)
- Snapshots EP (2011)
Soundtracks
- Toys (1992), Geffen Records
- Heroes: Original Score (2009), La-La Land Records
- Nurse Jackie: Season One Soundtrack (2010), Lionsgate Music
UK singles
- "Waterfall" (1987) (UK #66)
- "Sideshow" (1988) (UK #49)
- "Are You My Baby?" (1989) (UK #70)
- "Lolly Lolly" (1989) (UK #64)
- "Satisfaction" (1989) (UK #27)
- "Satisfaction" (re-mix) (1989)
- "Waterfall" (re-mix) (1989) (UK #69)
- "Strung Out" (1990) (UK #44)
- "Rainbow Lake" (1990) (UK #70)
- "Don't Try to Tell Me" (1990)
Compilations
- Re-Mix-in-a-Carnation (1991)
- Are You My Baby (1996)
- Always in My Dreams (2000)
Contributions to Prince discography
The following songs, which appear on releases by Prince or associates, are registered with ASCAP as partial Wendy & Lisa compositions.
- "17 Days", written by Prince, Wendy, Lisa, Dr. Fink
- "America", written by Prince, Wendy, Lisa, Brown Mark, Dr. Fink, Bobby Z.
- "A Million Miles (I Love You)", written by Prince, Lisa
- "Computer Blue", written by Prince, Wendy, Lisa, Dr. Fink, John L. Nelson
- "Mountains", written by Prince, Wendy, Lisa
- "Power Fantastic", written by Prince, Wendy, Lisa
- "Sometimes It Snows In April", written by Prince, Wendy, Lisa
Notes
- ^ http://www.emmys.com/sites/emmys.com/files/CRTV2010winners_pressrel.pdf 2010 Creative Arts Emmy Award winners PDF
- ^ Nilsen, p. 82; Hahn, p. 34
- ^ Nilsen, p. 139; Hahn, p. 54
- ^ Hahn, p. 100-101
- ^ Hahn, p. 104-107
- ^ http://www.emmys.com/sites/emmys.com/files/CRTV2010winners_pressrel.pdf 2010 Creative Arts Emmy Award winners PDF
- ^ Neil Finn's karaoke night, Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 6 February 2001
- ^ State Of Grace
References
- Hahn, Alex (2003). Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince. NewYork: Billboard Books.
- Nilsen, Per (1999). Dancemusicsexromance: Prince – The First Decade. London: Fire Fly Publishing.
- Walters, Barry (2009). "The Revolution Will Be Harmonized: Recording duo -- and former Prince and the Revolution members -- Wendy & Lisa come out publicly for the first time." Out.com Features.
External links
Categories:- All-female bands
- American rock music groups
- LGBT-themed musical groups
- Musical duos
- Musical groups established in 1986
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