Lisa Stansfield
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Lisa Jane Stansfield (born on April 11, 1966) is an English R&B singer from Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
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[edit] Early Career and Top Ten success
After releasing several unsuccessful singles in her mid-teens (she also co-hosted a Children's TV pop show at this time, Razzmatazz with Alistair Pirrie), she became a major international star. Though her UK band Blue Zone saw modest success with the single "Jackie", she really came onto the radar with her guest vocal stint on Coldcut's UK classic, "People Hold On." She is probably best known for her first UK number one single, "All Around the World" (1989), which also peaked at #3 in the United States the following year. Other worldwide hits from her solo debut Affection include "This is the Right Time" (featuring a house music-styled production by Coldcut with Mark Saunders), "Live Together", "What Did I Do To You" and "You Can't Deny It". Both "All Around the World" and "You Can't Deny It" hit No. 1 on Billboard's R&B charts. Affection went platinum in the US, and sold a total of 5 million copies worldwide.
In 1990, Lisa was among a handful of high-profile artists to participate in the "Red Hot & Blue" charity disc (which honered Cole Porter's songwriting and benefitted aids research at a time when funding from government agencies was woefully short). She got to show her swing and jazz chops on the song "Down In the Depths", which was one of few traditional renditions to appear on the album. Thus began an illustrious and respected tradition of Lisa offering jazz and torch tracks to outside projects. This is likely what got her noticed for consideration as the female lead in the independent film "Swing" (1999), where she was to sing the majority of the album's soundtrack as well as act.
In 1992, Stansfield won a Brit award as best British female solo artist. Her second album Real Love did not quite live up to the success of Affection, despite selling very well. However, it did spawn four Top 40 singles on the European charts: "Change", "All Woman", "Time to Make You Mine" and "Set Your Loving Free". Change has since become one of the classic singles: it can be heard on radio and in supermarket playlists to this day. "All Woman" became Stansfield's third No. 1 single on Billboard's R&B charts, and due to the success of that song, the album went gold in the US. "All Woman" is classic "kitchen sink soul", full of pathos and emotion from a domestic female point of view.
[edit] European stardom
She continued recording disco-influenced soul throughout the 1990s. Her third album So Natural (1993) spawned three Top 40 European singles including the title track, "In All the Right Places," and "Little Bit of Heaven," but the album was never released in the US. She had continued success throughout Europe although, unfortunately, her popularity in America has diminished. Her self-titled fourth album Lisa Stansfield (1997) was a hit in Europe with two top ten singles - "People Hold On" (re-released as a dance mix by the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and "The Real Thing," and the Top 40 track "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" (a remake of Barry White's 1973 hit); upon being released in the US the album did not receive much attention outside dance clubs where remixes were very successful. The video for "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" was an eye-catcher with its (implied) naked Lisa strolling a city street, acquiring a few items of clothing along the way. VH1 featured the clip and even gave it the "Pop-Up Video" treatment. Her 2001 album Face Up featured the singles "Let's Just Call It Love" and "8-3-1" and found her experimenting with newer styles of R&B such as 2-step while continuing with her trademark sound. Lisa's husband, Ian Devaney, delivered an arrangement for the ballad "How Could You", which displayed his love of Burt Bacharach's legacy. "Lisa Stansfield" was another album not to be released in the US.
[edit] Changing labels
After leaving her record company, a greatest hits collection called Biography was released and sold well in England and Europe. Lisa signed with ZTT records and her 2004 release The Moment was produced by Trevor Horn, well-known for his work with Seal, Grace Jones, and Frankie Goes To Hollywood among others. Featuring the singles "Treat Me Like A Woman" and "If I Hadn't Got You" the album found her exploring more pop-oriented material, and focusing on lush ballads. Lisa's voice had matured in her time away, and she exhibited previously unheard singing technique on a few of the tracks, while honoring songs from outside writers for the majority of the album's content. Despite this, the album was not a rousing success for Lisa. At the time of the project's release, ZTT was gearing large amounts of its resources into re-marketing its back catalog and producing the Trevor Horn concert for the Prince's Trust and its accompanying double cd. Lisa's fanbase immediately took aim at ZTT for "shoddy promotion"(1), even before the album had noticably failed to perform.
To the delight of fans, a DVD of Lisa's Ronnie Scott's performance in 2003 was released in 2005.
(1) see forums and entry dates at Lisastansfield.info to support this.
[edit] Personal
- In July, 1998 she married trumpeteer Ian Devaney, whom she knew since her school days, and with whom she also collaborates (he is also a composer, arranger and producer).
- Stansfield also has a dramatic career: she starred in the 1999 film "Swing" with actor Hugo Speer, recording covers of swing classics and a few original songs written in/inspired by the style for the soundtrack. She later appeared on a London stage in "The Vagina Monologues".
- Despite having the same name and coming from Rochdale, Lisa Stansfield is not closely related to the famous singer of the 1930s and 1940s, Gracie Fields (whose real name was Grace Stansfield). However, she does own a recording studio called 'Gracielands'.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Affection (1990) U.S sales - Platinum, Worldwide sales - 5 million UK #2, US #9
- Real Love (1991) U.S sales - Gold, Worldwide sales - 4 million UK #3, US #43
- So Natural (1993) Worldwide sales - 2 million UK #6
- Lisa Stansfield (1997) U.S sales - 250,000, Worldwide sales - 3 million UK #2, US #55
- Swing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1999)
- Face Up (2001) Worldwide sales - 300,000 UK #38
- Biography (2003) Worldwide sales - 1 million UK #3
- The Moment (2004) Worldwide sales - 50,000
[edit] Singles
- "People Hold On" (with Coldcut) (1989) UK #11
- "This Is The Right Time" (1989) UK #13, US#21
- "All Around the World" (1989) UK #1, US #3
- "Do They Know It's Christmas" as part of Band Aid II (1989) UK #1
- "Live Together" (1990) UK #10
- "What Did I Do To You" (1990) UK #25
- "You Can't Deny It" (1990) US #14
- "Change" (1991) UK #10, US #27
- "All Woman" (1991) UK #20, US #56
- "Time To Make You Mine" (1992) UK #14
- "Set Your Loving Free" (1992) UK #28
- "Someday (I'm Coming Back)" (1992) UK #10
- "Five Live EP" (with Queen and George Michael) (1993) UK #1
- "In All the Right Places" (1993) UK #8
- "So Natural" (1993) UK #15
- "Little Bit of Heaven" (1993) UK #32
- "Make It Right" (1994)
- "People Hold On (Bootleg Mixes)" (with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) (1997) UK #4
- "The Real Thing" (1997) UK #9
- "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" (1997) UK #25, US #74
- "The Line" (1997) UK #64
- "Let's Just Call It Love" (2001) UK #48
- "8-3-1 (2001)
- "Treat Me Like A Woman (2005)
- "If I Hadn't Got You (2005)
[edit] Trivia
As well as Razzmatazz, Lisa can be seen in 1983 children's television show "The Krankies Klub" alongside Jimmy Cricket and Rocky Sharpe & The Replays.
During the promotion for the "Never Never Gonna' Give You Up" single, Lisa appeared on the RuPaul Show, but , inexplicably, did not sing the song (or any others, for that matter).
In reference to Lisa's thick Rochdale accent and working-class background (and likely in tribute to all she had managed to accomplish) Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays) once said that Lisa's family "makes mine look posh".
[edit] See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
