| Hope Sandoval | |
|---|---|
Performing in New York, 2010 |
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| Background information | |
| Born | June 24, 1966 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres | Dream pop Folk rock |
| Occupations | singer |
| Instruments | vocals, harmonica, percussion, xylophone, guitar |
| Associated acts | Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions Mazzy Star Opal The Jesus And Mary Chain Massive Attack |
| Website | www.hopesandoval.com |
Hope Sandoval (born June 24, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter who is the lead singer for Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions.[1]
Sandoval has toured and collaborated with other artists, including vocals on Massive Attack's "Paradise Circus" from their 2010 album Heligoland.[2] Recent interest in her unique vocal style has been ignited by the release of "Gears of War 3" trailer, featuring Mazzy Star's "Into Dust".
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Hope Sandoval grew up in a Catholic Mexican-American family in East Los Angeles, California.[1] She attended Mark Keppel High School. In 1986, she formed the folk music duo Going Home with Sylvia Gomez, and recorded one album produced by David Roback, which is yet to be released.[1]
Sandoval performed with the band Opal in the late 1980s alongside David Roback and long-time Roback collaborator Kendra Smith. After Smith's abrupt departure during a tour, Sandoval took over lead vocals. At the end of the tour, Roback and Sandoval began writing together and formed the alternative/dream pop band Mazzy Star.[1]
The first Mazzy Star album, She Hangs Brightly, was released in 1990. While not a commercial success, this album did establish Mazzy Star as a band with a unique sound. The band had a surprise breakthrough hit single released in October 1993. "Fade into You" — from its second album So Tonight That I Might See — was recorded one year before it became a success. There is a continuity between the sounds and moods established on Mazzy Star's first two albums and its third and last album to date, Among My Swan.
After 1996, Sandoval collaborated with a series of artists, including Air, Bert Jansch, Death in Vegas, Le Volume Courbe, Richard X, The Chemical Brothers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Twilight Singers, Vetiver, and Massive Attack.[3]
Sandoval formed The Warm Inventions in 2000 and released her first solo album Bavarian Fruit Bread in 2001. This album sounds a little different in terms of theme, voice, and instrumentation from that of her work with Mazzy Star. Bert Jansch plays guitar on two tracks, and the album features two covers, "Butterfly Mornings" from the film The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) and Jesus and Mary Chain's "Drop".[4] The Warm Inventions released two EPs, At the Doorway Again in 2000 and Suzanne in 2002 but did not win commercial success, with one video on MTV and little radio play. Sandoval recorded a song, "Wild Roses", for a compilation CD released by Air France, In the Air (2008).
Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions released their second album, Through the Devil Softly, on September 29, 2009.
Sandoval and her band were chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in May 2010 in Minehead, England. The group also played the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York in September 2010 at the request of film director Jim Jarmusch.
During live performances, Sandoval prefers to sing in near-darkness with only a dim backlight, playing the tambourine, harmonica, glockenspiel or shaker.[5] She is reputed to have a shy personality, and rarely interacts with the audience.[6]