Dalbello

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Dalbello
Birth name Lisa Dal Bello
Born (1958-05-22) 22 May 1958[1]
Origin Weston, Toronto, Canada
Genres Rock
hard rock
alternative rock
metal
Occupations Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Drums, Clavinet, Bass, Keytar, Vocals
Years active 1977–present

Dalbello (born 1958 as Lisa Dal Bello) is a Canadian recording artist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and voice actress. She released three albums in the pop and pop/rock genre in her late teens, from 1977 through 1981 under her full name. In 1984, she re-emerged as Dalbello, with an edgier brand of alternative rock.

Early life

Born to Italian and British parents,[2] Dalbello grew up in Weston, Toronto, and then with her family moved to the Maple/Woodbridge/Kleniburg area. At age 11, she began playing guitar and writing her own songs, performing at the Mariposa Folk Festival and also at the Fiddlers' Green club in Toronto.[3] The first song she wrote was reportedly a protest song called "Oh, Why?".[4]

Lying about her age,[5] at age 13 she joined a government sponsored educational music program, Summer Sounds '71,[6] which auditioned students at various southern Ontario middle and high schools, with the objective of selecting 30 singers, songwriters, musicians and performers who would receive the opportunity to spend the first month north of the city of Toronto at a summer camp, collaborating creatively, forming small music groups and bands for which they rehearsed and built a full show that toured and performed at various events throughout Ontario for the second month.

Recording career

Signing with MCA Records out of L.A. when she was 17, Dalbello's self-titled debut album in 1977, produced by David Foster, won her a 1978 Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year.[7] The following year after the release of her second album Pretty Girls, she received her 2nd Juno nomination, in the category of 1979 Female Vocalist of the Year.

After Dalbello's third album, Drastic Measures she took a break from recording to re-evaluate her creative and personal priorities and to work on her poetry.[8] She told Billboard, "I felt there was no point in making records if I hadn't found a sense of how I fitted in musically, and how to express myself. I hadn't yet learned how to convey my musical ideas to the people I was working with."[9] David Bowie's former Ziggy Stardust guitarist Mick Ronson saw a CBC Television documentary on her while working at Phase One recording studio in Toronto and convinced her to record another album.

That album, whomanfoursays (a homophone for "human forces"), was co-produced by Dalbello and Ronson. It was also her first album recorded as Dalbello, and marked her transformation into an edgy rock artist. The transformation worked – the album was even more successful on the Canadian pop charts than her earlier albums had been. The album spawned the hit singles "Gonna Get Close to You", later covered by Queensrÿche, and "Animal" that was covered by Heavens Gate. Dalbello was nominated again in 1984 for a Juno for Female Vocalist of the Year. whomanfoursays' garnered 4 Juno nominations: 2 nominations for Dalbello - 1985 Producer of the Year, and for 1985 Vocalist of the Year. The third nomination for whomanfoursays' went to Lenny De Rose for Recording Engineer of the Year and the fourth nomination went to Art Director Heather Brown and Photography Daborah Samuels for Best Album Graphic. In 1985, Dalbello was nomimated for a 7th Juno in the category of Female Vocalist of the Year.

In 1986, Dalbello wrote the song, "Black On Black" for the 9 1/2 Weeks Soundtrack, and worked with other artists including Duran Duran's John Taylor, Heart, the band Nena, Glass Tiger and their producer Jim Vallance, and Howard Jones' producer and artist, Rupert Hine.[10] Shortly after she began work a co-production with Rupert Hine, but her manager refused, suggesting that she look for a more commercial producer.[11]

Ronson and Dalbello planned to record a second album, however, Ronson was passed over by both her record label, and her manager at that time, Roger Davies, over Dalbello's strong objections. Disappointed, and in an attempt to ensure the creative integrity of the Ronson/Dalbello production follow up, Dalbello submitted four self-produced song demos to her U.S. label and manager, only to have them rejected because they wanted a "real" producer.

Partly out of frustration and partly as a practical joke, Dalbello re-submitted the song demos under a pseudonym, "Bill Da Salleo", which was nothing more than a simple anagram of her name. To her surprise, her label and manager excitedly called her up saying that they loved the "new" demos and believed "Bill" was the perfect producer for the project.

Dalbello continued to produce the album under the pseudonym, managing to keep both her label and manager from visiting the sessions by booking the studio time late at night, and only broke the "news" of "Bill's premature death" to her Canadian A&R person Deane Cameron, just prior to delivering the album to the label, and shortly after Cameron called her out of concern that the label had no signed production agreement between Bill Da Salleo and themselves. Cameron, a maverick in Canadian music circles who was the first record label A&R person to have signing autonomy from his U.S. label counterpart out of L.A., reportedly laughed out loud, proclaiming that Dalbello had "truly kicked the L.A. A&R offices' asses." However, with the knowledge that Bill Da Salleo was actually Dalbello, her manager began to question the strength of the album's production and commercial viability. It was suggested that half the album be scrapped and new songs be recorded with a new producer and other songwriters. The album was delayed 18 months as a result.[12]

EMI released the album she in 1987. The album's singles, "Tango" and "Black on Black", were Dalbello's biggest hits. The success of she allowed her to tour extensively, particularly through Europe. After the album's release, Dalbello ended her contract with Capitol Records and decided to relocate to Los Angeles in 1990.[13]

During her time in L.A., Dalbello spent the next four years expanding her musical contacts and writing songs for other artists such as Branford Marsalis and Julian Lennon, and co-writing with successful songwriters Carole Bayer Sager, Frannie Golde, Bruce Roberts, Holly Knight and Gerald O'Brien. In 1991 Ronson and Dalbello discussed collaborating again. However, everything was put on hold because of a downturn in Ronson's health. Ronson died of liver failure in 1993.

After the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake, Dalbello's former manager, Roger Davies, asked her if she wanted to record another album. Through Davies' efforts, a recording deal with EMI Electrola, which is based in Germany, was forthcoming. Dalbello moved back to Toronto to complete work on her new album.[14] She released whore in 1996, which received favorable reviews from critics upon its release. After the album's release she returned to Europe to tour for the rest of that year.

Recording guest appearances

In addition to having appeared on Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson's solo album Victor, contributing the lead vocal to the song "Start Today", and having recorded duets with Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Boz Scaggs ("Miss Sun" from his 1980 album "Hits"), her vocals have appeared on records for Cher, Richard Marx, Heart, Alice Cooper, Patti LaBelle, Toto, Nena (for whom she wrote an entire translation album) and Canadian artists Rough Trade, Kim Mitchell and Glass Tiger.

Cover versions of her music

Melissa Manchester successfully took "Pretty Girls" into the US and Canadian Top 40 in 1979. Heart covered "Wait for an Answer" and did a version of "Black on Black" called "Black on Black II". Queensrÿche covered "Gonna Get Close to You". Hauteville covered "Immaculate Eyes". Julie Masse covered "Devious Nature". Heavens Gate covered "Animal". Her song "Dont Get Mad Get Even" was recorded in 1983 by both the Canadian Metal band Helix for their 3rd album No Rest for the Wicked, and by The Lydia Taylor Band for their EP "Bitch", released on A&M Records in Canada and Passport Records in the USA.

Songwriter and producer for other artists

Dalbello has not released another album since 1996 and has primarily focused on producing and writing for other artists such as Heart, Julian Lennon, Nena, and Patti LaBelle, whom she also produced. Some of the artists and writers she has co-written with are her friends Bryan Adams, Julian Lennon and Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, as well as David Foster, Carole Bayer-Sager, Holly Knight, Chaka Khan, Branford Marsalis, Damhnait Doyle and Dan Hill.

Television commercials and documentary voice work

From the age of 14 and throughout the span of her recording career, Dalbello has been an A-list session vocalist and voiceover artist on some of the most well known TV and radio commercials in North America, for which she now also writes and arranges music. In 1982 she sang the theme to the ABC TV movie "The Sins Of Dorian Gray" starring Anthony Perkins and Belinda Bauer. Her voice work also expanded into areas of documentary work as well as character voices for the TV anime cartoon series Sailor Moon, her most known role as Queen Nehelenia. She performed the song "Always" for the Cheer detergent commercial "Coming Home" that aired in 2003, which was so popular and garnered so many inquires, that Cheer commissioned her to do a full length version which they made available for download from their website. Her song Faith in You (With All Your Heart) was used to promote the launch of the Ford Focus automobile in North America; commercials featuring it played in movie theatres and on television.

From 2002 to 2008, she was the brand announcer voice for the Canadian cable news network, CBC Newsworld and additionally, her voice was heard introducing CBC News anchor Peter Mansbridge on the network's flagship nightly news and current affairs program, The National. She also was featured on Degrassi: The Next Generation Theme, the theme song for the first three seasons of the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation.

In late 2011 Dalbello recorded three 30-second songs, "Every Moment", "Lift You Up", and "Something Good", for The Keg chain of steakhouse restaurants in Canada and the United States.

In late 2012, The Juno Awards' online series, Juno TV, interviewed Dalbello, who shared her thoughts on her early career and 1978 JUNO awards experience. The interview aired in June 2013, and was also one of her first recorded appearances in over 15 years.

Personal life

Dalbello currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Awards & Nominations

  • 1978 Juno Award Nomination & Win for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1979 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1980 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1982 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1984 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1984 Juno Award Nomination for Producer of the Year
  • 1985 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year

Discography

Main article: Dalbello discography

Filmography

  • Melanie (1982)

References

  1. ↑ "Lisa Dalbello's personal facebook page". 
  2. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  3. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  4. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  5. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  6. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  7. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  8. ↑ Bush, John. "Biography: Lisa Dal Bello". Allmusic. Retrieved 23 May 2010. . Dalbello received Juno nomination in 1980 for Female Vocalist of The Year and in 1983 was again nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year.
  9. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  10. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  11. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  12. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  13. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt
  14. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/mickfltwd2002/Lisabio.txt

External links

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