Hope Sandoval

Hope Sandoval

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.

Early life and career

Hope Sandoval comes from a large Mexican-American family in East Los Angeles, California.

Hope attended Mark Keppel High School. In 1986 she formed a folk music duo called Going Home with Sylvia Gomez, and recorded one album produced by David Roback which was never released.

Opal and Mazzy Star

Hope started to sing and perform with the band Opal in the late 1980s alongside David Roback, and originally played second fiddle to long-time Roback collaborator Kendra Smith. At a gig in Hammersmith, UK, Smith stormed off stage after just a couple of songs, and the foundations of Mazzy Star were laid as Hope stepped up to take on the lead vocals. The two began writing together and renamed their alternative/dream pop band Mazzy Star.

The first Mazzy Star album, She Hangs Brightly was released in 1990. While not a commercial success, this album did establish Hope and David as a unique band with a sound that has since been often imitated.

They had what many consider a surprise breakthrough hit single released in October 1993. "Fade into You" — from their second album So Tonight That I Might See — was recorded one year before it became a success.

The tracks on the third Mazzy Star album, Among My Swan continue the sound and feel established on the first two albums.

Post-Mazzy Star

After 1996, Hope began a career of working with other bands. She 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. Hope sings on The Chemical Brothers' "Asleep From Day" track on their Surrender album. She will appear on Massive Attack's next album, Weather Underground (2009).

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions

Hope formed The Warm Inventions and released their first album called Bavarian Fruit Bread, in 2001. This album sounds little different in terms of theme, voice, and instrumentation from that of her work with Mazzy Star.

Subsequently, The Warm Inventions released three EPs but received very little commercial success, one video on MTV, and very little radio play.

Hope recorded a song, "Wild Roses", for a compilation CD released by Air France titled In The Air (2008).

Hope and The Warm Inventions will release their second album, Through The Devil Softly, on September 15, 2009.

In live performance, Hope prefers to play in near darkness with only a dim backlight.

External links

• Hope Sandoval official site
• Alan McGee on Hope Sandoval and genesis of Mazzy Star in his Guardian Column