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Wendy & Lisa

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Wendy & Lisa

Musicians Wendy Melvoin (vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and Lisa Coleman (vocals, keyboards) are a musical duo known as Wendy and Lisa (occasionally also known as The Girl Bros.). Best known for their collaborations with Prince in the early-mid 1980s, Melvoin and Coleman began their career as a duo in 1986. They currently score all of the music for the NBC shows Crossing Jordan and Heroes.

Biography

The two were childhood friends, both from musical families which often performed together; Wendy's father, Mike Melvoin, was an in-demand session musician and was president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) in the 1980s, while Lisa's father, Gary Coleman (not the actor) was also an in-demand session musician for jazz artists.

The Revolution

In 1980, Lisa Coleman replaced Gayle Chapman in Prince's touring band. Coleman was asked to contribute vocals to several tracks over his next few albums. In 1983, Dez Dickerson left the band over religious conflicts. Coleman suggested Melvoin as a replacement. Prince accepted Melvoin into the band as they began to record Purple Rain. The film and album were a phenomenon, turning Prince and the newly named The Revolution into superstars. Prince's personal life also became intertwined with Melvoin's when he began dating her twin sister Susannah.

The team of Coleman and Melvoin worked extremely well together. Prince saw this and tapped their talents for the albums following Purple Rain. Their influence was particularly heard on several tracks on the Parade album, the soundtrack to Prince's film Under the Cherry Moon. In an ironic parallel to the conflicts in the film Purple Rain, the duo felt they were not getting the recognition and credit they deserved despite their growing contributions. During 1986 Wendy and Lisa became increasingly disillusioned with Prince's decision to expand the Revolution with non-musicians, such as Wally Safford and Gregory Allen 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 and to go on tour that year with the "Hit and Run" shows. However, Prince felt spurned and by the end of the tour he had already decided he would dissolve The Revolution once the tour was complete. Hence, by October 1986, Coleman and Melvoin (along with Bobby Z.) were dismissed by Prince, disrupting the Dream Factory project that was already completed and effectively dissolving The Revolution.

Contributions

Prince cultivated a number of artists who were eventually labeled "protégés". These artists, often female artists but occasionally bands (like The Family) usually contributed vocals to music that Prince had written music and lyrics for and produced. Because of their sometimes outlandish onstage appearances, the duo of "Wendy and Lisa" (much like Sheila E.) are often miscategorized as being part of Prince's protégé harem.

However, Melvoin and Coleman (like Sheila E.) were clearly professional musicians in their own right. Regardless of critical assessments of either Wendy and Lisa's or Prince's work, the duo definitely had an influence and impact on Prince's sound. The pop/blue eyed soul/funk hybrid can be heard on Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day and Parade. Their influence is also extremely prominent on a number of unreleased songs recorded together with Prince during 1984, 1985 and 1986, during which they would either co-write material, co-produce and co-compose. Prince would often create the basic tracks and leave it to the female duo to finish, adding their own unique embelishments along the way. Prince's music after their departure became significantly more funk-driven, while their more psychedelic and ethereal style can be heard clearly on their first few albums.

On their own

The next year, the duo released an album simply entitled Wendy and Lisa with Columbia Records. The lead single, "Waterfall" received some airplay, and the music video was played on MTV and VH1. The album was a moderate success, but did not approach the sales figures of The Revolution. The sound was a continuation of the ethereal/dance/R&B fusion that had been the hallmark of their work with Prince; many Prince fans that were more fond of his funkier music did not follow the duo's work. They released a follow up album, Fruit at the Bottom, which was not a commercial success.

After a few years, the duo signed with Virgin Records (already their label in Europe) and released Eroica, an album with a more alternative rock feel. They had a minor radio and dance club hit with the single "Strung Out". 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-Nineties, Wendy and Lisa worked on several movie projects with record producer Trevor Horn, including session work with Seal and vocals on the soundtrack for Toys and their first scoring work, for Dangerous Minds. During this period, they worked to record a full length album under Horn's production, however the project (sometimes mistakenly called Friendly Fire by fans and bootleggers) has never been released.

Recently did soundtrack work on episode 3 of The Bionic Woman

Girl Bros. and beyond

Feeling confined by the "Wendy and Lisa" moniker, the duo enlisted alternative producer Tchad Blake (Soul Coughing, Cibo Matto) and released a CD in 1998 under the name "Girl Bros". Their sound had begun to evolve on "Eroica" and while Girl Bros was still pop/funk based, it also could be categorized as alternative music.

Melvoin and Coleman have made numerous contributions to film scores and to television themes (for example, they wrote theme music and background scores for TV-shows such as Crossing Jordan, Carnivàle and their newest venture Heroes). Their latest film score was for Something New, released in February 2006.

As sessionists and producers, they have also appeared, together or separately, on albums by Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Neil Finn, Joni Mitchell, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Michael Penn, Liz Phair, Seal, and Victoria Williams, to name a few. They have been frequent collaborators with k.d. lang, whom they first worked with during Eroica; they have played on all of her subsequent albums. In 2005, Wendy Melvoin produced the first commercial album by The Like.

Melvoin's brother-in-law Doyle Bramhall II is another frequent collaborator; Wendy and Lisa performed on his first and second albums (producing the first) in addition to performing alongside him on several other artists' sessions. In the summer of 2005, Wendy and Lisa performed live as Pacifico in a supergroup band that also included Bramhall, Susannah Melvoin, drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., and hip hop writer/producer Mike Elizondo, Jr. (better known for his work with Eminem and 50 Cent). The set of shows at Hollywood's Largo was marked by special guest performances which included Coleman's sister Cole Ynda, singer Nikka Costa, and Eric Clapton. Another supergroup, Funksway, is featured in the 2006 music documentary Before the Music Dies. That incarnation replaces Abe Laboriel, Jr. with The Roots' ?uestlove and adds Erykah Badu. In addition to their featured performance in the movie, the group played a live set during the 2006 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas to celebrate the film's world premiere.

The duo's somewhat erratic relationship with Prince has continued; in 2006, the duo accompanied Prince on-stage during his performance at the 2006 Brit Awards in London, where they performed such songs as "Fury" and "Purple Rain". It was the first time in 20 years that the three had played together in front of a live audience (Sheila E. also joined the band on-stage).

Prince's 2007 album "Planet Earth" features appearances by Wendy & Lisa on the songs "The One U Wanna C" and "Lion of Judah".

Wendy accompanied Prince at the 07.07.07 concert in Minneapolis where Prince introduced her as "one of my best friends."

Wendy played guitar on Madonna's 2008 album "Hard Candy". The song she played on is "She's Not Me". Pharrell and Madonna actually say Wendy's name in the song.

Discography

Albums

UK singles

  • "Waterfall" (1987)
  • "Sideshow" (1988)
  • "Are You My Baby?" (1989)
  • "Lolly Lolly" (1989)
  • "Satisfaction" (1989)
  • "Satisfaction (Remix)" (1989)
  • "Waterfall '89" (1989)
  • "Strung Out" (1990)
  • "Rainbow Lake" (1990)
  • "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

References

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