User:Starfarmer/Liza Pesnell
Leli Pesnell was a songwriter and producer who worked in various genres of music, including pop, adult contemporary, rock, dance, hip hop and rap. She was born 1962-12-02 as Liza Sonico Manaloto in Angeles City in the Philippines and emigrated in 1975 with her family to Tucson, Arizona in the United States.
A graduate of Pima College in Tucson, Liza left Tucson with her future husband, David Pesnell (a concert promoter) and moved to Los Angeles, California, where she meet David’s close friend William Zimmerman (a future writing partner) and several other individuals in the music business, including Alonzo Williams (World Class Wreck’n Cru) (2), songwriter/producer Dana Meyers, Booker, Ice T, Whitney Houston and others.
She began writing lyrics as a "Ghost Writer" for various rappers and hip hop artists including MC Eight, NWA, Scar Face, The Dogg Pound, Too Short, Cypress Hill, L.L. Cool J and several others. Working at Lonzoland Recording Studios in Compton, CA., she worked on the lyrics and beats with partner William Zimmerman and while having success in the rap/hip hop genre of music, they never took credit for their work with these artist so that they could continue working with other established recording artists in the “main stream” of music. She always found it difficult working with the various hard core rappers who would change her work in the studio into a more hard core lyric format, including the Sony Records release by MC Eight “We Come Strapped”, which reviews called “an unleashed lyrical slaughter throughout the entire album, killing everything he sees with no remorse”. She would not accept her platinum award of the album due to the violent nature and path that MC Eight took their music.
Through their production company she wrote songs, produced and worked on the productions for other recording artists under the name of “Leli” and other names depending on the type of music (Leli, Zimmerman/Leli), but found that the demands for "Ghost Writers" far exceeded the ability to get credit for their work. Ghost Writing in the music industry is as common as ghost writing a book, giving the artists recording the song the ability to claim writers rights. Other recording artists she has worked with in the capacity of a writer, lyricist, producer, production or promotion include Whitney Houston, Destiny’s Child, Cyndi Lauper, Mariah Carey, Chicago, Thompson Twins and others.
In 1997, Leli, along with William Zimmerman and her husband, David Pesnell, formed a rock band called Cutting Edge. Upon forming the band and recording half the album, they formed their own record company, a new publishing company, a concert company and with these moves, were able for the first time control their music and get the credit they deserved for writing the songs. The three even managed themselves and the band, while promoting the band's concerts themselves. The first single “D.C. Shuffle” a song that poked fun at various politicians went number one on dance charts. Follow up singles from the album that also charted included “Without You” (# 26 on R&R AC Charts and #16 on AC FMQB Charts), “Love Police” (#20 on Gavin Pop Charts and FMQB AC Charts and #22 on Radio Direct X International Charts), “It’s Time” (R&R Rock Charts), “Judas of D.C.”(#52 on R&R Rock Charts and #24 on Radio Direct X International Rock Charts)” (3) (4). Their follow up album included hit singles “Every Time I Try” (#1 on Radio Direct X AC international charts and #3 in the the U.S. on FMQB AC Charts), "F--- the IRS", (#19 on Radio Direct X Alternative/Rock Charts) , “Venomous Love Affair” (#19 on Radio Direct X International rock charts), “Your Love is My Oxygen” and others (5) (6). The songs written for the albums is a solid mixture of love ballads, and rock songs with the themes running from love to political protests. In an interview with Celebrity News (7), she said that “with all the accomplishments she has had in her career in the studio, whether it was production, lyrics, song writing, advising, etc., she was most satisfied with her and Cutting Edge’s success, as they owned their own publishing and record company.” “It is very rare that an indie artist can accomplish what we have done.” Even though the songs they wrote for Cutting Edge would have enjoyed greater success with established recording artists from the major labels, there was and is a deeper satisfaction for what they have accomplished with Cutting Edge and what the future would hold.
During the 1990s, unknown to the public or the recording artists and labels she had worked with, Leli fought both breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Through the Liza M. Pesnell Foundation she and her husband contributed funds for cancer research and care for cancer victims and their families.
On 2004-03-11 Leli lost her battle with cancer, leaving behind a legacy of over 120 recorded songs.
References:
1) ASCAP (2002) 2) Cutting Edge Biography (1998) 3) Billboard 1998, Campus News 1999 4) Thunder Quest Record 2002 5) Humongously Yours (insert) 1998 6) The Big 14 N’ More (insert) 2005 7) Celebrity News