Dalbello Tribute Page - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Lisa Dalbello (born 1958 as "Lisa Dal Bello" in Toronto (Weston) is a Canadian recording artist and songwriter. 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. (Alanis Morissette, a Dalbello fan, followed a similar career path and musical transformation 10 years later in the 1990s.)
Recording career
Signing with Capitol Records out of L.A. when she was 17, her self-titled debut album in 1977, produced by David Foster, won her a Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist. Strangely, she was nominated for the same award a second time, for her 1978 second album Pretty Girls, although she did not win.
After Dalbello's third album, in 1981, she took a break from recording to re-evaluate her creative and personal priorities. However, David Bowie's former Spiders From Mars guitarist Mick Ronson saw a CBC Television documentary on her while working at a 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 Queensr..che, and "Animal".
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 4 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 Saleo 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.
EMI released the album She in 1987. That album's singles, "Tango" and "Black on Black", were Dalbello's biggest hits. "Black on Black" was also featured on the 9 1/2 Weeks soundtrack. The success of She allowed her to tour extensively, particularly throughout Europe.
In 1991, not long after she moved from Toronto to L.A., Ronson and Dalbello discussed collaborating again. However, everything was put on hold because of a downturn in Ronson's health. Sadly, Ronson died of liver failure in 1993.
Three years later, Dalbello released whore in 1996 for EMI in Europe where she returned 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 Duranâ€™s John Taylor and Boz Scaggs ("Miss Sun" from his 1980 album "Hits"), her vocals have appeared on records for Cher, 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. Lisa also sang on the title song on Rupert Hine's Thinkman project's first album "The Formula" in 1986.
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". Queensr..che covered "Gonna Get Close to You". Hauteville covered "Immaculate Eyes". Julie Masse covered "Devious Nature".
Songwriter & producer for other artists
She has not released another album since 1996 and has primarily focused on producing and writing for other artists such as Heart, Julian Lennon, Nena, as well as 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. Her voice work also expanded into areas of documentary work as well as character voices for the TV anime cartoon series [Sailor Moon]. 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.
Since 2002, she has been the brand announcer voice for the Canadian cable news network, CBC Newsworld and additionally, her voice can be 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.
Discography
* Lisa Dal Bello (1977) * Pretty Girls (1979) * Drastic Measures (1981) * whomanfoursays (1984) * she (1989) * whore (1996)
External link
* Behind The Veil - a Dalbello fan site contains more information and links - dalbello.4x2.net
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Dalbello"

My Interests

Dear Lisa,

I put this page together in a tribute to you as an artist, producer and as a wonderful person! When I sent you that comment back in January about the problems I was having buying your Whomanfoursays cd, I never expected a response from one of my favorite singers of all time. When you sent me that first MySpace message I was so excited I almost fell off my chair! Then when you offered to send me an autographed copy of the cd yourself and kept writing to me, I could not believe it!

I know how incredibly busy you are with your career, and I just want you to know that your positive and encouraging messages helped me through a really rough time. I am glad to say those bad times are behind me now and things are going really well!

It was suggested to me that a good way to learn more about designing pages and learning things on here would be to start a secondary site and practice!

I thought of you right away as a theme for this page and I have learned a lot doing it! I hope you will take it as the compliment it is meant to be, to your music and to you!

I just have to mention the article below about the making of the Whore album! The quote about the title song " Dalbello at her Psychotic Weirdest " translates to me as an Aquarian as" Dalbello at her most brilliant and unique!!"

I hope Lisa that you and anyone visiting this page finds it interesting and colorful!! This page was made with love, your friend DM aka Phoenix

SPECIAL THANKS TO - My friends Roxy and Wenchy for all their help and advice in making this page! You two totally rock! I am lucky to have you as my friends! xxx

I'd like to meet:

Patti Smith - Dancing Barefoot - Acoustic Live

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The Pretenders - Creep - Live

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Pink - Dear Mr. President - Live at Wembley Stadium

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The Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again

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Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole

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Dilana - Lithium - Rockstar Supernova

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Music:

Lisa Dal Bello grew up entertaining family and friends in their Woodbridge, Ontario home, singing traditional folk songs and showing off her early - but evident special talents. The family moved to Toronto where at the age of thirteen she was already touring with a 70's pop revival and had won several amateur talent contests. The next few years saw her gain national attention while appearing in such TV variety shows as Keith Hampshire's Music Machine, Singalong Jubilee and The Bobby Vinton Show, as well as doing some work on commercials.

The added national attention helped earn the 19 year old a contract with MCA in 1977. With future mega-producer David Foster (who co-wrote 3 of the tracks), she released a self-titled album of dance/disco numbers in time for the Christmas rush and was quickly heralded as Toronto's dance diva to rival Montreal's Patsy Gallant, who dominated the Canadian female dance scene at the time. And though nothing charted, Lisa did earn a Juno the next year for most promising female vocalist.

Her follow up was PRETTY GIRLS, released in the summer of '79. Produced again by Bob Monaco and Al Ciner, the album took a straighter approach to the pop music on the airwaves. The title track, "Talisman" and "Hollywood" all helped gain her exposure on a broader level and were staples in the clubs around the country. She also followed up her 'most promising' Juno 2 years earlier with one that year for 'best female artist'.

By the time DRASTIC MEASURES was released in '81, it was becoming evident that the singer/songwriter was growing less content with the image the label was trying to push on her. "Don't Want To Stand In Your Way" was the first single, followed by "Never Get To Heaven" and "She Wants To Know". Her growing desire to do things her own way led her to take the next few years off while attending York University. Her other passion in life, poetry, was also heavy on her priority list, expanding her style of writing and helping find herself as a musician. It was during this period that "Don't Get Mad Get Even" was recorded by both Helix in and Lydia Taylor in 1982. Meanwhile this off-time saw a CBC documentary on Lisa seen by Mick Ronson, producer/writer and former guitarist with David Bowie.

They began recording in Los Angeles in '83 and the tapes were taken to Capitol Records. Now simply going by her last name, she released the critically-acclaimed WHOMANFORSAYS the next year. The album took a hard right from the teeny-bopper/dance diva image. Now Dal Bello was being tauted as Canada's answer to Kate Bush, but more diverse. Her new-aged avante garde persona was backed by a sleeker, artistically creative sound. The lead-off single was the erotic and provocative smash "Gonna Get Close To You" and was backed by "Guilty By Association". The raw tribal beats of "Animal" were indicative of the face paint Dal Bello wore for the album jacket and the track's 12" single became a staple of the new genre of night clubs. Her growing reputation as a songwriter was also being noticed, when Queensryche covered "Gonna Get Close To You" the same year.

She took on a project in '85 working with Nena (99 Luftballons), transcribing the German lyrics to IT'S ALL IN THE GAME and helping with the English version of the album. She also participated that same year in the Northen Lights project album, "Tears Are Not Enough", a benefit record for the victims of the Ethiopian famine.

After moving to England, she began work on her next project, which was also to include major input from Ronson. But his escalading feuds with Capitol forced him to bow out of the sessions. Dal Bello finished the album, now nearly a year over due, while overseeing the final sound herself, and released SHE in 1989. Backed by the single "Black On Black", later covered by Heart, the album continued where its predecessor left off. Still experimenting with a variety of sounds and incorporating her many influences, other tracks included "Baby Doll", "Tango" and the sultry "Intimate Secrets". The carry-over from the problems with Ronson caused Dal Bello to leave Capitol by year's end.

Now free to pursue her career the only way she'd have it, her way, she again began writing some new material with Ronson through most of 1991. However Ronson's failing health resulted in mini tours being cancelled and recording sessions postponed. He succumbed to cancer in the spring of '93. Now destitute without her partner, Dal Bello dropped out of the music scene for the next few years while she re-evaluated herself as both a performer/song-writer and as an artist. She stayed active writing for other people, including "Way To Your Heart", for Julian Lennon's album PHOTOGRAPH SMILE in 1995.

She returned to Canada and began working with her brother Stefano in Toronto on her next project. WHORE came out in '97 amid much anticipation from both critics and audiences alike. The single "Eleven" was supported by the avante garde "Yippie", the title track and "Revenge Of Sleeping Beauty".

Dal Bello began her career in the peak of the disco craze. Not content with the image thrust upon her, she quickly shed the faux pas sheet and grew into one of the business' most sought after songwriters, working for such artists as Motown Queen Patti LaBelle, Nena and her 99 Luftballons, Julie Masse when she left The Parachute Club and Canadian metal gods Helix to name but a few. She has always made it a point to not get involved in a project unless she can do it her way, always finding new buttons to push and controversies to stir up, paving the way for many of today's artists along the way.

Movies:

Dalbello - Gonna Get Close To You - Whomanfoursays
Dalbello - Gonna Get Close To You - Rare- German TV
Dalbello - Tango - She
Dalbello - eLeVeN - Whore
Dalbello - Wait for an Answer - Whomanfoursays
Dalbello - Why Stand Alone - She

Television:

THE MAKING OF THE WHORE ALBUM -Despite Dalbello's long absence from the recording world, she was eagerly welcomed back by the Canadian music press as well. Because of her powerful voice and aggressive persona, comparisons were drawn between Dalbello and the surprising successful Alanis Morissette. However, she refused to take credit for paving the way for other female rockers like Morissette. As she explained to Jane Stevenson of the Toronto Sun, "someone like Alanis has a sense of angst, a sense of unrest within herself and that's coming from her personal experiences which are different from mine." Dalbello credited women rockers such as Chrissie Hynde (of the {Pretenders), Annie Lennox (of the Eurythmics) and Patti Smith as paving the way for her and others.
whore received favourable reviews from critics upon its release in mid-1996. Writing in the British magazine Frontiers, music critic Peter Sims said,"As a whole, it sounds very contemporary but without sacrificing or compromising Dalbello's unique style. If anything, whore is her most extreme album to date." The songs on the album display a range of emotions, from bittersweet compositions and gentle ballads to songs with a "pounding beat and funky bass lines." Sound distortions and processed vocals are also employed. Sims described the title song as "Dalbello at her psychotic weirdest with much of the lyrics spoken."
The cover art for whore photographed by photographer and video director Floria Sigismondi (David Bowie, Marylin Manson) shows a sculpture of Dalbello's torso mounted on a pedestal and set against a blood-red wall. As she explained to Billboard, "I wanted something reflecting what you can become when you place your self-esteem into the hands of someone else. It's the me I could become if I don't remind myself of the things I believe in. It speaks for the record and the path I went through to make it."

Books:

NOTABLE COMMENTS!!

Heroes:

Lisa's Heroes are her Mum + Papa + Her Brother!

Also U.S. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald!