Tina Schlieske profile picture

Tina Schlieske

Evil Gal Blues

About Me



"For those who worship the ground that Jewel, Ani Difranco or any other independent female artist walks on, you've been paying homage to the wrong diva." - Adam Jonas, Iowa State Daily (Ames, IA.)

Tina Schlieske was born in Chicago and raised in the music hub of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her mother - herself the daughter of a Russian Opera diva, adored music and passed her passion along to her children. Tina was weaned on 70's FM radio and the music her Mother blasted from her stereo. Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, the Beatles, and Elvis were all early inspirations. But then an Aretha Franklin tape her sister Laura gave to her sealed Tina's musical fate.

She had her first guitar at 13, and her first electric guitar at 16 and taught herself out of the chord books she found in her sister's piano bench. As a teenager with an independent streak, Tina formed a band, Tina & the B-Sides, a rock/soul/blues concoction that went on to become one of the most popular bands in the Midwest.

Starting her own independent label Movement Records along with an aggressive touring schedule of back-to-back two hour plus shows and an onstage energy that ignited the crowds earned Tina a reputation that was hard to ignore. Seymour Stein from Sire records went to see a Tina and the B-Sides show at the famed CBGB's in New York and she was signed the next day.

" A white soul singer from Minneapolis? Don't laugh. Like Janis Joplin 30 years before her, Tina Schlieske collides guitar-based rock with gutbucket R&B and puts on a frenetic live show." - Terry Crawford, Shreveport Sun (Shreveport, LA.)

Tina stayed with the label for 4 years and recorded 2 albums with Sire, Salvation (produced by Paul Fox) and It's All Just the Same (produced by John Fields). They had songs in three major motion pictures, "The Traveler", "A Simple Plan" and "Very Bad Things" as well as major TV commercials such as Motorola. Tina and band shared stages with acts like Lenny Kravitz, Susan Tedeschi, the Indigo Girls, The Wallflowers and Etta James. Moreover, Tina had collaborated with such diverse artists as Stewart Copeland, Me'Shell Ndegeocello and Minneapolis native Dan Wilson. During that time, she was also considered to play the role of Janis Jolpin in Paramount Picture's "Piece of My Heart" a film about the late singer's life. After 12 years of fronting her band the B-Sides, releasing 8 records, selling nearly 100,000 CD's (mostly from word of mouth) and touring for an epic decade-and-a-half in front of throngs of passionately loyal fans, Tina wanted a change.

One of the changes was a decision to leave Sire and go back to the band's grassroots once again. To celebrate their new independence, Tina and the B-Sides played two nights at Minneapolis' First Ave to sell out crowds and recorded the event. The result was their 1999 double live CD, The Last Polka, which became the band's swansong.

Tina moved West after the band's breakup and for all of 2000 she toured the country solo with just her and her acoustic guitar, playing the small clubs that had been so supportive during the B-Sides' reign. Additionally, she formed a cover band to pay homage to her early inspirations, Lola and the Red Hots. Lola released two CD's including the unendingly popular Christmas album, "Have Yourself A Red Little Christmas"

She also began exploring new and different outlets for her talents. In 2001, Stevie Ray Vaughn's band Double Trouble approached Tina offering her the lead singer/rhythm guitarist slot. Throughout that spring and summer Tina stunned hard-nosed blues-rock fans and critics alike with her gritty voice and passionate performances.

" The highlight of the set was when DT blew the roof off of the Tabernacle with the cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll" sung by Tina Schlieske. If Robert Plant had been present he surely would have shrieked and danced" - Adam Geitgey, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, GA.)

But Tina decided not to stay on permanently with DT, and returned home to write new material for her solo debut, something she had been putting off doing for too long. With several records' worth of material, Tina prepared to enter yet another phase of her career, this time on her own.

Her new album "Slow Burn" is out now and getting rave reviews. Tinas debut solo effort can be described as Alt-Country-Soul-Rock that was recorded with some of the best musicians around such as Don Heffington (Dylan, Emmy Lou Harris), Dave Kalish (Rickie Lee Jones), Benmont Tench ( Tom Petty), Shane Fontayne (Sting), Marc Ford (Wallflowers), Sheldon Gomberg (Ryan Adams, Beck) and the great James Burton (Elvis Presley) all contributing.

Tina is in the process of recording her 2nd solo album with old pal Chris Layton (drummer for Double Trouble), Sheldon Gomberg (bass), Jeff Young (keys - Sting, Bonnie Raitt) and David Kalish (gtr). It's a collection of old blues songs by women artists like Big Momma Thornton, Memphis Minnie, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Etta James, Aretha and more. Look for it in late Spring of 2007.


Angola 3 Campaign Music Video

- Tina's Elvis Review -

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 7/29/2005
Band Website: TinaSchlieske.com/
Band Members: IN THE MIDWEST: Patrik Tanner - Guitar Jon James - Bass Matt Novachis - Drums Brian Z - KeysON THE WEST COAST: On The West Coast: Sheldon Gomberg - Bass Bear - Guitar Austin Beedy - Drums Gary Sananita - Bass
Influences: Bowie, Iggy Pop, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley, Gram Parsons, the Band, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Marc Bolan & T.Rex, Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Big Mama Thorton, the Beatles, the Stones, Loretta Lynn, Janis Joplin, Lucinda Williams, Al Green, Donnie Hathaway, Stevie Wonder...
Sounds Like: Former band was Tina and the B-Sides"Tina sounds like..The unholy love child of Janis Joplin, Joan Osborne, and the goddess of Southern Baptist Soul. Goes with: Saturday-night sinning and Sunday-morning spirit-cleansing." J.C. - Bitch Magazine
Record Label: Movement Recording Co.
Type of Label: None

My Blog

ATTENTION EMAIL LISTERS!!!

We need you now more than ever&Please up-date your email address if you would like to continue receiving emails just go to www.tinaschlieske.com and subcribe!I know that I don't email you very often b...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:54:00 PST

The long days of summer&

Hello everyone&just a quickie to let you know of some up and coming shows&We have our annual TINA'S ELVIS show at the Cabooze www.cabooze.com coming up on AUGUST 15TH &it should be a doozy once again ...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:28:00 PST

Pride.

Well it was another good one&I hope you all has as good of a time that we did this past weekend&it all started for us at the School Of The Wise in Victoria, MN&it was a little more mellow than the oth...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:08:00 PST

At last&my summer has come along&

So I got some news&I am moments away from releasing my blues CD I did last September&it's taken so long due to many things that you need not worry about&the only thing you need to know is that I'm hop...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:12:00 PST

DO SOMETHING!

hi everyone...there is some momentum about the Angola 3 and if we can just keep it going some well deserved justice may be done...check it out here...please cut and paste web address...Watch and comme...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:59:00 PST

Now it really has been a long time&.

I have no excuses except that as John Lennon would say, life happens when yer busy making other plans&To be honest I haven’t really known what to say&sometimes something will happen to you and e...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:53:00 PST

Where were you 30 years ago on August 16th, 1977

I was in Apple Valley, MN on Garland Ave playing outside with Carla Underwood and Kim Olsen ran over crying telling us that Elvis had just died&I didn't really get it back then&I remember thinking it ...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Wed, 15 Aug 2007 05:48:00 PST

just a little hello...

Happy summer everyone& Well it seems like we are in the are getting into the dog days of summer as they say and if global warming has it's way we'll all have a nice hot one!&(more)So I'm just writing ...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:25:00 PST

finally some updates by T!!!

Hello friends and neighbors&Well what can I say&I haven't really blogged lately, been having bloggers block you could say&some news for you&THE KING&so as you may or may not know I've been doing this ...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 03:04:00 PST

Rock This - Cure That

Ever wanted Tina to play a house concert at your house? Here's your chance - A live auction will take place at O'Gara's (in St. Paul) on May 5th when Lola and the Red Hots go Pink for Rock the Cure!On...
Posted by Tina Schlieske on Sat, 28 Apr 2007 07:07:00 PST