Lisa Coleman (musician)
Encyclopedia
Lisa Coleman is an American Emmy® Award winning musician and composer. Coleman plays piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

. She was a member of Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

's backing band The Revolution
The Revolution (band)
The Revolution was an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979 by Prince. Although widely associated with rock music, the band's sound incorporated heavy metal, pop, funk, R&B and hard rock elements. Before their official break-up, The Revolution had released one studio album,...

 from 1980-1986. She is currently one half of the musical duo Wendy & Lisa
Wendy & Lisa
Wendy & Lisa are a music duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the early 1980s and were part of his band The Revolution, before branching out on their own and releasing their debut album in 1987...

, formed with Wendy Melvoin
Wendy Melvoin
Wendy Melvoin is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band The Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy & Lisa....

 in 1986.

Early life

Coleman's mother is Mexican-American visual artist Marylou Ynda-Ciletti. Coleman's father, Gary L. Coleman, was a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 in the 1960s and 70s as part of the collective The Wrecking Crew
The Wrecking Crew (music)
The Wrecking Crew was a nickname coined by the drummer Hal Blaine after the fact for a group of session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who earned wide acclaim in the 1960s. They backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful "groups" of studio musicians in music history...

 and formed a friendship with fellow musician Mike Melvoin
Mike Melvoin
Mike Melvoin is an American jazz pianist.Melvoin began on piano at age three. He studied English at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1959, but decided to pursue a career in music. After moving to Los Angeles in 1961, he played with Frank Rosolino, Leroy Vinnegar, Gerald Wilson, Paul Horn, Terry...

. Their families became close with each other and often played and recorded music together. Lisa Coleman formed a close relationship with Melvoin's daughter Wendy Melvoin
Wendy Melvoin
Wendy Melvoin is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band The Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy & Lisa....

, saying once "we've been familiar with one another since we were in diapers".

Musical career

At age 12, Coleman got her professional start as a keyboardist in the bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...

 band, Waldorf Salad . The band, which also featured her siblings and Jonathan Melvoin
Jonathan Melvoin
Jonathan Melvoin was an American musician active in the 1980s and 1990s.He was the brother of Susannah and Wendy Melvoin of Prince and the Revolution. He first learned to play drums, and was cited by friends and relatives as one of those people who could play anything...

, was signed to A&M records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...

 in 1973.

In 1975, Coleman played a small role as a high school pianist in the Linda Blair
Linda Blair
Linda Denise Blair is an American actress. Blair is best known for her role as the possessed child, Regan, in the 1973 film The Exorcist, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, winning one. She reprised her role in 1977's Exorcist II: The Heretic.-Biography:Blair...

 made-for-TV film Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic
Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic
Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic is a 1975 made-for-TV film about a teenager who becomes an alcoholic.-Plot Summary:Sarah Travis is a 15 year old teenager going through a lot of stress and insecurity. Sarah comes from divorced parents, she lives with her mother and step-father and she...

 .

At the age of 19, a good friend of Coleman's (Niki Yoergler, who worked as a secretary for Prince's personal manager, Steve Fargnoli) brought her to the attention of Prince. After some convincing on both ends, Yoergler got Coleman an audition and she was hired as part of Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

's backing group in 1980 for his Dirty Mind
Dirty Mind
Dirty Mind is the third studio album by American musician Prince, released October 8, 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. Produced, arranged and composed primarily by Prince, it contains prominently sexual lyrics and incorporates musical elements of funk, dance and rock music. The album debuted at number...

album and tour. Coleman had been working as a shipping clerk and teaching piano. She replaced keyboardist Gayle Chapman. Coleman played keyboards for Prince on his Controversy and 1999
1999 (album)
1999 is the fifth studio album by Prince, released on October 27, 1982. It was his first top ten album on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and became the fifth best-selling album of 1983. 1999 was Prince's breakthrough album, but his next album Purple Rain would become his most...

albums, and was a session player for recordings by The Time
The Time (band)
The Time is a funk and dance-pop ensemble formed in 1981. They are close Prince associates and arguably the most successful artists who have worked with him.-Prince, Formation and Success:...

 and Vanity 6
Vanity 6
Vanity 6 was a female vocal trio assembled by Prince in the early 1980s.They released one studio album, which blended the sounds of pop, New Wave, dance music, R&B, and funk.-Formation:...

.

Coleman was in a long-term relationship with her musician friend Wendy Melvoin
Wendy Melvoin
Wendy Melvoin is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band The Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy & Lisa....

, with whom she collaborated frequently. In an interview Coleman states she was approached by Prince while on the road with Melvoin to play the guitars at sound check; Prince asked Melvoin to join his band that night. Melvoin replaced guitarist Dez Dickerson
Dez Dickerson
Dez Dickerson is an American guitarist and singer who was a member of Prince's former band, The Revolution.-Biography:...

 in 1983. Coleman and Melvoin became members of the newly designated The Revolution
The Revolution (band)
The Revolution was an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979 by Prince. Although widely associated with rock music, the band's sound incorporated heavy metal, pop, funk, R&B and hard rock elements. Before their official break-up, The Revolution had released one studio album,...

.

Shortly after the completion of Prince and The Revolution's Parade project, Coleman and Melvoin started their own musical duo, Wendy & Lisa
Wendy & Lisa
Wendy & Lisa are a music duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the early 1980s and were part of his band The Revolution, before branching out on their own and releasing their debut album in 1987...

. Wendy & Lisa have released 5 full-length albums for various labels, including Columbia/Sony, Virgin, as well as their own independent imprint.

Coleman and Melvoin have continued to work together as film and television composers and provide the musical score for television shows including Crossing Jordan
Crossing Jordan
Crossing Jordan is an American television crime/drama series that aired on NBC from September 24, 2001 to May 16, 2007. It stars Jill Hennessy as Jordan Cavanaugh, M.D., a crime-solving forensic pathologist employed in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Medical Examiner's Office...

and Heroes, both created and produced by Tim Kring
Tim Kring
Richard Timothy "Tim" Kring is an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his creation of the television series Strange World, Crossing Jordan, and Heroes.Kring is Jewish...

 under his Tailwind Productions banner, Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie is an American series that premiered on June 8, 2009, on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.The series stars Edie Falco as the title character Jackie Peyton, an emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City...

 (winning an Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Theme),
Prime Suspect, and others.

Personal life

In April 2009, Coleman gave an interview with Out
Out (magazine)
Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...

magazine declaring that she was a lesbian and had a past romantic relationship with Wendy Melvoin.

Awards and recognition

Coleman and Melvoin were awarded with an Emmy for Outstanding Original Main Title in 2010 for their theme to Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie is an American series that premiered on June 8, 2009, on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.The series stars Edie Falco as the title character Jackie Peyton, an emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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