SYN 907

Belinda Carlisle

Belinda Carlisle (born on August 17, 1958 in Hollywood, California) is an American singer-songwriter, as well as the lead vocalist and founding member of all-female new wave band The Go-Go's, as well as a successful solo artist. She was recently a judge on the MTV reality show Rock the Cradle.

Early life

As a child, Belinda grew up in Hollywood, California with three brothers (Butch, Joe and Josh) and three sisters (Hope, Mary and Sarah). When her biological father Harold left home, her mother Joanne re-married to a man named Walter, who Carlisle credits in a 2001 episode of Lifetime's Intimate Portrait, for her later rebellious behavior. A pretty good student in school and tomboy who played sports with the boys in her neighborhood, Belinda was part of the track and field team as a teenager. Her feminine side was displayed while bopping around in her cheerleading outfit.

Early career and The Go-Go's

Carlisle's first venture into music was a brief stint as drummer for the punk band The Germs, under the name Dottie Danger, although illness (specifically mononucleosis) prevented her from ever performing with them live. Soon after leaving this band, she founded The Go-Go's (originally named The Misfits), with friend and fellow music novice Jane Wiedlin. With bassist-turned-guitarist Charlotte Caffey, guitarist-turned-bassist Kathy Valentine, and drummer Gina Schock, the Go-Go's became one of the most successful American bands of the early 1980s, helping usher new wave music into popular American radio, and becoming the first all-female band in rock history to ever achieve a #1 album, who also wrote their own music, and played their own instruments. The Go-Go's recorded two more studio albums (including 1982 Vacation, which went gold thanks to the title track). "Head over Heels," from their 1984 album Talk Show, made it to #11, but they never repeated the success of their 1981 multi-platinum debut, Beauty and the Beat, which featured the hits "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed".

Solo career

Belinda

The Go-Go's broke up in 1985, and Carlisle embarked on a solo career (although she continued to work with fellow Go-Go Charlotte Caffey). Carlisle's first album, Belinda, was released on I.R.S. Records, in 1986. Her #3 Summer hit "Mad About You" was followed by the Motown-influenced single "I Feel the Magic", and by a cover version of "Band of Gold". All three songs were included on her debut album.

During this time, Carlisle also had songs featured on movie soundtracks, notably "In My Wildest Dreams," the opener in the movie Mannequin, as well as "Dancing in the City" from the Whoopi Goldberg movie Burglar.

Heaven on Earth

Carlisle changed her hairstyle significantly for her second solo album, giving up her California Girl blonde bob for a long auburn style for 1987's Heaven on Earth. The musical style eschewed the 1960s-influenced pop of Carlisle's first album in favor of slickly produced 1980s power-pop, and was released in the United States through MCA, and in the United Kingdom through Virgin. The album became a Top 5 bestseller in the UK and Australia, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. The album's producer, Rick Nowels, previously worked with Stevie Nicks, and would later collaborate with Madonna.

The first release from Heaven on Earth was the semi-title track "Heaven Is a Place on Earth", which topped the single charts, not only in the U.S., but also in the UK and Australia (the dance mix of the song also topped the dance chart). The radio-ready song was further propelled by a video, directed by Academy Award-winning American actress Diane Keaton. The second release from Heaven on Earth stormed to U.S. #2, and was another UK and Canada Top 10 smash, "I Get Weak," written by Diane Warren; it was accompanied by another Keaton-directed video. The third single and video from the album was "Circle in the Sand," another Top 10 hit in the U.S., the UK and Germany too. "World Without You" was another British hit, followed by 1988 low-charting ballad "Love Never Dies", making this her fifth single from the album in the UK. In the U.S., the fourth and last single, "I Feel Free," a cover of the Cream classic, missed the Top 40.

Runaway Horses

Carlisle's follow-up to the success of Heaven on Earth was Runaway Horses, released on October 23, 1989. The album again hit the Top 5 in both Australia and the UK, certified double platinum in Australia and platinum in the UK, but failed to reach similar success in the U.S. The first release, "Leave a Light On", peaked at #11 in the U.S., and became another Top 5 smash in the UK, Australia and Italy. The song features a slide guitar solo by George Harrison (see 'Collaborations'). The second U.S. single, "Summer Rain", reached #30, in Spring 1990. The song, which Carlisle noted was the most difficult song she had ever sung up to that point, peaked successfully at #6 in Australia, where it has maintained popularity, and the tune saw a cover version, in 2004, by the Australian group Slinkee Minx. It was the final release from Runaway Horses in the UK where it was released as the album's sixth single in December 1990, peaking at #23 in January 1991. Whereas in the U.S. Carlisle's success was decreasing, her popularity remained big in Europe and Australia. In 1990, further singles from the Runaway Horses album were successful as well: the title track, the summer mood influenced "La Luna", a Top 20 hit in Germany and Australia, and "(We Want) The Same Thing", remixed from a country-styled release into a massive Pop hit, reaching #6 in the UK. In the late Autumn of 1990, the Go-Go's reunited for a tour to support their first best-of album, Greatest, including a new recording of the cover song "Cool Jerk" (Go-Go's original cover featured on Vacation). A notable feature of the tour was an anti-fur campaign, where the band members supported People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, an animal rights organization. Later in the year, Carlisle joined with The Smithereens lead singer, Pat Dinizio, on his group's ballad "Blue Period."

Live Your Life Be Free

In 1991, Carlisle released her fourth solo album, Live Your Life Be Free. The album marked somewhat of a return to 1960s-influenced music for Carlisle. The single "Do You Feel Like I Feel?" was accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek video, inspired by the B-movie Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. The title track, "Live Your Life Be Free", merged 1960s influences with producer Rick Nowel's trademark bombast, and featured a video that emphasized colorful imagery, fashion, and Carlisle's photogenic face. Subsequent releases, "Half the World" and "Little Black Book", were also hits outside the U.S., and although Live Your Life Be Free as an album flopped in the U.S., it was a success in Europe (Top 10 in the UK), while the title track was a Top 20 hit single in the UK, Australia, Italy and Sweden. "Do You Feel Like I Feel?" was Carlisle's last single to enter in the Billboard Hot 100 chart peaking at #73.

The Best of Belinda Vol.1

Carlisle broke her contract with MCA, her U.S. record company, in 1992. Still active in Europe and Australia with a record contract at Virgin Records, her 1992 greatest hits album, The Best of Belinda, Volume 1, reached #1, and was certified double platinum in both the UK and Australia. This first greatest hits album of her included all the hits taken from the Heaven on Earth, Runaway Horses, and Live Your Life Be Free albums, only omitting the ballad "Love Never Dies", and the three I.R.S. singles from her first album, namely "Mad About You", "I Feel the Magic", and "Band of Gold"; also no soundtrack song features on the collection.

Real

Carlisle's fifth solo album, Real, was released in 1993, on the Virgin label, in the U.S. and in Europe. Produced without Nowels, the disc was a departure from Carlisle's polished pop music formula. Gone was her glamorous image and picture-perfect pop too. Even the album's cover photograph featured her with very little make-up, which perfectly matched the album title. Carlisle co-produced and co-wrote much of the disc, collaborating heavily with friend and former Go-Go's member Charlotte Caffey. The album reached #9 in the UK, and its first single, "Big Scary Animal", peaked at a respectable #12 placing in the UK. The second single from Real was "Lay Down Your Arms", which made the Top 30 in the UK.

At this time, Carlisle also recorded "One by One", on the soundtrack for the 1993 movie The Harvest.

After the Northridge Earthquake, in 1994, Carlisle and her family moved to Europe. The Go-Go's reunited again, later that year, to support the retrospective double-CD Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's, their second collection, which featured three new songs, including the single "The Whole World Lost Its Head", and the following immortal couplet: 'Mary ate her little lamb/And punk rock isn't dead'. However, the band broke up soon after the promotional tour. Carlisle has since lived in France and England.

A Woman and a Man

Carlisle returned to the recording studio, and resumed working again with Rick Nowels. In 1996, she released in the UK and Australia her sixth solo album, A Woman and a Man, on the Chrysalis Records label. This album, consisting of mostly relaxed adult pop, revitalized her solo career in Europe, and included several hits. The leadoff single, "In Too Deep", returned Carlisle to the UK Top 10, for the first time in six years, reaching #6. "Always Breaking My Heart", written and produced by Roxette's Per Gessle, also made the UK Top 10, peaking at #8. The album spawned two more UK hits: "Love in the Key of C", and "California". The album reached #12 in the UK, and was certified gold. As a result of A Woman and A Man's UK success, the album was released in the U.S., during the Summer of 1997, on the small Ark21 label. Despite the recent successful comeback in Europe, and the promotional appearances Carlisle made on American television and radio, the album did not enjoy similar success in North America.

In preparation for this album, Belinda recorded a demo of a song called "Falling into You", which was subsequently (and to Carlisle's surprise) rejected by her then record company, Chrysalis. Shortly afterwards, this song was recorded by Celine Dion, as the title track for one of the biggest CD's for Dion's career. Also around this time, Belinda had her heart set on recording a song called "Torn", for this album, but the song had already been picked up by Natalie Imbruglia, becoming her very first hit.

In 1996, Carlisle recorded "I Wouldn't Be Here (If I Didn't Love You)" for the Two If by Sea official movie soundtrack. In 1997, she recorded "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)", from Walt Disney's Hercules, as part of that movie's standard distribution in Europe, and was released as a single exclusively in France and Germany. Neither of these tracks has been released on compilation albums.

A Place on Earth - The Greatest Hits

In 1999, Carlisle released a greatest hits album in the UK, a double-disc on the Virgin label, collectively entitled A Place on Earth - The Greatest Hits. Carlisle recorded three new tracks for the album first disc, properly called The Greatest Hits, including the single "All God's Children", and the songs "A Prayer for Everyone" and "Feels Like I've Known You Forever". The second disc of her greatest hits album, in fact entitled A Place on Earth, contained previously released remixes of some of her hits, plus a couple of B sides, which were previously unreleased at the time, matched to single releases. Some of the remixes were done by William Orbit, who also worked with Madonna on her 1998 Ray of Light album. The album was certified gold in the UK.

Voilà

In 2007, the singer released her seventh album Voilà, which was her first solo full-length studio album in over ten years (though The Go-Go's definitively reunited in 2001, and released their fourth full-length studio album that year, God Bless the Go-Go's, the follow-up to 1984 Talk Show). The album was produced by John Reynolds. Consisting of a mix of French pop tunes and chanson standards, including covers of Françoise Hardy and Édith Piaf classics. Voilà was released via Rykodisc in the UK on February 5, and in the U.S. the following day, February 6, 2007. Carlisle was originally approached to make another pop rock album, but she declined immediately, in favour of recording this collection of songs, the style of which, she'd 'absolutely fallen in love with', since moving to France in the early 1990s. A detailed track-by-track review of the album appears on the Belinda Carlisle - A Place On Earth Website

Collaborations

During her solo career, Carlisle has had the opportunity to work with numerous prominent musicians from the 1960s, and she also worked with noted musicians of her own generation. Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas, Chynna Phillips and Carnie Wilson (pre-Wilson Phillips with Michelle) did backup singing for the Heaven on Earth album. Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys arranged and sang back-up on "California" from the A Woman and A Man album. She performed live with her idols The Beach Boys, and performed in the recording studio with Freda Payne, when Carlisle covered again Payne's classic hit "Band of Gold" for single release. As mentioned above, ex-Beatle George Harrison contributed guitar work to the single "Leave a Light On", as well as to the song "Deep Deep Ocean", both tracks featuring on the Runaway Horses album. Carlisle performed backing vocals on Then Jerico's album The Big Area, on the track "What Does It Take?". She also performed back vocals on The Smithereens album 11, for the track "Blue Period", and for the Don Henley recording of "She's on the Zoom" from the Vision Quest soundtrack. Duran Duran's Andy Taylor played guitar on her debut solo album Belinda (Taylor appears in her "Mad About You" videoclip). Thomas Dolby played the keyboards in some Heaven on Earth album tracks. Bryan Adams did backup vocals in "Whatever It Takes" from the Runaway Horses album. Belinda sung on the Lemonheads' Come On Feel The Lemonheads album (I'll Do It Anyway). For the Belinda Album Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles co-wrote the single "I Need a disguise" and Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) co-wrote the single "Since you've gone". Another notable collaboration was the one with the ambient mastermind and legend Brian Eno, who played the keyboards on her latest release, Voilà.

Personal life

A former high school cheerleader, Carlisle is also the eldest of seven children. In 1986, Carlisle married Morgan Mason, son of the British actor James Mason, and former Deputy United States Chief of Protocol. Morgan made appearances in Carlisle's videos "Mad About You," and "Heaven Is a Place on Earth". They have a son, James Duke Mason (born April 27, 1992). During the summer of 2008, James was appointed to serve as a Page in the U.S. House of Representatives.

She has been reported as being "deeply into Buddhist chanting," though precisely what form is unclear. In an interview, printed on March 7, 2007, the singer stated that: "I was wondering about happiness and started reading a lot of books by the Dalai Lama, and slowly embraced Buddhism" (published by Newindpress, India). On Sydney Morning Herald: "I don't smoke anymore, I don't drink anymore and I don't do drugs anymore. I am very much into my Buddhism. I found turning 40 a real passage in time for me".

She appeared nude for the cover feature of the August 2001 Playboy, around the time of the Go-Go's definitive reunion tour and new studio album (the first in almost twenty years) She was 42 years of age when the photos were taken.

2006–2008 appearances

Carlisle continued her string of TV appearances in 2006, having signed to appear on the Simon Cowell-produced Celebrity Duets, a FOX network reality competition, pairing celebrities not famous for singing (like Lucy Lawless and Cheech Marin) with actual singers like Carlisle, Michael Bolton, Jon Secada, and Macy Gray. Carlisle sang "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" and "I Get Weak" with Lea Thompson, in the September 7 episode.

Carlisle also performed on the opening night of Manchester Gay Pride 2007. Carlisle performed a set with other 1980's acts at Retrofest, on September 1, 2007, at Culzean Castle, in Ayrshire, Scotland. Carlisle sang in 2008, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, in Los Angeles, in an all-French song Parisian-themed New Year's concert, with Rufus Wainwright sharing the bill. On April 3, 2008, she appeared for the first time as a judge on the MTV reality show Rock the Cradle, a show about the children of famous musicians, who also want to be successful in the music industry. Carlisle initially endorsed Hillary Clinton for President of the United States in the 2008 election, but then endorsed Barack Obama after he won the Democratic nomination. She recently toured as part of the Regeneration tour in the summer of 2008. The line up included Carlisle, as well as other acts such as the Human League, Naked Eyes and ABC.

Discography

Studio Albums

Belinda (1986)
Heaven on Earth (1987)
Runaway Horses (1989)
Live Your Life Be Free (1991)
Real (1993)
A Woman and a Man (1996)
Voilà (2007)

Compilation Albums

The Best of Belinda, Volume 1 (1992)
Her Greatest Hits (1992)
The Greatest (1998)
A Place on Earth - The Greatest Hits (1999)
The Collection (2002)
The Essential (The Best of Belinda Volume 1 re-issue) (2003)

Top Ten Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions
Year	Single	AUS	SWI	UK	IRE	SWE	ITA	CAN	U.S.
1986	"Mad About You"	9	—	67	28	—	19	1	3
1987	"Heaven Is a Place on Earth"	2	1	1	1	1	6	3	1
1988	"I Get Weak"	34	24	10	5	13	11	4	2
1988	"Circle in the Sand"	75	—	4	6	4	23	5	7
1989	"Leave a Light On"	5	8	4	4	2	4	6	11
1989	"La Luna"	21	10	38	—	8	21	—	—
1990	"Summer Rain"	6	—	23	26	15	25	22	30
1990	"(We Want) The Same Thing"	—	—	6	22	9	—	—	—
1996	"In Too Deep"	11	—	6	—	—	29	—	—
	"Always Breaking My Heart"	50	—	8	—	19	22	—	—