Lisa Concetta Dal Bello (born 22 May 1959), also known as Dalbello, is a Canadian singer 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.

Early life

Lisa Concetta Dal Bello was born on May 22, 1959, to Italian and British parents, Dalbello grew up in Weston, Toronto, Ontario, and then with her family moved to Vaughan, Ontario. At age 11, she began playing guitar and writing her own songs, performing at the Mariposa Folk Festival and the Fiddlers' Green club in Toronto.

At the age of 14, Dalbello made her 1974 recording debut with a 4-song EP that was recorded for CBC Radio, Canada's national broadcaster. The record was produced by Jack Budgell. The EP featured four songs written and composed by Dalbello: "Mourning In The Morning", "The Old Man", "Come Sun Days" and "Human".

In 1975 Dalbello was featured on a Christmas compilation by CBC Radio, in which she performs the traditional Christmas carols "Deck The Halls" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" and a medley together with Dianne Brooks and Roy Kenner. These records were not commercially available, and airplay was legally restricted to the CBC only.

Signing with MCA Records out of L.A. when she was 17, Dalbello's self-titled debut album in 1977 was produced by David Foster and featured the then-unknown Toto members Mike Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, David Paich and David Hungate. She also collaborated with Jay Graydon, who is featured on guitar. The album won a 1978 Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year. During these sessions Dal Bello recorded a song for Jay Graydon called "You're My Day". Written by Graydon and Harry Garfield, the song is not featured on the album. The song was later released on a 2006 compilation album by Graydon, titled "Past To Present - The 70s". Mike Porcaro played bass on her next album Pretty Girls released independently via Talisman Records. Pretty Girls received her second Juno nomination in 1979 in the category of Female Vocalist of the Year. Later in 1979, Melissa Manchester covered the song "Pretty Girls"; released as a single, the track hit the US top 40. This marked Dal Bello's first international success as a songwriter.

Dalbello, signed to Capitol Records, released her third album Drastic Measures in 1981. Dalbello collaborated with Bryan Adams and Tim Thorney on the album.

After Drastic Measures, she took a break from recording to re-evaluate her creative and personal priorities and to work on her poetry. Dalbello received a Juno nomination in 1980 for Female Vocalist of The Year and in 1983 was again nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year.

She told Billboard, "I felt there was no point in making records if I hadn't found a sense of how I fitted in musically, and how to express myself. I hadn't yet learned how to convey my musical ideas to the people I was working with." 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 Queensrÿche, and "Animal", which was covered by Heavens Gate. whomanfoursays garnered four Juno nominations: two for Dalbello herself as Producer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year, one for Lenny De Rose for Recording Engineer of the Year and one for art director Heather Brown and photographer Deborah Samuels for Best Album Graphic.

In 1985, Dalbello was nominated for a seventh Juno in the category of Female Vocalist of the Year.

In 1986, Dalbello wrote and recorded the songs "Black on Black" and "I Do What I Do" for the 9½ Weeks soundtrack. Although included in the film, Dalbello's recording of "I Do What I Do" was not on the soundtrack album, which instead featured a recording by John Taylor of Duran Duran; her recording of "Black on Black" did, however, appear in both the film and the soundtrack album. Dalbello also worked with other artists including Duran Duran's John Taylor, Heart, the band Nena, Glass Tiger and their producer Jim Vallance.

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. Dalbello then submitted four self-produced song demos to her U.S. label and manager, only to have them rejected because they wanted a real producer. However, regardless of the status of the Hine-produced album, partly out of frustration and partly as a practical joke, Dalbello re-submitted her self-produced song demos—crediting the producer as "Bill Da Salleo", which was nothing more than a simple anagram of her name. which received favorable reviews from critics upon its release. After the album's release she returned to Europe 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 Duran's John Taylor and Boz Scaggs ("Miss Sun" from his 1980 album "Hits"), her vocals have appeared on records for Cher, Richard Marx, Heart, Alice Cooper, Patti LaBelle, Toto, Nena (for whom she wrote an entire translation album It's All in the Game) and Canadian artists Rough Trade, Kim Mitchell and Glass Tiger.

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". Queensrÿche covered "Gonna Get Close to You". Both Hauteville and Meliesa McDonell covered "Immaculate Eyes". Julie Masse covered "Devious Nature". Heavens Gate covered "Animal". Her song "Don't Get Mad Get Even" was recorded in 1983 by the Canadian heavy metal band Helix for their third album No Rest for the Wicked, and by The Lydia Taylor Band for their EP Bitch.

Influence

Because of her powerful voice and aggressive persona, as well as her career path of starting out as a conventional mainstream dance-pop singer before reinventing herself as an idiosyncratic alternative rock artist, comparisons have been drawn between Dalbello and Alanis Morissette.

Dalbello currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Awards and nominations

  • 1978 Juno Award Nomination & Win for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1979 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1980 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1982 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1984 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year
  • 1984 Juno Award Nomination for Producer of the Year
  • 1985 Juno Award Nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year

Discography

  • Lisa Dal Bello – EP (1974, CBC Radio Canada)
  • Lisa Dal Bello (1977, MCA)
  • Pretty Girls (1979, Talisman)
  • Drastic Measures (1981, Capitol)
  • whomanfoursays (1984, Capitol)
  • she (1987, Capitol-EMI)
  • whore (1995, EMI-Spin)
  • Live at Rockpalast (2015, Repertoire)

Collaborations with other artists

  • 1980 : Eastern Wind by Chris de Burgh - Backing vocals on three songs.
  • 1983 : DaDa by Alice Cooper — Backing vocals.
  • 1985 : Feuer und Flamme by Nena — Dalbello rewrote the English translation of lyrics for the album except, for three bonus songs.
  • 1986 : The Thin Red Line by Glass Tiger — Additional background vocals.
  • 1993 : Desire Walks On by Heart — Additional background vocals.
  • 1996 : Victor by Alex Lifeson — Lead vocals on one song; credited as "Dalbello".
  • 1998 : Toto XX by Toto — Backing vocals on one song.
  • 1999 : Kimosabe by Kim Mitchell — Backing vocals.

Filmography

  • Melanie (1982)

References

  • Official MySpace page of Dalbello
  • Behind the Veil – a Dalbello fan site with latest news and comprehensive discography – dalbello.synthasite.com