Lisa Edwards

Lisa Edwards is an Australian solo and session singer and musician. Although she earned an Australian gold record for her album Thru the Hoop and scored a Top 5 hit with a cover of the Godley and Creme song "Cry", Edwards is primarily a backing vocalist and is well known to Australian audiences as a backing singer with both John Farnham and Kylie Minogue. She has worked with a number of Australia's biggest acts over the decades, providing vocals on such songs as Real Life's "Send Me an Angel" and Olivia Newton-John's "Stronger Than Before".

Early and personal life and career

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Edwards is the daughter of a jazz pianist and a stage performer. She made her stage debut aged seven with her father, who would then regularly take her on stage to perform with him. In secondary school she, with three other students, formed the quartet Harmonic which went from talent programs to performing on the club circuit.[1] Lisa now has a daughter Madison, who also takes interest in singing and music.

Solo career

Edwards began her own career as a solo artist and backing singer in the late 1970s, in South Australia and Sydney, supporting artists including the Seekers, the Platters, the Drifters and the Pointer Sisters.[1] She released an album called State of the Heart and a cover of the Icehouse single "Man of Colours" in 1981 which was not successful,[2] so she returned to performance and backing singing.

Edwards also plays percussion and flute and was recruited as a flautist to John Farnham's band in 1988.[3] In 1993 she released the solo album Thru The Hoop, from which the song "Cry" achieved gold status in Australia.[1]

Edwards' solo performances are normally based around tributes to her childhood idols, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Diana Ross and Natalie Cole.

Backing vocalist for national and international performers

Nationally, Edwards work as a backing singer has included working with Noiseworks, Black Sorrows, Real Life, Ross Wilson, Billy Thorpe, Brian Cadd, John Farnham and Kate Ceberano; and she was one of the backing vocalists on Kylie Minogue's "Enjoy Yourself Tour" in 1990. As a result, she performed with Yoko Ono for the John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool. She returned to Australia to support Olivia Newton-John and Tom Jones on the Australian legs of their tours.[1] She again worked with Minogue in 1998 on the singer's "Intimate and Live" tour of Australia. Other international vocalists she has supported include Cyndi Lauper, Lenny Kravitz, Bryan Adams and Sting.

Edwards continues to perform, both as a solo artist, a member of Farnham's band and as a backing singer. She was part of the "Tour of Duty" concert for the Australian Army troops in appreciation of the peacekeeping effort in East Timor. She is an Australia Day ambassador for the state of Victoria.[1]

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Australia Day - Victoria - What's On - Ambassadors Archived 29 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Man Of Colours :: Lisa Edwards :: OzTrax". Abc.net.au. 2005-08-21. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  3. ↑ "Lisa Edwards". Johnfarnham.info. Retrieved 2012-03-30.

External links

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