Lisa Gerrard
(born April 12, 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry.
Her career began in 1981 and she has been involved in a wide range of projects. Gerrard received a Golden Globe Award for the music score for film Gladiator
which she collaborated with Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt. The movie also received an Academy Award nomination for best music score, but only Hans Zimmer was nominated. Both Gerrard and Badelt were deemed ineligible for the nomination. She also sings and is an instrumentalist for much of her work, most prolifically using the yangqin (a Chinese hammered dulcimer).
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Early life
Born
April 12,
1961 in
Melbourne, Lisa Gerrard grew up in the Greek-Turkish suburb of
Prahran with her Irish immigrant parents. On her upbringing, she has said she grew up with "Mediterranean music blaring out of the houses", and that this influenced her music, particularly on later Dead Can Dance albums and in her solo and collaborative work
[1].
Career
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance originally formed as a quartet in 1981 in Melbourne, but in 1982 moved to
London with members
Brendan Perry, Lisa Gerrard and bass player Paul Erikson. Shortly after coming to England Erikson flew back to Australia, leaving the band as a duo. Dead Can Dance recorded eight albums on the
4AD Records recording label beginning with the 1984
LP,
Dead Can Dance
. The band split in 1998, but reunited in 2005 for a world tour.
Solo and collaborative career
In 1995 she recorded and released her first solo album, titled
The Mirror Pool
. After the release of this album, she continued to work with Dead Can Dance, releasing their final album,
Spiritchaser
, in 1996. Following this, in 1998 she recorded
Duality
in collaboration with
Pieter Bourke. This would mark an extensive collaboration together for a number of film scores, including
The Insider
and
Ali
. Gerrard begin a new collaboration with
Patrick Cassidy in 2004, marked by the release of
Immortal Memory
. Again, this collaboration was furthered in film work, including
Salem's Lot
.
In 2006,
Sanctuary
, a documentary about the life and work of Lisa Gerrard, was recorded and released in September 2006. It is the work of multi-skilled producer / director
Clive Collier and features extensive interviews with Lisa Gerrard and various people who have collaborated and worked with her in the past including
Michael Mann,
Russell Crowe,
Hans Zimmer and
Niki Caro. It was released on DVD by Milan Entertainment on April 24, 2007.
In the same year, Lisa Gerrard released her second solo album, titled
The Silver Tree
. This album was markedly different from her previous work and was also her first album released outside of
4AD. The album was first released on
iTunes, with a wider physical release planned at a future date. The album was nominated for the
Australian Music Prize for 2006. It is currently shortlisted as one out of nine of the best Australian albums. In 2007, a retrospective album, entitled
The Best of Lisa Gerrard
, was released covering her career in Dead Can Dance, solo work and film work. A total of 15 songs were compiled.
A world tour was undertaken in 2007 beginning in April in Melbourne, Australia. This tour marked the first time Lisa Gerrard has toured in Australia, with a performance in three cities. This tour was followed by performances in Europe and North America. More performances took place in Europe and Russia from October 30 to November 22, 2007.
[2]
In November 2007, Lisa Gerrard collaborated with German electronic musician
Klaus Schulze on the double-album
Farscape
. The album was released July 27, 2008 and followed with a European tour.
Vocal style
Lisa Gerrard is considered a
contralto vocalist.
[3] Her vocals have been variously described as rich, jaw-dropping, unique, deep, dark and mournful.
[4] [5] [6] Her range spans from
contralto to
mezzo-soprano on such songs as "The Host of Seraphim", "Elegy" and "Space Weaver".
[7] [8] On the other songs "
Sanvean" and "Sacrifice", Gerrard performs in the
deep contralto range.
[9] [10]
Like multi-instrumentalist
Stephan Micus, Gerrard sings many songs in a
language of her own invention that she has developed since age twelve. She thinks of it as speaking to God.
[11]
Film career
Lisa Gerrard's first experience in composing music for a film came with the 1989 Spanish film
El Niño de la Luna
, directed by
Agustín Villaronga. The film score was composed by Dead Can Dance and the film featured Lisa Gerrard in her first acting role.
El Niño de la Luna
describes the story of a young orphan with special powers, David, escaping an institution with the help of a fellow institute inmate, Georgina, played by Lisa Gerrard. Gerrard participated in a number of scores but came to fame as a film composer after recording
The Insider
in 1999, with
Pieter Bourke, and
Gladiator
in 2000, with
Hans Zimmer. In 2005 she collaborated with
Ennio Morricone for
Fateless
followed by
On an Ocean
for the
Henry Poole Is Here
score, with Jeff Rona. Lisa (along with Dead Can Dance) also did a number of contributions to the soundtrack of
Baraka
, a visual journey showcasing mankind's impact on our planet.
She was also invited by Denez Prigent to collaborate with him on his piece "Gortoz a ran - J'attends" (meaning "I await"), a piece that was later used in the soundtrack of Ridley Scott's
Black Hawk Down
.
Discography
Dead Can Dance
Career after Dead Can Dance
- Solo Albums
- * The Mirror Pool
(1995)
- * Whalerider (Original Soundtrack)
(2003)
- * The Silver Tree
(2006), release on iTunes and by Rubber Records
- * The Best of Lisa Gerrard
(2007)
- Singles
- * "Sanvean" (1995)
- * "The Human Game" (with Pieter Bourke, 1998)
- * "Abwoon" (with Patrick Cassidy, 2003)
- Collaborations
- * Duality
(1998), with Pieter Bourke
- * The Insider (Music from the Motion Picture)
(1999), with Pieter Bourke
- * Immortal Memory
(2004), with Patrick Cassidy
- * A Thousand Roads
(2005) with Jeff Rona
- * Ashes and Snow
(2006) with Patrick Cassidy
- * View from a Window
collaborative song recording in track title "There in Your Arms" (2008) with Josiah Brooks
- * Farscape
(2008) with Klaus Schulze
- * The Black Opal
(2009), upcoming collaboration with Michael Edwards, Patrick Cassidy, Pieter Bourke and James Orr
- * "Wisdom of Wind" composition with Jeff Rona, recorded by Tarja Turunen for her album My Winter Storm
(2007) and present in the "Enough" single (2009)
- Miscellaneous
- * MICROFILM: Centerfold 7" ("Centerfold" and "Window") (1981)
- * Compilation entitled "From Belgrave with Love" ("Mossaic" by Lisa Gerrard and "Summer house" by Microfilm) 1981
- * The Future Sound of London sample her vocals from the song "Dawn of the Iconoclast" for their 1992 hit single "Papua New Guinea" (1992)
- *French promo CD-single "La bas" and "Lament"
- *Compilation entitled "These Wings without Feathers" ("Dreamsong" and "Untitled") (1996)
- *"The Wings of a Film - The Music of Hans Zimmer" ( "Now We Are Free" live)
- * With Orbital: "One Perfect Sunrise" on the album The Blue Album
(2004)
- *Orbital featuring Lisa Gerrard: "One Perfect Sunrise" (radio mix) CD single
- *Orbital featuring Lisa Gerrard: "One Perfect Sunrise" (Phil Hartnoll mix) CD single
- *With Denez Prigent: "J'attends - Gortoz A Ran" with Denez Prigent on the album Irvi
- *"An Hini a Garan" with Denez Prigent on the Album Sarac'h
- *Mantras of a Lost Archetype
(unreleased solo album)
- * The Ashes and Snow
art exhibit by Gregory Colbert, (with Patrick Cassidy and Michael Brook, "Devota", "Vespers", "Womb", "Wisdom")
Movie score composing/contribution
- Dèmoni 2
(1986) (as Dead Can Dance)
- El Niño de la Luna
(1989) (as Dead Can Dance, also with Lisa Gerrard in her acting debut)
- Baraka
(1992) (as Dead Can Dance, with Michael Stearns)
- Heat
(1995) featured previously recorded material from The Mirror Pool
- Nadro
(1998)
- The 13th Warrior
(1999) with Graeme Revell (score later withdrawn)
- The Insider
(1999) with Pieter Bourke
- Gladiator
(2000) with Hans Zimmer
- Gladiator: More Music From the Motion Picture
(2000, released 2001) with Hans Zimmer
- Mission: Impossible II
(2000) with Hans Zimmer
- Black Hawk Down
(2001) - Song: "J'attends - Gortoz A Ran" with Denez Prigent
- Ali
(2001) with Pieter Bourke
- 9/11
(2002) - Song: "Sorrow" composed with Klaus Badelt
- Whale Rider
(2002)
- Tears of the Sun
(2003) with Hans Zimmer
- The West Wing
(Television) (2003) - Song: "Sanvean" in the episode 7A WF 83429
- One Perfect Day
(2004)
- The Passion of the Christ
(2004) with Patrick Cassidy (score withdrawn)
- Man on Fire
(2004) vocals for the Harry Gregson-Williams score
- 'Salem's Lot
(TV mini-series) (2004) with Patrick Cassidy and Christopher Gordon
- Layer Cake
(2004)
- A Thousand Roads
(2005) with Jeff Rona
- Constantine
(2005) (score incomplete and withdrawn)
- Fateless
(2005) with Ennio Morricone ("A song", "A Voice from the Inside", "Return to the Life")
- Seoul Train
(2005)
- The Greater Meaning of Water
(2006) previously recorded material
- The Mist
(2007) (The Host of Seraphim)