Lisa Stansfield

Though Stansfield’s breakthrough in the mainstream was not until 1989, she got her start in the music industry in 1980. During this year she won a singing competition for the program “Search for a Star”. This accomplishment led to a series of appearances in television shows and several single releases. In 1984 she entered in the pop group Blue Zone consisting of her fellow school mates Ian Devaney and Andy Morris. The band put out several singles which would breach their way into the UK top 100 starts as well as America’s “Billboard Hot 100”. Even some of the group’s B-sides such as “Big Thing” became a favorite on radio stations and dance clubs. The group only released one album before Stansfield broke out into her own solo career following the success of the Coldcut single“People Hold On”, which she was featured on.

Almost immediately after the release of this song Arista records signed Stansfield on as a solo artist and in 1989 she put out her first solo full length “Affection”. This album would prove to be the most successful release of her career and one of the most successful releases in soul pop history. The album has gone on to sell 5 million copies around the world and has been certified as 3x platinum in the UK. During its release it topped charts around the world, landing at #1 in Austria and Italy and #2 in Sweden, the UK, Switzerland, Spain and Germany. The album housed her biggest single “All Around the World” . This track peaked to the very top of charts in many countries and scored the #3 position on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was also a critical success and got her two nominations at the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Riding of the hype of this album Stansfield became involved in several charity organizations such as raising money for anti-poverty efforts in Ethiopia and raising awareness for AIDS. She also put out a Christmas single “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, which claimed #1 on the UK Singles Chart for 3 weeks.

Her second full length effort “Real Love” was produced and partially written by her previous Blue Zone bandmates Devaney and Morris.This release was yet another critical and commercial sensation entering the top ten charts across the world and strongly securing a name in both the R&B and hip-hop world. Stansfield followed this up by recording a few singles for movies. In 1992 her song “Someday (I’m Coming Back)” was included in the “The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album” and in the following year her song “In All the Right Places” became the theme song for the dramatic film “Indecent Proposal”.

Stansfield’s involvement in the film industry continued to grow with time and after the release of her third self-titled album she made her film debut in the 1999 movie “Swing”. She also contributed many jazz and swing inspired songs for the soundtrack and even did a duet with one of her music hero’s “Barry White”. Stansfield’s next two albums “Face Up” and “The Movement”, while not as commercially viable as her previous releases, did mark a stylistic change and received positive reviews from the critics. Stansfield ventured into electronic dance and disco music with these releases and was lauded for her more experimental approach. It would be a decade before Stansfield released her long awaited follow up “Seven”. During this music hiatus she was performing in theatre productions and television series such as “The Edge of Love”. Her comeback album was received with near unanimous praise amongst critics and was welcomed in the charts at #13 in UK and Germany, #25 in Austria, #32 in the Czech Republic, and #42 in Switzerland.