Lisa Loeb

Lisa Anne Loeb (born 11 March, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter and reality television star.

Biography

Born in Bethesda, Maryland, and raised in Dallas, Texas, Loeb attended The Hockaday School, an all-girls private school in Dallas. After graduating from high school in 1986, she went to Brown University where she graduated in 1990 with a degree in comparative literature.

At Brown, she and Liz Mitchell formed a band named Liz and Lisa, featuring future singer/songwriter and fellow Brown classmate Duncan Sheik as a guitarist. The duo released the albums Liz and Lisa and Liz and Lisa - Days Were Different independently. Loeb had developed a following from her solo acoustic performances on the New York City coffeehouse circuit, where she sold a collection of her songs referred to as The Purple Tape.

Loeb's big break came when she was discovered by actor and friend Ethan Hawke, who lived in an apartment across the street from her in New York City. She met Hawke through mutual friends in the NYC theatre community. Hawke gave a tape of Loeb's song "Stay (I Missed You)" to director Ben Stiller during the making of the 1994 film Reality Bites. Stiller subsequently agreed to use the song in the film and on the film's soundtrack. "Stay" ultimately went on to become a number one hit on the American charts. When her song hit number one, Loeb earned the distinction of being the only artist to top the Hot 100 before being signed to any record label.

In September 1995, Loeb's debut album, Tails, was released. The album was co-produced by Juan Patiño, her then-boyfriend. Although none of the singles from Tails could quite match the breakthrough appeal of "Stay" (which was also included on this album), Loeb had moderately successful radio hits with "Do You Sleep?," "Taffy," and "Waiting for Wednesday." Tails went on to achieve platinum status.

In 1997, a second album, Firecracker, was released. Though critically praised, it did not have the commercial success of Tails, but the single "I Do" was very popular on radio and music television. The song "How" was contributed to the soundtrack for the film Twister (and later it was also featured in the Buffy episode Homecoming). The single "Let's Forget About It" was also released. At this point Lisa dropped her support band, Nine Stories.

Loeb did not return to studio recording until 2002's Cake and Pie. The album was a commercial failure and did not receive any major backing or promotion from her record label. She was eventually dropped, and she bought the rights to the masters of the songs from that album. It was re-released independently in late 2002, with the songs rearranged and some deletions/additions. New packaging was also featured, and it was retitled Hello Lisa. In 2003, a children's album, called Catch the Moon, was independently released. Videos from this album have been featured on the Noggin TV network for children, alongside those of Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes, rockers who have crossed over much further into the children's music field.

In May 2004, Loeb announced that her longtime relationship with Dweezil Zappa was over.

In 2004, Loeb changed record labels once again, due to a lack of promotion from her former label, Artemis Records. She was signed to the independent label Zoe/Rounder, and The Way It Really Is was released August 2004. The album was Loeb's fifth studio-recorded album.

Her latest album, The Very Best of Lisa Loeb, was released in January 2006.

When not touring, or doing other promotional work, she resides in Los Angeles.

Acting and reality television

Loeb's acting debut was in a guest appearance on the television show The Nanny in 1997. In 1998, she played the voice of a newborn baby in The Rugrats Movie and played a musician in an episode of Cupid. In 1999, Loeb was featured as a news reporter in the horror film House on Haunted Hill. In 2004, she was featured in Serial Killing 4 Dummies. On January 16, 2004, her reality show Dweezil & Lisa first aired on Food Network, in which she shared title billing with her longtime boyfriend Dweezil Zappa. In 2005, she appeared on The Colbert Report as herself as part of a small gag in which the eponymous host could not remember all the lyrics of "Stay," and asked Loeb, who was standing by a camera with her guitar, how it went. She sang and strummed a little to jog Colbert's memory.

She has also been featured as the voice of Mary Jane Watson in the animated show The New Animated Series, broadcast on MTV.

In the fall and winter of 2005, Loeb taped a reality show, #1 Single, for the E! Channel, in New York City. The show focused on her quest for love, success, career and family and premiered on the E! Channel in January 2006 in an eight-part series, coinciding with the release of Loeb's new album, The Very Best of Lisa Loeb.

Style

Loeb is known for wearing distinctive cat-eye shaped tortoiseshell glasses. She says she's allergic to contact lenses.

Discography

Albums

Liz and Lisa (1989)
Liz and Lisa - Days Were Different (1990)
Purple Tape (1992)
Tails (1994)
Firecracker (1997)
Cake and Pie (2002)
Hello Lisa (2002)
Catch the Moon (2003)
The Way It Really Is (2004)
The Very Best of Lisa Loeb (2006)

Trivia

Lisa's band, "Nine Stories", is named after the J. D. Salinger collection.
Stay (I Missed You) earned Lisa the distinction of being the first and only unsigned artist to have a number one hit on the American charts.
According to her one-season Food TV show, she refers to herself as a "bacon-loving" vegetarian.
Lisa is an avid collector of Hello Kitty items, manufactured by Sanrio.
Her father is Dallas gastroenterologist Peter Loeb.

External links

Lisa Loeb | Lisa Loeb | Lisa Loeb | Lisa Loeb