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Been around the world, now Lisa's back home again
by Conrad Astley14/ 7/2005
MANCHESTER had a thriving talent contest scene in the 1980s and
two of the biggest stars were young Lisa Stansfield who would
inevitably beat the father of Shaun Ryder's, who was trying to be a
stand-up comedian, into second place.
And in his own inimitable way, Shaun added: "Lisa's family are the
only family in the whole of showbiz to make mine sound posh."
Her future husband Ian Devaney, whom she would also work with
throughout much of her career, had a slightly more tender way of
expressing his first memory of Lisa.
He recalled how, as a young schoolboy, he heard an amazing voice
coming from the school hall, and decided he had to find out where
it came from.
Lisa, who had been born in Manchester before the family moved to
Rochdale, first found fame as a 16-year-old presenter on early 80s
children's show Razzmatazz.
After winning a Manchester Evening News talent contest, the
teenager began sending in tapes of music she had recorded at home,
along with photographs, in an effort to get it heard.
However, the producers liked the look of her and decided they
wanted her permanently in front of the camera, as a
presenter.
There aren't many people who think about the need for a career
change while still in their teens, but Lisa was determined music
was what she wanted to do.
She formed the band Blue Zone with two former school mates - future
husband Ian, and Andy Morris.
They released two singles which were largely ignored, until the
B-side to one of them became a surprise club hit, and it sold over
10,000 copies in one week.
But the big break came when Ian and Andy approached production team
Coldcut, who they had worked with on the song Stop This Crazy
Thing, and asked them to produce Blue Zone's next single People
Hold On.
The success of the single, which reached number 11 in the charts,
may have been the end for the band - Arista quickly signed her up
as a solo act - but she carried on working closely with the pair
throughout her career.
She had another hit with the Coldcut-produced This Is The Right
Time, but it was the 1989 number one All Around The World that
really established her.
The singer, with her trademark forehead curl, now seems synonymous
with the early 90s, and for several years she could do no
wrong.
Her debut album Affection sold five million copies, and she won a
string of awards, including Billboard Award for Best Newcomer, two
Ivor Novello Awards, and three Brit Awards.
She also appeared at the Rock in Rio AIDS research fundraising
concert, the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, and put out hit after
hit.
But after releasing So Natural in 1994, and while still at her
peak, Lisa decided to go on a three-year break.
Her return album featured a cover of her hero Barry White's Never
Never Gonna Give You Up, while 2001's Face Up and 2003's
long-awaited greatest hits collection revealed she still had plenty
of fans, despite no longer being as fashionable.
Lisa has also showed she has other talents up her sleeve, by
briefly returning to the acting career she abandoned as a teenager.
She made her big screen debut in the 1998 musical comedy Swing,
playing a big band singer.
Earlier in the decade, she was reputed to have turned down a role
in Four Weddings And A Funeral, and even the part played by Demi
Moore in Indecent Proposal.
She has since co-starred in the Vagina Monologues at the West
End.
But she could never stay away from her first love of music for
long, and last year released the Trevor Horn produced album The
Moment.
Returning to her home town as part of a European tour, fans are
likely to see she has lost none of that star quality.
Lisa plays The Lowry on Sunday July 17.
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