Lisa, the daughter of Marion and Keith Stansfield, as born at 18 on april 11, 1966 in Manchester at Crumpsall hospital. She lives in heywood until the age of ten in the county at that time called The Lancashire and today know as Greater Manchester. Heywood is a town within the District of Rochdale and Rochdale (borough of Greater Manchester County) is where Lisa and her family moved when she was 11. Lisa has 2 sisters: Suzanne (the younger) and Karen (the oldest). Lisa’s first TV appearance was on a talent show on Granada TV in 1982, the studios were in Quay Street, Manchester, the producer of the show was Johnny Hamp (with Lisa in the photo below right) who was responsible for The Beatles’ TV debut in 1963.
Lisa won the talent show singing The Human League track “The things that dreams are made of”. In 1983, Hamp produced for Granada TV a documentary directed by Peter Walker “Born in the Sixties: Lisa Stansfield”. It was a monograph of the aspiring singer and it included her comments and those of her mother and sisters and some songs sang by Lisa. In 1983 Lisa co-hosted a children’s TV music show Razzamatazz on ITV together with Alastair Pirrie (now he’s a writer and TV producer). Many pop singers took part in the show, it ran between 1981 and 1987 but Lisa appeared only on 1983 season.
Additionally Lisa could be seen in 1983 in the children’s TV series “The Krankies klub” alongside comedian Johnny Cricket who lived in Rochdale from 1974. Lisa appeared on the first and second episode. The series was on ITV from 1982 to 1984.
Starting a great career
In 1986 Lisa together with Andy Morris and Ian Devaney, her schoolmates, formed the “Blue Zone”. The band saw modest success with the single “Jackie” and recorded only one album entitled “Big Thing” (1988).
Lisa Stansfield became a celeb thanks to her guest vocals on Coldcut’s (Jonathan Moore and Matt Black house-dance duo) single “People hold on”. This was her very first hit and this collaboration led to the recording of another track “My telephone”.
In 1987 the twenty-one years old Lisa got married to the Italian designer Augusto Grassi, the two met during a holiday in Tunisia. A luxurious ceremony was held in the Sacred Heart Church in Rochdale. The couple moved to Zagarolo near Rome (Italy) but their marriage lasted only 4 months and then Lisa came back to England.
In 1990 (1989 in the UK) Lisa released her debut album as a solo artist, even if she kept working with Blue Zone, entitled “Affection” that contained “All around the world” her first massive international hit and most famous song.
In 1991 the second album “Real love” was released. It was a real soul work with pop influences that confirmed Lisa’s success throughout the world with the singles “Change” and “All woman”.
Videoclip has come and Lisa seemed to be at her ease in this field, in fact all Real Love videos were very interesting.
The success of the 90's and the actress debut
We had to wait 1993 for the release of the 3rd album “So natural” and the most important thing was that Andy Morris collaborated only on one track “In all the right places”, song included in “Indecent proposal” original soundtrack.
The album was not published in the USA for commercial reasons but it obtained good success thanks to the title track that reached good position in the charts.
“Lisa Stansfield” was Lisa’s 4th album published in 1997. It included 3 hit singles: “Never never gonna give you up” (don’t miss the video), “I’m leavin’ and “The real thing”.
Afterwards the great success of all the remix versions, particularly in the USA, in 1998 “The remix album” was released, it contained 6 songs from “Lisa Stansfield” album in different versions for a total of 10 tracks.
After many years of friendship and engagement, Lisa and Ian Devaney got married on July 25th, 1998. The minimalist ceremony was held in New York and the only guests were her parents and his mother.
EIn 1999 Lisa starred in her first film “Swing” and recorded the original soundtrack. Even though the album was not really Lisa’s style, she showed her voice was perfect for these jazzy songs because it was warm, rich in shades, versatile and powerful.
The OST didn’t reach any positions but it was an excellent work.
The albums of the new millenium
In June 2001 Lisa released her 5th album “Face up”, the last work for BMG Arista label (except for the following greatest hits). The producers were Ian Devaney together with Richard Darbyshire.
The album reached good positions only in Germany, Switzerland and Austria; in the UK it placed at n°38 and in the USA and Italy didn’t even reach the charts. For these reasons it represented to Lisa a real commercial failure that probably led to the divorce between the singer and BMG label.
In 2002 Lisa appeared on a West End stage in London in “The vagina monologues”, an Eve Ensler’s play, together with Anita Dobson and Cecilia Noble.
In 2003 Lisa released her first Greatest Hits “Biography” (published also on DVD with an interview). This was a real journey through time that celebrated, through 17 big hits, her music career from “People hold on” to “Let’s just call it love”.
“The moment” (2004) was a crucial point in Lisa’s music career because it was the first album released on ZTT Records after Lisa and BMG split up.
The album, a mix of original songs and covers, consisted of very good tracks such as the singles “Easier”, “If I hadn’t got you” and “Treat me like a woman”, but because of weak advertising campaign, the sales were low and the chart positions were not good at all.
A couple of years later, “The moment” was re-released in “Gold Edition” with some extras. But the unsatisfactory success of the album, led to the split up between Lisa and ZTT label and then she took a long break.
In 2005 her first live DVD was published, the performance was recorded at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London in 2003.
Actress career
During the following years Lisa took part in some TV shows and films.
In 2006 she guest-starred in the TV series “Goldplated” playing the role of Trinny Jamieson in “The charity dinner” and “The funeral” episodes.
In 2007 she starred, as Mary Durrant, in a “Miss Marple” episode (“Ordeal by innocence”).
Then she joined the cast of “The edge of love” in the role of Ruth Williams.
At the end of December 2007, she was in the “Quest for a heart” a Finnish animated film. She dubbed one of the characters (Milli) for the English edition and sang the main song, not included in the OST cd.
During 2008, many rumours were spread about the release of Lisa’s new album, but nothing happened.
In 2009 Lisa played herself in Nick Mead’s short film “Dean Street shuffle”. Nick was the author of “Swing” and a friend of her.
In January 2010 she came back to the scene with a private concert in Bratislava and in July she was a guest at Silver Clef Awards in London.
The 2011 seems to be an important moment for Lisa: in May, a French TV caught her during a photo shoot in the Harcourt Studio in Paris, maybe something for the new album, and on June 20th she came back to London to watch the concert in memory of John Barry at the Royal Albert Hall.
In september she has been the guest star of Van Cleef's dinner gala in Hong Kong.
The comeback
In 2012 Lisa Stansfield came back on the scene and played a role in Elaine Constantine’s film Northern Soul. The low budget movie was released in October 2014 after two years in the making and obtained great box office results. But the real return of Lisa is her new album Seven released on May 2012, after 10 years. The new album is very appreciated by fans and critics and reaches good positions in the European charts surpassing widely the previous two albums, despite the lack of promotion in the main countries of Europe. Lisa performs in a long series of concerts until the end of 2015 and most of the gigs are sold-out. White soul music found again its leading artist. In 2015 Lisa published also her first live album ever Live in Manchester, crowning the revival of her career.
After about a three years break, Lisa means to continue her return on scene and in April 2018 she comes back with a new Album: Deeper. As always dedicated to the White Soul and the soft dance, the album reaches the goal and gives fans a sounding fresh but still traditional work. As usual produced by Ian Devaney and the historical percussionist.
The beginning
Lisa, the daughter of Marion and Keith Stansfield, as born at 18 on april 11, 1966 in Manchester at Crumpsall hospital. She lives in heywood until the age of ten in the county at that time called The Lancashire and today know as Greater Manchester. Heywood is a town within the District of Rochdale and Rochdale (borough of Greater Manchester County) is where Lisa and her family moved when she was 11. Lisa has 2 sisters: Suzanne (the younger) and Karen (the oldest). Lisa’s first TV appearance was on a talent show on Granada TV in 1982, the studios were in Quay Street, Manchester, the producer of the show was Johnny Hamp (with Lisa in the photo below right) who was responsible for The Beatles’ TV debut in 1963.
Lisa won the talent show singing The Human League track “The things that dreams are made of”. In 1983, Hamp produced for Granada TV a documentary directed by Peter Walker “Born in the Sixties: Lisa Stansfield”. It was a monograph of the aspiring singer and it included her comments and those of her mother and sisters and some songs sang by Lisa. In 1983 Lisa co-hosted a children’s TV music show Razzamatazz on ITV together with Alastair Pirrie (now he’s a writer and TV producer). Many pop singers took part in the show, it ran between 1981 and 1987 but Lisa appeared only on 1983 season.
In 1986 Lisa together with Andy Morris and Ian Devaney, her schoolmates, formed the “Blue Zone”. The band saw modest success with the single “Jackie” and recorded only one album entitled “Big Thing” (1988).
In 1990 (1989 in the UK) Lisa released her debut album as a solo artist, even if she kept working with Blue Zone, entitled “Affection” that contained “All around the world” her first massive international hit and most famous song.
We had to wait 1993 for the release of the 3rd album “So natural” and the most important thing was that Andy Morris collaborated only on one track “In all the right places”, song included in “Indecent proposal” original soundtrack.
In June 2001 Lisa released her 5th album “Face up”, the last work for BMG Arista label (except for the following greatest hits). The producers were Ian Devaney together with Richard Darbyshire.
“The moment” (2004) was a crucial point in Lisa’s music career because it was the first album released on ZTT Records after Lisa and BMG split up.
During the following years Lisa took part in some TV shows and films.
In 2012 Lisa Stansfield came back on the scene and played a role in Elaine Constantine’s film Northern Soul. The low budget movie was released in October 2014 after two years in the making and obtained great box office results. But the real return of Lisa is her new album Seven released on May 2012, after 10 years. The new album is very appreciated by fans and critics and reaches good positions in the European charts surpassing widely the previous two albums, despite the lack of promotion in the main countries of Europe. Lisa performs in a long series of concerts until the end of 2015 and most of the gigs are sold-out. White soul music found again its leading artist. In 2015 Lisa published also her first live album ever Live in Manchester, crowning the revival of her career.