'Lisa Anne Loeb' (born
11 March,
1968) is an American
singer-songwriter and
reality television actress. In
1994, she had her first hit with the song "
Stay (I Missed You)". The song today still remains her biggest hit and most well-known song. Recently, she has moved into other endeavors, such as
television. In
2006, she had her own reality TV show on the
E! channel.
Early years
Born in
Bethesda,
Maryland, and raised in
Dallas,
Texas, Loeb attended
The Hockaday School, an all-girls
private school in Dallas. She has three siblings -- Benjamin Loeb,
Debbie Loeb, and Philip Loeb. 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
Elizabeth Mitchell formed a band named
Liz and Lisa, featuring future singer/songwriter and Brown classmate
Duncan Sheik as a guitarist as well as the upcoming influential jazz/rock bassist Rick Lassiter while contemplating band names such as Nine Stories and Soto Voce'. 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.
Recording career
In September
1995, Loeb's debut album, ''
Tails'', was released. The album was co-produced by
Juan Patiño, her longtime 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 still managed a Top-Twenty hit with "Do You Sleep?" and two moderately successful radio hits with "Taffy," and "Waiting for Wednesday." ''Tails'' went on to achieve platinum status.
In
1997, a second major-label album, ''
Firecracker'', was released. Though critically praised, it did not have the commercial success of ''Tails'', but the single "
I Do" was popular on radio (it charted in the Top Twenty) and music television. The song "How" featured in the soundtracks for the films ''
Twister'' and ''
Jack Frost'', and was featured in the
Buffy episode
Homecoming. "Let's Forget About It" was released as a single. At this point Loeb dropped the name of her support band, Nine Stories, and performed under her own name. "Firecracker" went Gold.
In
2000 she participated on the
Ozzy Osbourne tribute album ''Bat Head Soup'' performing
Goodbye to Romance with
Dweezil Zappa on guitar.
Loeb's next project was ''
Cake and Pie'' the release of which was delayed until
2002. The album was a commercial failure (despite excellent reviews) 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 by
Artemis Records in late 2002, with the songs rearranged and some deletions/additions. Featuring new packaging, it was retitled ''
Hello Lisa''. A children's album called ''Catch the Moon'' was independently released in
2003. 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.
More recently, Loeb has contributed vocals to
New Found Glory's cover of Stay, which will feature on their 2007 LP
From the Screen to Your Stereo Pt. 2.
When not touring, or doing other promotional work, she resides in
Los Angeles.
Acting and reality television
Loeb has had several guest appearances on television shows, such as ''
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 101''. 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 been the voice of
Mary Jane Watson in the animated show '', 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''.
On
August 2, Lisa Loeb co-hosted ''
The View''. In the episode, she defended a "woman's right to choose, a right to control her body, and have an alternative... something that's safe", clashing with regular co-host
Elisabeth Hasselbeck on more than one exchange.
She did voice acting for the character of Lutina in the video game
Grandia Xtreme.
Style
Loeb is known for wearing distinctive cat-eye shaped
tortoiseshell glasses. She says she is allergic to
contact lenses. She has stated in numerous interviews she is very
nearsighted with a
prescription near -6.00.
Trivia
★ Loeb's band, "Nine Stories", is named after the
J. D. Salinger collection.
★ ''Stay (I Missed You)'' earned Loeb the distinction of being the first and only unsigned artist to have a number one hit on the American charts.
★ Loeb is an avid collector of
Hello Kitty items, including a
Hello Kitty Stratocaster, manufactured by
Squier. She was featured on the American
Sanrio website.
★ Her father is Dallas
gastroenterologist Peter Loeb.
★ Loeb guest performed on the song ''Anti-Hero'' on all-female
Japanese musical group
Rin''s album ''Inland Sea''.
★ In the opening for each episode of ''
Dweezil & Lisa'', she claimed to be a
vegetarian who enjoyed eating the occasional serving of
bacon. "She is the best singer in the world" (Dweezil Zappa).
★ On Friday, May 18, she did the voice of a character on the Disney Channel's "Shorty McShorts Shorts".
Discography
Singles
Albums
★
★
Billboard Top 200 Albums Charts
★ -Did Not Chart
External links
★
Official Site
★
Discography
★
★
★
Interview with UnRatedMagazine.com
★
Jammer's Lisa Loeb Shrine
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