Wendy and Lisa are a musical duo comprised of musicians Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin that formed in the mid 1980s. The two were childhood friends, both from musical families which often performed together; Wendy's father, Mike Melvoin, was an in-demand session musician and was president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) in the 1980s, while Lisa's father, Gary Coleman (not the actor) was also an in-demand session musician for jazz artists.


The Revolution
In 1980, Lisa Coleman replaced Gayle Chapman in Prince's touring band. Coleman was well-liked by Prince and was asked to contribute vocals to several tracks over his next few albums. In 1983, Dez Dickerson left the band due to religious conflicts. Coleman suggested Melvoin as a replacement. Prince accepted Melvoin into the band as they began to record Purple Rain. The film and album were a phenomenon, catapulting himself and the newly named Revolution as superstars. Prince's personal life also became intertwined with Melvoin's when he began dating her twin sister Susannah.

The team of Coleman and Melvoin worked extremely well together. Prince saw this and tapped their talents for the albums following Purple Rain. Their influence was particularly heard on several tracks on the Parade album, the soundtrack to Prince's film Under the Cherry Moon. Despite their growing contributions, the duo felt they were not getting the recognition and credit they deserved. In 1986, Coleman and Melvoin left the band, disrupting the Dream Factory project that was already completed and effectively dissolving The Revolution.

Contributions
Prince cultivated a number of "proteges", usually female artists for whom the contribution on their part was usually limited to singing, while Prince contributed music, lyrics, and much of their career guidance. Because of their sometimes outlandish onstage appearances, the duo of "Wendy and Lisa" (much like Sheila E.) are often miscategorized as being part of Prince's protege harem.

It is important to note that Melvoin and Coleman were clearly professional musicians in their own right. Regardless of critical assessments of either Wendy and Lisa's or Prince's work, the duo definitely had an influence and impact on Prince's sound. The pop/blue eyed soul/funk hybrid can be heard on Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day and Parade. Prince's music after their departure became significantly more funk-driven, while their funk-pop can be heard clearly on their first few albums.

On Their Own
The next year, the duo released an album simply entitled Wendy And Lisa with Columbia Records. The lead single, "Waterfall" received some airplay, and the music video was played on MTV and VH1. The album was a moderate success, but did not approach the sales figures of The Revolution. The sound was a continuation of the pop/dance/R&B fusion that had been the hallmark of their work with Prince; many Prince fans that were more fond of his funkier music did not follow the duo's work. They released a follow up album, Fruit At the Bottom, which was not a commercial success.

After a few years, the duo signed with Virgin (already their label in Europe) and released Eroica, an album with a more alternative feel. They had a minor radio and dance club hit with the single "Strung Out". In 1991, Virgin UK released Re-mix-In-a-Carnation, a selection of club mixes from the first three albums as remixed by producers like The Orb, William Orbit, and Madonna producer Nellee Hooper.

In the mid-Nineties, Wendy and Lisa worked on several movie projects with producer Trevor Horn, best known for his work with Yes, including session work with Seal and vocals on the soundtrack for Toys and their first scoring work, for Dangerous Minds. During this period, they worked to record a full length album under Horn's production, however the project (sometimes mistakenly called Friendly Fire by fans and bootleggers) has never been released.

Girl Bros. and Beyond
Feeling confined by the "Wendy and Lisa" moniker, the duo enlisted alternative producer Tchad Blake (Soul Coughing, Cibo Matto) and released a CD in 1998 under the name "Girl Bros". Their sound had begun to evolve on "Eroica" and while Girl Bros was still pop/funk based, it also could be categorized as alternative music.

Melvoin and Coleman have made numerous contributions to film scores and to television themes (for example, they wrote theme music and background scores for TV-shows such as Crossing Jordan and Carnivale).

As sessionists and producers, they have also appeared, together or separately, on albums by Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Neil Finn, Joni Mitchell, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Michael Penn, Liz Phair, Seal, and Victoria Williams, to name a few. They have been frequent collaborators with k.d. lang, whom they first worked with during Eroica; they have played on all of her subsequent albums. In 2005, Wendy Melvoin produced the first commercial album by The Like.

Melvoin's brother-in-law Doyle Bramhall II is another frequent collaborator; Wendy and Lisa performed on his first and second albums (producing the first) in addition to performing alongside him on several other artists' sessions. In the summer of 2005, Wendy and Lisa perfomed live as Pacifico in a supergroup band that also included Bramhall, Susannah Melvoin, drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., and hip hop writer/producer Mike Elizondo, Jr. (better known for his work with Eminem and 50 Cent). The set of shows at Hollywood's Largo was marked by special guest performances which included Coleman's sister Cole Ynda, singer Nikka Costa, and Eric Clapton.

Did you write this?

Did y'all know Lisa's pops Gary Coleman played on the Jacksons' hit, Can You Feel It.

nice write up..and no, never knew that about pops coleman....cool info.

yeah i would definitley say listenin 2 purple rain-parade you could tell which songs were prince styled and which were wendy & lisa styled.....

prince:
darling nikki
computer blue
kiss
sometimes it snows in april
anotherloverholeinyohead
pop life
the beautiful 1ns
god
take me with u
when doves cry

wendy & lisa:
let's go crazy
i would die 4 u
baby i'm a star
raspberry beret
purple rain

diamondpearl1 said:

That track is W&L all the way, as is Mountains.

jtfolden said:

and 17 Days.

the odd one out is computer blues...but then wendy said that they had very lil to do with that one...that they contributed more to purple rain but didnt get songwriting credit for it.

diamondpearl1 said:

I think let's go crazy, I would die 4 u, and baby i'm a star sounds more of Prince tracks with the Revolution's help of performing it. But I think Purple Rain and Take Me With U sound more of lisa and wendy track because all of the strings and classical influence. Besides Kiss, Life can be so nice, Girls and Boys, and probably Anotherlover, I think Parade is most of Lisa and Wendy's filling the gaps while Prince give outlines.

sosgemini said:

Right... I remember her commenting that there was no rhyme or reason to when and on what they would get song-writing credit - help with one track but get credit on something entirely different.

dewalliz said:

According to an interview/article with W&L in Rolling Stone back in 1986 (I think it was titled "Prince's Girls") they wrote Mountains and Sometimes It Snows In April on Parade. Comment was, also, made that they were writing a lot more for the next project - Dream Factory.

jtfolden said:

I aware they wrote those songs. I am talking about Prince was responsible more of my fav and only good tracks of the album which is Kiss, Girls and Boys, and Anotherlover.

Pop Life is Wendy&Lisa to the max.

jtfolden said:

Maybe Prince is just really forgetful!

susannah said:

My opinion was that many times Prince wanted sole credit on tracks he thought were noteworthy so gave credit on other songs that were of less value to him.

double post edit
[Edited 1/2/06 20:46pm]

jtfolden said:

Hmm also entirely possible...who knows? Like he didnt get enough credit eh?

Prince was control happy. He wanted song writing and performance credit for almost everything. Why do you think so few artists ever duetted with him? He didn't even want to give Sheena Easton proper credit for "U Got The Look". I know (so the story goes) that her vocals started out as just background vocals and he kept bringing her voice to the front that eventually turned out to be a duet or a featured vocal at the least. When she appeared in the music video and after the song became such a big hit, her contribution to the song (and it's popularity) was noted by the industry and fans alike. When the Grammy awards were announced Prince & Sheena Easton were nominated for "U Got The Look" as best r&b vocal performance by a duo or group.

I have to corect the writer on the point of saying that they were both professional musos in their own right before Prince- they were not. It was the first band either of them had played in aside form jamming in the family room with various siblings.

wavesofbliss said:

...Depends on, among other things, whether or not you count "Waldorf Salad".