Lisa Tingle

glaze studio www.glaze.net
Steamboat 03 & Local Licks Live 04
http://www.musictexas.com



See Lisa in the new documentary film series
AUSTIN GROOVE
available at Waterloo Records and record stores all over Texas
http://www.MusicTexas.com/AustinGroove.html

Lisa Tingle - In the Water

Review by
Doug La Rue
http://www.MusicTexas.com

A powerful singer with true talent for expressing the emotion of original lyrics all supported on a firm foundation of real quality musicians! Tingle is easily one of the best vocalists in Austin today!

This album is very different from Lisa's last project (Black Pearl), and it will appeal to a broader base of people because of the mixing of rock, soul, jazz and funk. Lisa has broken the mold and found more freedom to express herself in her pursuit of a solo career. When she went into the recording studio, she was more relaxed and decided to have fun, instead of trying to find formulas to please the audience. The result may quite possibly be her best project to date. As Lisa states: "If you stay fresh and happy with yourself, audiences will pick up on it, and they will also realize that you are having fun." It definitely comes across-she is having a blast!



Lisa Tingle

by Lonnie "Popcorn" Trevino


When I moved back to Austin in '94, I met up with an old friend I hadn't seen in a very long time. When I asked him for an update on his music career he told me that he was auditioning for the band Black Pearl. He spoke highly of the band, and kept going on and on about the singer. Later that evening, we went to Steamboat to check them out. I was immediately drawn to the powerful and charismatic lead vocalist. I not only found her beautiful, but also blessed with an angelic voice that could only be a gift from above. After my friend joined Black Pearl, I had the privilege of auditioning with them. That's when I first met Lisa Tingle.


Lisa Tingle was born into a very musical family in Modesto, California. At the time Tingle and her sister were born, their father played bass and their mother played saxophone in the home town theater orchestra. She grew up surrounded by a wide variety of musical influences from her parents, causing turmoil in her life as to her favorite type of music's, she listened to rock-n-roll. In addition to music, she became interested in dance and between the ages of five and fifteen, performed for the local ballet. After several mishaps, such as a broken foot, tonsillitis and pneumonia, all in one year, she says, "That must've been a sign to stop dancing." Then she turned to her life long love singing. As a joke, she auditioned for a band (along with fifty others) and got the job. "All of the sudden there was all this freedom at such a young age," she recalls. "Unlike in ballet, where everything is strict and rehearsed, you just keep your mouth shut. In music, I can talk and move the way I want to."

Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner were her biggest female influences. Because of a lack of strong female singers at the time, Tingle's goal was to sing and sound like the male vocalists she was trying to emulate. News of her vocal ability spread around the Bay Area, and she gained notoriety among the local press. "I was the only female in town singing these macho male songs and pulling them off," she brags. By this time, she was devoured by the music bug and decided to pursue a professional music career.



Tingle's next step towards stardom was a move to Los Angeles, where she quickly got her foot in the door at A&M Records singing demos. "I sang songs for writers and their publishing companies so that they could sell their music." She adds, "I made good money doing that." Unfortunately, it was getting her nowhere. L.A. exposed Lisa to a lot of snakes in the music business, whose intentions weren't about furthering her career. "I went though a lot of bullshit producers and management people who ended up being a waste of time," she bitterly states, "They mainly wanted to get me alone." Tingle witnessed many of her girlfriends trying to reach the same goal, only to see them go down in the end. She was lucky to escape with only minor cuts and bruises. After six years of one disappointment after another, on a whim she moved to Austin to start over. After Tingle left L.A., she realized that the city had stifled her creative muse - her best music was yet to come.

When Tingle first arrived in Austin, she didn't know anyone. She began to sit in on open-mike nights at different clubs, quickly making a name for herself. Her next step was to find a band who could perform the gut-wrenching rock'n roll she'd been singing all her life. Meanwhile, she started doing studio session and jingle work, where she met producer Carl Thiel (her spouse). "I've never met anyone with so much enthusiasm and will to live out a dream, Thiel continues, "Perseverance and persistence are the reasons she is successful at everything she sets out to do." One of those things was the formation of the band Black Pearl. Together, they searched for the right combination of musicians to create the sound that they wanted, that would showcase Tingle's pipes. Thiel introduced Tingle to guitarist John Lockhart, who became musical director and co-writer with the band. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't impressed with the material I heard at the beginning," remembers Lockhart, "but the potential was there. Lisa could definitely sing." After finding the right musicians, they recorded the Black Pearl album in '93. Following the release of the album (and without distribution) the single "Like a Rocket" secured regular rotation on radio stations in Corpus Christi, Houston, and at home in Austin. The song caught the interest of the Spelling TV music supervisor and it was heard on an episode of Melrose Place. Other songs by Lockhart, Tingle and Thiel have been played on Kindred: The Embraced and Robin's Hood.

After five years of moderate success, the three main songwriters of the band agreed to end Black Pearl to start anew. "We really didn't have enough contacts with management companies, publishing companies or the media to further the life of the band," Tingle laments, "You have to do some work to get through the right channels." Lockhart adds, "Some of the musicians in the band didn't want to dedicate themselves to the project, so we figured we were better off splitting." After taking time off to gather her thoughts, Tingle decided to record as a solo artist with the same songwriting team. She began to focus on her vocal style, as she only utilized one facet of her singing ability in Black Pearl. Her idea was to write songs that incorporated the influences she had while growing up. "A lot of people hear me now and say "I didn't know you could sing like that," because they were used to me just singing the rock stuff." The result was her solo debut release, In The Water , which features her classy vocals, along with a toned down, groovy approach and a mixture of styles. Released in '96, it garnered mixed reviews among the media and fans alike.

After the demise of Black Pearl, Lockhart continued playing with friends in the band Taboo. When it was time to record In The Water, Lockhart called upon the rest of Taboo to help. After the completion of the album, the search began for a performing band and the members of Taboo joined her once again. The Lisa Tingle Project was now ready to perform live with keyboardist Phil Redmond, drummer Les Fisher, and bass player Selton Cole, along with Lockhart on lead guitar. The band behind the funky, hip-hop sound of MC Overlord and others, Taboo is one of the most sought after backing bands in Austin. The Lisa Tingle Project was voted third best new band in the '97 Austin Chronicle Music Awards readers poll. To top it off, Lisa Tingle received "Female Vocalist? of the year.

In The Water turned out to be a fitting title and theme for the CD. Tingle's baptism into her new era of music. There is an underlying element of class in each of her performances and she remains true to herself. Lisa feels as if she's being pushed to her uppermost limits during each performance. "You won't see me wearing thongs, sexy lingerie, or bearing my ass on stage to get attention," exclaims Tingle, who maintains that the key is class. Lisa Tingle is one classy lady.


See Lisa's Latest Projects at http://www.lisatingle.com