Linda Perry

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linda Perry (2008)

Linda Perry (born April 15, 1965 in Springfield , Massachusetts ) is an American rock singer , songwriter and record producer . She became known as the singer of the 4 Non Blondes and began a solo career in 1995. Since 2001 Perry has written numerous songs for singers such as Celine Dion , Pink , Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani . Perry is the owner of the label Custard Records , which u. a. James Blunt under contract.

life and career

Linda Perry spent her youth neglected and neglected in San Diego . Most of the time she could be found scrounging in Balboa Park , where Perry had many options to supply himself with drugs such as LSD , cocaine or ice . Her drug career ended abruptly when Perry was drunk and fell from a tower in Balboa Park while under the influence of drugs. Out of action for several weeks, she underwent cold drug withdrawal .

Perry, who grew up with six siblings, discovered her love for music through her older brother John, who was a member of the rock band Kaos . Impressed by the attention her brother was getting from the music, she tried to emulate him and started playing the guitar. Looking for a band, Perry went to San Francisco in 1987 , where she earned her living as a waitress and as a solo artist performing in clubs. There she met Christa Hillhouse, Shaunna Hall and Wanda Day in 1989. The four musicians founded the alternative - rock band 4 Non Blondes . In 1993 the band had the single What's Up? a worldwide success.

Solo career

1995 Perry separated from the 4 Non Blondes due to musical differences (see also 4 Non Blondes - band history ). While Perry could not identify with the band's previous music and wanted to take a different musical path, the other band members insisted on continuing the previous musical style. The record label Interscope Records decided not to release the contractually agreed second album with the 4 Non Blondes, but with Linda Perry. In 1996 Perry's first album In Flight was released . On the album Perry partially processed songs that she had written for the second album of the 4 Non Blondes, but which the other band members had not agreed to. The promotion of the album had to perform Perry with their own financial resources. Both the album and the two singles Fill me up and Freeway could not build on the success Perry had years earlier with the 4 Non Blondes.

In 1998, given the lack of support from Interscope, Perry asked Interscope CEO Tom Whalley to dismiss her from the record deal ; a few weeks later Whalley complied with this request. A short time later, Linda Perry started a second attempt as a solo artist and within just three weeks recorded the album After Hours , which she released in 1999 under her own label. On the following club tour there was a reunion with the former 4-Non-Blondes bassist Christa Hillhouse. But even this could not compensate for the lack of professional marketing: After Hours was also unsuccessful.

In 2002 Perry worked with Gordon Gano, the lead singer of the band Violent Femmes . The title So it goes on Ganos solo album Hitting The Ground was sung by Perry.

In 2005, Linda Perry signed a deal with the record label Kill Rock Stars to re-release her solo debut In Flight . A tour followed with ten smaller performances.

In interviews, Linda Perry emphasized several times that her solo career was officially over.

Music production and songwriting

Already in 1991 when recording the 4-Non-Blondes album Bigger, Better, Faster, More! Linda Perry began working as a songwriter and producer. Ten of the eleven tracks on the 4-Non-Blondes album were written or co-written by Perry. When she was dissatisfied with the work of the then producer David Tickle during the recording of the later hit single What's up , she recorded a new version of the title in another studio , as it was later published, only with the help of a sound engineer.

In 1995 Perry founded her first own record label, Rockstar Records, which later signed the hard rock band Two Lane Black Top and the rock band Stone Fox.

In 1996/1997 while recording In Flight , Perry's interest in the work of a music producer increased. In Flight is the first album that Perry was officially involved in as a co-producer. She calls the producer of the album Bill Bottrell, who took the time to answer all Perry's questions, as her mentor , from whom she ultimately learned everything she knows about music production .

“Bill told me once, when discussing eq's 'there is no right or wrong when it comes to recording, turn the knobs until it sounds right to your ear.' Those words I live by till this day. "

“Bill once said to me when we were discussing EQs , 'There's no right or wrong about recording sound . Keep turning the buttons until it sounds right to your ears. ' I live these words to this day. "

- Linda Perry

After Perry's success as a solo artist failed and her label Rockstar Records went bankrupt, Perry was penniless in 2001 and worked on another comeback attempt. It was then that she received a call from the singer Pink , who was a huge fan of the 4 Non Blondes in her youth. Pink asked Perry to help her with her new album. After initial hesitation, Perry agreed and gave Pink the song Get This Party Started , which she had written some time before. After both Pink and her record company are happy with the song, Pink and Perry continue their work together. The resulting album Missundaztood contains 8 tracks that Perry was involved in, including the song Lonely Girl , which was sung by Perry and Pink together. The success of the album enabled Perry to collaborate with other well-known artists.

In 2002 Perry worked as a songwriter and producer for Jewel and Faith Hill, among others . In the same year she worked with Christina Aguilera for her album Stripped . At the beginning of the recording, Aguilera asked Perry to play something to relieve her nervousness. Perry chose the song Beautiful , with which she had a very emotional relationship. Like Pink before, Aguilera asked Perry to release the song. Impressed by Aguilera's voice and interpretation of the song, Perry agreed. Beautiful was nominated for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 2004.

Linda Perry (2010)

In 2003, successful projects with Sugababes and Blaque Ivory and another collaboration with Pink followed. In the same year Perry founded her second music label Custard Records and signed the then unknown British singer James Blunt as the first artist. In 2004, Blunt's first album Back to Bedlam was the label's first release. Perry was involved as producer and guitarist on the track No Bravery .

In 2004 there was cooperation with Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani . Perry ran into Stefani and asked if she needed help with her solo album. Although Stefani was initially of the opinion that their music was too different, the collaboration resulted in three tracks that are on Stefani’s solo album Love. Fishing rod. Music. Infant. were published. This includes the title What You Waiting For? , which was released as the first single. Perry also supported Juliette and the Licks , the rock band of actress Juliette Lewis , on their first release Like a Bolt of Lightning as a songwriter and producer. That same year, Perry began working with Courtney Love on their first solo album, America's Sweetheart . Due to the bad sales of the album and the fact that Love's record company only released one track from the collaboration with Perry, Perry Love offered to support her on another solo album. Both have been working on Love's comeback album Nobody's Daughter since 2006 , which was released in 2010.

2005 Perry produced Kelly Osbourne's album Sleeping in the Nothing and supported Lisa Marie Presley at their album Now What co-songwriter with six titles. Osbourne's single One Word , which was very successful especially in England, stood out for its strong resemblance to the Visage title Fade to Gray , whereupon Perry was sued by Billy Currie for infringement of copyright. The strenuous process ended in a settlement, and Perry agreed to pay a portion of the royalties to the creators of Fade to Gray .

In 2006, Perry supported the Dixie Chicks with the title Voice Inside My Head . Another collaboration with Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera followed. The entire second CD of Aguilera's album Back to Basics was produced by Perry. Among other things, she is the composer of the titles Hurt and Candyman . The opening song of the second CD, Enter The Circus , was voiced by Perry. Perry wrote the successful song Hurt for her father, who died in 2005.

In 2007 Linda Perry worked for Vanessa Carlton . She was the songwriter and producer of Spring Street and This Time and co-songwriter of The One for their album Heroes & Thieves . She also supported Alicia Keys with the recordings for her album As I Am for the titles Superwoman , The Thing About Love and Sure Looks Good To Me . Perry wrote the song My Love for Celine Dion , which was released on the album Taking Chances . Also on Dion's album is a cover version of Perry's song New Dawn , which Perry released on her second album After Hours in 1999.

In 2008 Perry wrote the title La Scala (The Ladder) and Cuore Assente (The La La Song) for the Italian singer Giusy Ferreri , which was released on the album Gaetana . She also produced Daniel Powter's album Under The Radar , which also includes the song Am I Still The One , sung together .

In 2009, Perry contributed the track A Loaded Smile to Adam Lambert's debut album For Your Entertainment . For Alicia Keys she wrote the track Pray for Forgiveness , which was released on the deluxe version of Keys album The Element of Freedom . Also on Christina Aguilera's album Bionic was to lift me up again to find Perry a title.

Deep Dark Robot

In 2010 Perry founded the band Deep Dark Robot with drummer Tony Tornay. In May 2011 the duo released the album 8 Songs About a Girl and then toured US clubs.

Awards

In 1993 Linda Perry received a Best Female Singer award at the Bay Area Music Awards.

In 2003, Perry received two awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004.

In 2006, Perry was listed at number one on the World Top 100 A&R Chart by Hit Quarters, an Internet portal for A&Rs . This was due to the worldwide success of the artist, James Blunt, who was still unknown when he signed the contract with Perry's record label Custard Records.

In 2007, Perry received an award from the San Francisco Recording Academy, part of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences , for her successful work with young artists such as Christina Aguilera, Pink and Gwen Stefani.

Personal

Linda Perry has always admitted her homosexuality and was engaged to the model Amanda Moore , among others . She has been married to actress Sara Gilbert since March 30, 2014 . Their son was born in February 2015. In December 2019, the two of them filed for divorce.

Discography as an interpreter

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
In flight
  AT 39 07/14/1996 (5 weeks)
  CH 50 06/30/1996 (1 week)

Studio albums

  • 1996: In Flight
  • 1999: After Hours
  • 2005: In Flight (re-release)
  • 2011: 8 songs About a Girl
  • 2015: Deer Sounds (with Sara Gilbert's Deer Sounds)

Singles

  • 1996: Fill Me Up
  • 1997: Freeway

Discography as an author

Albums

year Interpreter Title
album
Chart placements annotation
DE AT CH UK US
1996 Stone Fox Stone Fox - - - - -
2001 pink Missundaztood 5 4th 7th 2 6th (Co-) songwriter and producer
2005 Kelly Osbourne Sleeping In The Nothing - - - 57 - (Co-) songwriter and producer of all titles
2006 Christina Aguilera Back to basics 1 1 1 1 1 (Co-) songwriter and producer of
all titles Disk 2
2007 The Section Quartet Fuzzbox - - - - - Producer
2007 Ben Jelen Ex-sensitive - - - - - (Co-) songwriter of 6 tracks / producer
2007 Celine Dion Taking Chances 5 3 1 5 3 Songwriter / producer of 2 tracks
2008 Daniel Powter Under the radar 20th 74 - 43 - (Co-) songwriter of 2 tracks / producer

Singles

year Interpreter Title
album
Chart placements annotation
DE AT CH UK US
1993 4 non blondes What's Up
Bigger, Better, Faster, More!
1 1 1 2 14th Songwriter
1993 4 non blondes Spaceman
Bigger, Better, Faster, More!
28 19th 18th 53 - Songwriter
2002 pink Get The Party Started
M! Ssundaztood
2 2 2 2 4th Songwriter / producer
2003 Christina Aguilera Beautiful
Stripped
4th 5 7th 1 2 Songwriter / producer
2003 Lillix Tomorrow
Falling Uphill
- - - - - Songwriter / producer
2004 Gwen Stefani What You Waiting For?
Love. Fishing rod. Music. Infant.
22nd 7th 17th 4th 47 Songwriter
2004 Courtney Love Mono
America’s sweetheart
- - - 41 - Songwriter
2005 Kelly Osbourne One Word
Sleeping in the Nothing
38 - - 9 - Songwriter / producer
2005 Lisa Marie Presley Idiot
Now What
- - - - - Songwriter
2005 Unwritten Law Save Me (Wake Up Call)
Here's to the Mourning
- - - - - Songwriter / producer
2005 Kelly Osbourne Redlight
Sleeping in the Nothing
- - - 73 - Songwriter / producer
2006 Cheap trick Perfect Stranger
Rockford
- - - - - Songwriter / producer
2006 James Blunt No Bravery
Back to Bedlam
- - - - - Producer
only released in France (# 15)
2006 Christina Aguilera Hurt
back to basics
2 2 1 19th 1 Songwriter / producer
2006 skin Nothing But
Fake Chemical State
- - - - - Producer released
only in Italy
2007 Christina Aguilera Candyman
Back to Basics
11 17th 11 14th 11 Songwriter / producer
2007 Ben Jelen Wherever Do We Go
Ex-Sensitive
- - - - - Songwriter / producer
2008 Daniel Powter Next Plane Home
Under the Radar
71 61 37 70 - Songwriter / producer
2008 Alicia Keys Superwoman
As I Am
43 43 48 - 82 Songwriter
2008 Christina Aguilera Keeps Gettin 'Better
Keeps Gettin' Better - A Decade of Hits
14th 15th 21st 14th 7th Songwriter / producer
2008 Celine Dion My Love
My Love: Essential Collection
- - - - - Songwriter / producer
2009 Giusy Ferreri La Scala (The Ladder)
Gaetana
- - - - - Songwriter / producer
2009 Gavin Rossdale Forever may You Run
Wanderlust
- - - - - Songwriter / producer
2009 Christina Aguilera Lift Me Up
Bionic
- - - - - Songwriter / producer

Web links

Commons : Linda Perry  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. From odd duck to golden swan . signonsandiego.com, October 20, 2005
  2. Linda Perry, Back on Her Diverted 'Flight' . washingtonpost.com, September 25, 2005
  3. ^ Gordon Gano - Hitting The Ground . Discogs
  4. Linda Perry Wants To Save 'Queen Of Rock And Roll' Courtney Love . MTV, April 26, 2006
  5. a b c Linda Perry Interview. The Art of Music Production, July 31, 2004
  6. Non-Blonde No Longer . ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. July 24, 1996; interview @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.users.bigpond.com
  7. Miss understood . San Francisco Bay Guardian
  8. ^ SF Recording Academy Honors 2007. YouTube
  9. 4 Non Blondes Biography. laut.de
  10. World Top 100 A&R Chart 2006. Hit Quarters
  11. ^ San Francisco Recording Academy Honors. Recording Academy
  12. Congratulations! Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry married over weekend. glaad.org, accessed April 1, 2014 .
  13. Sara Gilbert Linda Perry welcome son on celebritybabies.people.com (English)
  14. ^ Sara Gilbert separating from wife Linda Perry after nearly six years. In: USA Today . December 30, 2019 (English). ;
  15. a b c Chart sources: AT CH