Thanks to a dear Isle devotee, Adriana, I can now share with you one of my fave pop albums of the 1980s. Cindy Valentine was a fixture on Canadian radio and television in the 1980's. Born in Italy, she moved to Canada to pursue a career in music. At some point she crossed paths with disco producer Tony Green (he also produced Isle postee Alta Dustin, and I believe that he and Cindy later married). As Pat Benatar and her hard rock sound rose to fame in the early 1980s, many female singers followed her lead, and Cindy was no exception. She signed to Columbia and released Rock & Roll Heart Attack, a hard rock album laced with new wave elements. Songs such as "Victim" and "Make It Through The Night" were radio staples in Canada. But then Cindy seemed to disappear from the music scene, though she did pop up in a few small acting roles. Three years later, to my surprise and delight, she re-emerged, transformed into a dance-pop diva on her Polydor album Secret Rendez-Vous. Her first single, the brilliant "In Your Midnight Hour" (which was later a European hit for C.C. Catch), was a dance hit in Canada and the video was played on Muchmusic frequently. Her second single, the album's title track, was an even bigger success, attracting international attention, especially from freestyle fans. The whole album, also produced by Tony Green, is a dance pop dream, mixing synth-pop, freestyle and funk (similar to artists like Alisha, for whom she co-wrote the track "Into The Night" with Green). Cindy wasn't heard from again until 1989, when her freestyle single "Pick Up The Pieces (To My Heart)" hit #11 on the Billboard Dance Charts. That same year, she also contributed a couple songs to the film Teen Witch and performed in the film. Another album was apparently planned but never released. She then surprised me again by popping up on lead vocals on three tracks on Jellybean's Spillin' The Beans album. I thought this would lead to even greater success, but instead she faded from the spotlight. Wanting to know what happened to her and whether she planned on ever re-releasing Secret Rendez-Vous on CD (Rock & Roll Heart Attack was re-released in 2007), I discovered her website, under her given name Valentine Leone, and wrote to her. To my surprise, she actually wrote me back! She said she was flattered that she still had a fan base, but that she had "no intentions of going backwards and am not a fan of remakes in any form". She also filled me in on her other work. It appears she decided to work in the background, working on music for several films, including Repossessed and Another 9 1/2 Weeks, as well as producing films and taking on small acting roles once again. She was excited about the musical version of Teen Witch, which uses her original songs. And though she said she didn't want to go backwards, in addition to independently releasing an MP3 album entitled Blame Yourself in 2008, she also released another MP3 compilation this year entitled Speak Your Mind, which includes unreleased tracks (likely from her unreleased album from 1989), as well as her versions of songs written for others and remixes, including those for "In Your Midnight Hour" and "Pick Up The Pieces". It's more great freestyle and dance pop. Both albums are available for download on iTunes and Amazon.com. So the lady is back! For more info on her, visit her website
HERE or her Myspace site. And you can also be part of the fan page I created for her on Facebook. Welcome back, Valentine!
Video for
Make It Through The NightVideo for
Using MeDownload
Rock & Roll Heart Attack| 1 |
| Victim
|
| 2 |
| Fool In The Night
|
| 3 |
| Big Kiss
|
| 4 |
| Love Child
|
| 5 |
| Power Of Love
|
| 6 |
| Living In The Fast Lane
|
| 7 |
| Make It Through The Night
|
| 8 |
| Using Me
|
| 9 |
| Lust
|
| 10 |
| Don't Waste Your Love |
Video for
In Your Midnight HourDownload
Secret Rendez-Vous| 1 |
| In Your Midnight Hour
|
| 2 |
| Heartless |
| 3 |
| Don't Give Up |
| 4 |
| Try Your Luck |
| 5 |
| A Fine Mess |
| 6 |
| Secret Rendez-Vous |
| 7 |
| Savage |
| 8 |
| Fight The Feeling |
| 9 |
| Hungry Love |
Lisahall is a UK band that emerged during the tail end of the trip hop and brit pop movements. They were a combination of the two, surrounding poppy lyrics with electronics and guitar. They released a few singles from the album, including "Comatose" and "Connection 17", and they had tracks on a few soundtracks, including the title track, which appeared in the movie Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. But, as with so many groups here, their only minor hit was the dance mix of "I Know I Can Do It", which reached the lower end of the Billboard Dance top 40. Though the music is very catchy and well constructed (to me they sound like a poppier and more uptempo Sneaker Pimps fronted by Natalie Imbruglia), it came at a time when it's two greatest musical genre influences were both on their way out of public favour. Also, the band was named after their lead singer, the ethereal Lisa Hall, which added confusion as to whether they were a band or Lisa was a solo artist. They were dropped from their label, Reprise, and kept a low profile until they popped up on Myspace in 2006. As of 2007, they were still working on new recordings, which are posted on their Myspace page HERE, but, as they themselves say, it is a slow process when you don't have major label support and money and need to work for a living. But the fact that they've managed to stay together this long bodes well for their future!
