* En anglais uniquement
While primarily a blues vocalist,
Lady Bianca first earned notice as a session singer on a wide range of projects including recordings from
Van Morrison,
Frank Zappa and
Merle Haggard. Born
Bianca Thornton in Kansas City, Missouri on August 8, 1953, she was influenced by gospel as a child and studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music before lending her contralto to the role of
Billie Holiday in an acclaimed production of
Jon Hendrick's
Evolution of the Blues; in the early '80s, she appeared on
Morrison LPs including
Beautiful Vision and
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, and also backed blues legends like
John Lee Hooker and
Willie Dixon. In the late '80s,
Lady Bianca teamed with songwriter Stanley Lippitt, an alliance which yielded a number of tracks that grabbed the attention of
Joe Louis Walker and in turn resulted in a record deal; she made her solo debut in 1995 with
Best Kept Secret. Her long-awaited follow up appeared six years later on Rooster Blues. ~ Jason Ankeny