* En anglais uniquement
When
Prince broke up the
Revolution in 1986, guitarist
Wendy Melvoin and keyboardist
Lisa Coleman, friends since childhood, decided to team up for a new musical project. The two had grown up together in Los Angeles, where both of their fathers were session musicians and encouraged their musical development from a young age.
Coleman joined the
Revolution in 1979 for
Dirty Mind, and
Melvoin signed on in 1984; in addition to their instrumental skills, the two also provided some of
Prince's arrangements.
Wendy and Lisa played almost all of the instruments on their self-titled debut and co-wrote most of the material with ex-
Revolution drummer
Bobby Z. After backing
Joni Mitchell on
Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm in 1988, the duo added
Melvoin's twin sister
Susannah and recorded
Fruit at the Bottom, a song cycle about the ups and downs of romance. Several more family members joined up for the widely varied Eroica, which mixed Wendy & Lisa's disparate influences (funk, jazz, dance, pop, rock);
k.d. lang also contributed vocals. Eroica followed in 1990, and though the duo were less busy during the decade, they returned in 1998 as the Girl Bros. ~ Steve Huey