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Lisa Lougheed takes charge of her careerSadly, she's stuck with high schools and mallsWENDELL PHiLUPSWlNNIPEG PftEEPRESSLisa Lougheed hopes to pry her way into the congested female pop/dance market.Ronald reagan's term aspresident confirmed that if a second-rate movie actor can become leader of the United States anything is possible in showbiz,As if we didn’t already know.But while Lisa Lougheed may not be facing quite as formidable a leap, she certainly has her work cut out for her.Not only is the 23-year-old Torontonian hoping to pry her way into the female pop/dance market —one of the most congested slices of music’s pie right now, what with the likes of Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Madonna and Canada’s own teen hitmaker Alanis clawing for their share—but she also has a past of her own to overcome.Most people should be so lucky to have a Juno nomination on their resume for most promising femalevocalist.But that was as much for Lisa Raccoon as it was for Lisa Lougheed —the album, Evergreen Nights, consisted of songs she recorded for The Raccoons animated TV show.“And 1 had a cold during half of those,” she said with a laugh during a Winnipeg stopover this week publicizing next Tuesday’s release of World Love, her first Raccoon-less recording.Through that stageI thought they were just going to be used for the TV show, and then all of a sudden there was this album out there. Well, those weren’t songs I wanted to sing, and I’ve been through that stage of singing songs that didn’t mean anything to me.”She ended up losing the Juno to Montreal singer Sass Jordan. But she gained something from the experience—a desire to have a say in the decisions affecting her career.“I see every piece of paper that comes in” she said. “It’s important for an artist to have a say or you’ll get lost in the masses, or turn into a producer-made entity.“I’m fully involved in every decision, from the songs to the cover design. Tm not a marketing plan.Lougheed insists her producers don’t control her music, either.“The songs come from me—I’m not being told what to sing or how toPopBeatavepnenOstlcklook. I wrote the melodies and lyrics to nine of the 10 tunes on the record. With the Raccoons, I just sang and left. But for my record, I was there every day, from pre-production (rehearsal) to mixing.Despite her age, Lougheed is clearly being aimed at a high-school audience, In person, as in the video to World Love’s title track, she looks younger than her years. As well, her first major work will literally take her into high schools for a Humpty Dumpty potato chips promotion, much the way Tiffany made her early mark in shopping malls.Sad part“The sad part is that there’s reallynothing for me to do but highschools and malls,” Lougheed said. ‘Td like to see the days when a Canadian artist can pull a crowd like an American artist. That’s the ultimate goal. Paula Abdul packs ’em in.”Lougheed is no stranger to live audiences either, although they weren’t exactly showing up just to see her—she spent three summers singing standards and Broadway classics in a glitzy show at the Canada’s Wonderland theme park near Toronto.She sang everything from the W izard of Oz to All That Jazz. Those days may be behind her, but she’s grateful for the diversity of her experiences.“I like it all, and I’m influenced from all sides,” she said. “I can’t say what my music’s called, even though everybody tries to label it. I haven’t come up with my own yet.”While her video and light, danceable music definitely point toward a younger audience, Lougheed prefers not to be placed alongside her high-school competition, Ottawa teenager Alanis.It’s hard enough making your own name without being compared to anybody else.”
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Sat, Feb 29, 1992
Page 29
Full Page
Clipped by
Kennedy M.
CA 09 Sep 2020
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