Lisa Germano


Lisa Ruth Germano is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Indiana.
Germano's career began as a violinist for John Mellencamp. Her breakthrough album Geek the Girl was named one of the best albums of the 1990s by Spin magazine., she has released thirteen albums.

Early life

Germano was born in Mishawaka, Indiana, one of six children of violinist Rocco and Betty Germano. She studied music, including piano and violin, as a child. When she was seven, she composed a 15-minute opera for piano accompaniment.

Career

Germano was working as a violinist when rock singer John Mellencamp invited her to play in his band for the Scarecrow Tour. For the next eight years, she toured and recorded as a member of Mellencamp's band, appearing on The Lonesome Jubilee, Big Daddy, Falling from Grace, Human Wheels, and Dance Naked. Germano played with Mellencamp from 1985 to 1993 before leaving in 1994 to pursue a solo career. During the 1980s she also appeared on albums by Simple Minds and the Indigo Girls. Germano rejoined Mellencamp's band for the 2023 Live and In Person tour, and also played violin on his studio album that year, Orpheus Descending – the first Mellencamp studio album she played on since 1993.
After recording with Henry Lee Summer, Bob Seger, and Carrie Newcomer, Germano began a solo career with the album On the Way Down from the Moon Palace, recorded in Indianapolis and released by her label, Major Bill Records. Although sales were low, the album got the attention of Capitol Records, which signed her to a contract and released her next album, Happiness. Personnel changes at Capitol resulted in the departure of most of her supporters at the label, but Germano retained the rights to her album.
Germano signed a contract with the British label 4AD, which had a manufacturing and distribution deal with Warner Bros. in the U.S. Ivo Watts-Russell, founder and president of 4AD, was a fan of Germano's work. He remixed some of the Happiness tracks with producer and engineer John Fryer, who had been involved in Watts-Russell's This Mortal Coil project. In early 1994, 4AD issued Inconsiderate Bitch, a limited-edition EP with five of the remixed tracks. In April of that year, Happiness was reissued with different artwork, mixing, and sequencing. Two tracks from the original release were replaced, including a cover version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
Germano's third album, Geek the Girl, was released in October 1994. It received positive reviews from the music press and significantly raised her profile. Most of its tracks were recorded at her home, giving the album an intimate and demo-like feel. Initially, she played all of the instruments on the record, but she then chose to re-mix four of the tracks with the help of Malcolm Burn, and added Kenny Aronoff on drums.
Excerpts From a Love Circus was critically acclaimed. Earlier that year, Watts-Russell approached 4AD's musicians with the idea that each act would find another person or band to collaborate with on three songs. The recordings would then be released by the label as a monthly series of EPs. Germano worked with rock band Giant Sand, but after their tracks had been recorded, the label decided that the series would be unfeasible and scrapped the idea. Germano and the members of Giant Sand liked the results and enjoyed collaborating, and despite the labels' lack of interest in their recordings, recorded a full album in less than a week. Managers for Germano and Giant Sand made a deal with Thirsty Ear Recordings to release the album as a one-off project under the name OP8, and the album Slush was released in February 1997. In April 1997, 4AD began to promote the single "I Love a Snot" to radio and retail stores in America, but sales of the Excerpts from a Love Circus album remained static at best. "Lovesick", another track from the album, was remixed by Trevor Jackson and released by his label, Output Recordings.
Sales began to sag noticeably after the July 1998 release of the album Slide, produced by Tchad Blake. The distribution deal with Warner Bros. ended, returning 4AD to independent status; and without Warner's involvement Slide received less of a promotional effort. Before the album's release, Germano was invited to sing backup vocals on tour with The Smashing Pumpkins. Although she rejected the offer at first, singer Billy Corgan persuaded her that she would have a more collaborative role, and she agreed to join the tour. She rehearsed with the band for four weeks in Chicago. The night before the tour was supposed to begin, Corgan dismissed her with no explanation.
Intent on resuming the promotion of Slide, she went on tour, opening for the Eels and then headlining smaller clubs. While on tour she was notified by 4AD that they were dropping her from the label. By the end of 1998, she announced that she was done with the music business. She fired her management. Nonetheless, in 1999 she performed in Toronto at Lee's Palace, and continued to release new albums with various labels.

Discography

Albums

  • On the Way Down from the Moon Palace
  • Happiness
  • Geek the Girl
  • Excerpts from a Love Circus
  • Slush
  • Slide
  • Lullaby for Liquid Pig
  • In the Maybe World
  • Magic Neighbor
  • ''No Elephants''

    Compilations

  • Concentrated
  • Rare, Unusual or Just Bad Songs
  • Songs From Tierra Sabrosa
  • ''Lisa Germano''

    As guest

With David Bowie
  • 2002 Heathen
  • 2002 "Slow Burn"
With Michael Brook
  • 2006 RockPaperScissors
  • 2007 BellCurve
With Eels
  • 1998 Electro-Shock Blues
  • 2000 Oh What a Beautiful Morning
  • 2003 Shootenanny!
With Neil Finn
With Howe Gelb
  • 1998 Hisser
  • 2013 Little Sand Box
With Indigo Girls
  • 1992 Rites of Passage
  • 1994 Swamp Ophelia
  • 1997 Shaming of the Sun
With Billy Joel
  • 1990 Live at Yankee Stadium, violin on "The Downeaster 'Alexa' "
With John Mellencamp
  • 1987 The Lonesome Jubilee
  • 1989 Big Daddy
  • 1993 Human Wheels
  • 1994 Dance Naked
  • 1998 John Mellencamp
  • 2010 On the Rural Route 7609
  • 2018 Other People's Stuff
  • 2023 Orpheus Descending
With Simple Minds
With Yann Tiersen
  • 2001 L' Absente
  • 2003 C'était Ici
  • 2008 C'était Ici: Live
With others