David Lasley

David Lasley

David Lasley's prolific career as a singer/songwriter spans more than 30
years. He is best-known for the hundreds of songs he has written for the
likes of Anita Baker ("You Bring Me Joy"), Maxine Nightingale ("Lead Me
On"), Patti LaBelle ("Come What May," "I Don't Go Shopping"), Aretha
Franklin ("There's a Star for Everyone"), Boz Scaggs ("Jojo"), Tina Turner,
Whitney Houston, Dusty Springfield, Crystal Gayle, Natalie Cole, Jermaine
Jackson, Phoebe Snow, Herb Alpert, Rita Coolidge, Patti Austin, the Oak
Ridge Boys and many more.

His work as a background vocalist is equally auspicious. Most familiar for
his more than 23 years singing with pop/folk icon James Taylor, Lasley has
also backed such artists as Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Luther Vandross,
Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Buffett, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Cher, Chaka
Khan, and countless others.

Lasley's tremendous talent as a solo performer matches his stature as a
songwriter, vocal arranger and background vocalist. He was the third
person - after Elton John and Donna Summer - signed to David Geffen's Geffen
Records. Between 1982 and 1999, he issued four highly regarded solo albums
in addition to two other albums with a group called Rosie and five single
releases. The solo albums, Demos, Missin' Twenty Grand, Raindance, and
Soldiers on the Moon, all have received substantial critical acclaim.

In 2000, he issued Back to Blue-Eyed Soul, a retrospective of his work
featuring rare recordings dating back to 1966, and in 2001, he released
Expectations of Love. Lasley has also seen a resurgence of interest in his
career overseas over the last few years with the re-issues of Missin' Twenty
Grand, Demos, Soldiers on the Moon, and Last Dance and Better Late Than
Never (both of the latter were with his 1970s group Rosie).

Boasting a rich, versatile voice and an astounding four-octave vocal range,
Lasley sings mainly in his distinctive higher register. A review of Missin'
Twenty Grand by respected New York Times critic Stephen Holden characterized
his voice as "a passionate, penetrating falsetto which he shades with an
unusually expressive authority." Chicago Magazine's Lloyd Sachs' review of
Missin' Twenty Grand enthused, "A better white-soul album hasn't come out in
years; a better white falsetto you have not heard in a longer time than
that. Don't miss it."

Lasley was born in Michigan and grew up in a small town about 250 miles from
Detroit in a musically inclined family. Lasley's first group, The Utopias,
which included his younger sister, Julie, patterned itself after "girl
groups" like The Raindrops, The Jelly Beans and The Dixie Cups.

In 1970, Lasley expanded his geographic and artistic horizons when he joined
the cast of the hit musical Hair, initially performing with the Detroit
company and then with the touring company. He left the show in 1972, moving
to New York City to appear in the Broadway musical Dude and several
off-Broadway productions.

Over the next few years, he lent his talents as a background vocalist and
vocal arranger to the music industry's top artists. He also formed his own
group, Rosie, with fellow Hair alumni Lana Marrano, who wrote lyrics to
Lasley's music for the trio's two recordings, and Lynn Pitney. Rosie's
first album, Better Late Than Never, features the classic Lasley/Marrano
composition "Roll Me Through the Rushes," later a big song for Chaka Khan on
a 1978 recording on which Lasley sang background vocals. Rosie's second and
final album was Last Dance.

While the two Rosie recordings were just minor successes, Lasley himself
emerged as one of the busiest and most successful backup singers in the
business during the mid-1970s. The songs on which his backing vocals appear
numbers well into the hundreds. Among them are his work in a quartet of
singers (which included Luther Vandross) that performed on most of Chic's
("Everybody Dance") and Sister Sledge's ("We Are Family") recordings.

In 1977, Lasley began touring and recording with James Taylor, an
association that has lasted to this day. Over the years, he has also toured
with Todd Rundgren, Melissa Manchester and Bonnie Raitt, for whom he has
sung backing vocals on many albums. (Raitt has recorded several of Lasley's
songs including "Got You On My Mind" and "I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My
Heart Again."

Lasley continued to write by himself and with partners including Allee
Willis, Don Paul Yowell, Luther Vandross, Michael Kamen, Peter Allen, Boz
Scaggs and others. He worked as a sought-after background vocalist and
arranger and sang lead vocals on a number of songs featured in films, among
them "Teamwork" (a familiar tune in many aerobics classes during the 1980s)
from Body Rock and "Hollywood Cowboy" (City Slickers).

In 1981, Lasley issued Demos, the first of his solo releases. A two-LP set,
Demos is, literally, a collection of demos showcasing his versatility as a
singer/songwriter, plus versions of a few of his hit songs by the original
performers, including "Lead Me On," "Jojo" and "Dark Side of Your Soul"
(Kiki Dee).

As a solo artist, however, Lasley really came into his own in 1982 with the
widely praised Missin' Twenty Grand, which takes an uncompromising look back
at his early years in Detroit as a teenager breaking into the music
business. Noted music critic and author Dave Marsh described the album as
"one of the finest of the year." According to major music critic Don
Shewey, Missin' Twenty Grand was "the finest blue-eyed soul album since Boz
Scaggs' Silk Degrees." The New York Times' Stephen Holden said, "The
wide-open emotionality of Mr. Lasley's singing, combined with his
confessional lyrics and the way his tunes blend the style of Motown with
more sophisticated Broadway and Hollywood influences, recalls the pop style
of Laura Nyro's classic late-60's albums."

Adding to Missin' Twenty Grand's allure were guest appearances by The Who's
legendary Pete Townshend, who contributed guitar sounds, and James Taylor
and Bonnie Raitt, who -- in a nice twist -- performed background vocals for
Lasley. The album's "If I Had My Wish Tonight" was a hit single, reaching
Number 36 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Missin' Twenty Grand was followed two years later by Raindance. Unlike
Twenty Grand, which features more organic music from piano and
electric/acoustic bass and guitar, Raindance's sound is far more in the
techno-pop vein. The use of synthesizers, an Emulator, and a Fairlight -- as
well as the inclusion of a Lasley-esque rap number -- put Raindance well
ahead of its time. The recording was a big hit in Europe, making the list
of Britain's The Face magazine's Top 20 albums of 1984 along with Prince's
Purple Rain and Madonna's Like a Virgin. Lasley was named with Smokey
Robinson as one of the music industry's five top falsetto singers by Esquire
magazine.

Lasley's Soldiers on the Moon was released in 1990. An all-star lineup of
talent joined Lasley on the CD. Luther Vandross provided vocal
arrangements, Rita Coolidge performed a duet ("Give My Heart Back to Me"),
and the musicians included pianist David Benoit and drummer Jeff Porcaro.
Among Soldiers' outstanding numbers is Carole King's "It's Too Late," which
was described by one critic as offering "a totally fresh interpretation that
makes this timeless song sound like a hit all over again."

During the last ten years, in addition to his work on Back to Blue-Eyed
Soul, Expectations of Love and the Japanese re-issues, Lasley has toured
regularly with James Taylor and has remained a highly regarded songwriter,
session singer and arranger.

_________________________

DAVID LASLEY'S
EXPECTATIONS OF LOVE

CD by Highly Regarded Singer/Songwriter Known for Distinctive Falsetto
is U.S. Release of Recording Issued in U.K.

Singer/songwriter David Lasley's Expectations of Love is set for release in
the United States on December 1, 2001, featuring Lasley's recordings of 13
pop, R&B and smooth jazz songs written by such artists as Philip Bailey,
Josh Kadison, Michael Kamen, Robin Lerner and Lasley himself. Expectations
of Love, on the Thursday Market Music label, was originally issued last year
in the United Kingdom by Expansion Records, the highly regarded soul/smooth
jazz label. The U.S. release contains the same tracks as the U.K. release
along with an expanded CD booklet incorporating additional photos and
comments by Lasley.

Musicians on Expectations of Love include David Benoit, Bobby Watson, Marty
Walsh and others. Arnold McCuller, Phil Ballou and Myrna Smith are among
the album's background vocalists.

The Expansion release of Expectations of Love received substantial air play
in Great Britain, and the title track was #10 on the prestigious JAZZ FM
"Top 50 Tracks of 2000." New York's Next Magazine praised the CD by saying,
"On Expectations of Love, his first album of new material in ten years,
Lasley hasn't lost his knack for writing and performing timeless and soulful
R&B ballads and pop tunes."

Lasley, whose rich, versatile voice spans four octaves, is best-known for
his distinctive falsetto. (Esquire included him with Philip Bailey, Barry
Gibb and Smokey Robinson as "1985's Top Falsettos.") His talent as a solo
performer matches his stature as a songwriter, vocal arranger and background
vocalist. He has written hundreds of songs that have been recorded by such
artists as Anita Baker ("You Bring Me Joy"), Maxine Nightingale ("Lead Me
On"), Patti LaBelle ("Come What May," "I Don't Go Shopping"), Aretha
Franklin ("There's a Star for Everyone"), Boz Scaggs ("Jojo") and Crystal
Gayle ("The Blue Side"), to name just a few. Lasley has also achieved great
success as a background vocalist and has just completed a five-month stint
on James Taylor's popular "Pull Over" tour. He's toured and recorded as a
background vocalist with Taylor since 1977 and has worked with countless
other artists, among them Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Aretha Franklin, Jimmy
Buffett, Ringo Starr, Cher and Chaka Khan.

Lasley's most recent release was Back to Blue-Eyed Soul (2000), a
retrospective of his career, described by Billboard as "one of the more
refreshing collections you're likely to hear." In Playboy, writer Dave
Marsh said, "The great falsetto singer David Lasley put this together by
rummaging through his 35-year career. Call it the best Smokey Robinson CD
of the 21st century." His other solo albums are Demos (1981), Missin'
Twenty Grand (1982), Raindance (1984, produced by Don Was) and Soldiers on
the Moon (1990).

Rolling Stone called Missin' Twenty Grand "genuinely beautiful white soul,"
and the New York Times commented, "The way his tunes blend the style of
Motown with more sophisticated Broadway and
Hollywood influences recalls the pop style of Laura Nyro's classic late-60's
albums." Critic Mikal Gilmore called Raindance "off-beat, exquisitely
beautiful, politically and emotionally savvy art-soul from perhaps the
finest pop-R&B songwriter (if not the most affecting high-range vocalist) in
America today."

Lasley's early solo work has seen increased popularity in the last few years
with the reissues of Missin' Twenty Grand, Soldiers on the Moon, Demos and
two albums with his 1970s group Rosie.

Expectations of Love includes the smooth jazz-tracks "What's It Gonna Take"
(by Lasley, Robin Lerner and Marsha Malamet), "Meant for You" (by Lasley and
Roxanne Seeman), "Expectations of Love" (by Seeman, Philip Bailey, Jeff
Sigman and Steve Robbins), and "Good Magic" (by Lasley and Josh Kadison).
R&B-style songs are "Revelations" (by Seeman and Jay Oliver), "Love's
Forever" (by Lasley and James P. Dunne), "Will to Survive" (by Seeman,
Oliver and Jean-Paul Dreau), and "Dancin' On The Smooth Edge" (by Lasley and
Robbie Long; this song was the "B" side of Whitney Houston's "Exhale").
Pop-flavored songs are "Joey (I Believe in Our Love)" (by Lasley and Kathy
Wakefield), "Night of Our Lives" (by Seeman, Oliver and Dominic Messinger),
"Change All of That" (by Lasley, Lerner and Malamet), "When Will I Know
Love" (by Lasley and Michael Kamen), and "The Right Way" (by Lasley, Oliver
and Michael Prozzo).

Expectations of Love is available from Lasley's web site
(www.DavidLasley.com), in selected stores, or by mail order at P.O. Box
46667, Los Angeles, CA 90046.