'L' is from Dublins East Wall area, close to the city centre. Born in to a 'music' family her father is a fine tenor with a willingness to start a sing song at the drop of the proverbial 'hat'. Her mother is also a singer with a 'talent' to create her very personalised medleys of the hits of the day, as a result 'L' grew up knowing four lines of every song ever recorded!!! .
L's early singing was in church and school choirs and her first broadcast was on RTE
radio (the national radio station) at the age of 11 as a member of the Dublin Schools Choir.
In her teens she progressed from choral singing to solo performances specialising in the
classical area, Puccini's arias being amongst her favourites but also occasionally guesting
with acoustic and electric bands in the Dublin club circuit.
She also trained as a sound engineer in College in Dublin and since qualification has
continually been involved in the areas of film sound and post production film sound design.
L's vocal style is the product of many influences. Growing up surrounded by recordings
of, amongst others Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Mario Lanza
made a love of expression through singing an integral part of life since early childhood. In
later years the operatic style of Tito Schipa and Carlo Bergonzi and the continuing
'presence'of Joni Mitchell have all had their influence whilst her work in film sound has
contributed a great deal to the cinematic / visual quality of her song interpretation.
While involved with opera L and Stano crossed paths and soon became good friends.
At that stage a musical alliance between the two seemed unlikely, their areas of interest
being on the surface so different. But Stano was very taken by L's 'voice 'and she by
his experimental recording techniques and music. The pair teamed up with Hue Records a
Dublin based independent record label which was just starting at that time . Stano
wrote two songs for 'L', Hue liked them, and 'L's debut album 'Words mean nothing
life's just wild'. The completed album featured songs from Stano / and associates
and Paul Tiernan and was nominated for best album production in the '93 HOT
PRESS awards (see press section for reviews etc.)
Following the credibility established through 'Words mean nothing ..' ' L and STANO
commenced work on 'L's second album in early '95 using the same team nucleus that had
worked so successfully on the debut album. It had become clear during the making of
'Words ..' that both shared the view that the studio in itself is an instrument and that music
can be created in and through the recording process. Both believe that much of the music
on 'Fire in a dream cage' could not have been created in the 'traditional' rehearsal room
environment as many of the 'sounds' and their interaction with one other could not be
generated without the studio technologies currently available. That said a very impressive
list of musicians from very different backgrounds have worked on 'Fire..' and the quality of
their contributions is clearly evidenced on this recording. As with 'Words..' this album
features tracks composed by both STANO and PAUL TIERNAN with 'L's effortless
and unique vocals shaping and cementing the direction and feel of the final product -
Check it out in Real Audio on the audio page.
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