Lisa Dery
Lisa has always loved to sing and perform. As a young child, Lisa would put together major productions with her cousin at all the family gatherings. “The performances involved singing, dancing, acting and lots of fighting. The show always resulted in the same ending: lots of tears.” While her cousin became more interested in Visual Arts, Lisa’s interests were in music.
As she got older, Lisa became friends with people who enjoyed jamming on Friday nights. “I loved singing with them and added vocals to some of their tracks”. Then it occurred to her, with her ten years of private piano tuition, why didn’t she try composing her own songs? “When I tried this, I found that I was able to write the lyrics and melodies to a couple of songs quite easily.” She sang these to her friends, and got a great response.
At around this time Lisa moved to London. Delays in obtaining a work permit gave Lisa the perfect opportunity to pursue her passion. She decided to apply for a student visa, which would allow her to stay in the U.K. “The great thing was that because I had already completed my University education in Montreal, there was no pressure on me to study a particular subject. When I told my friends I was going back to school, they were expecting to hear about plans to study for a postgraduate degree in Communications or Sociology. They were completely bowled over when I told them about my ballet, American tap, and Rock/Pop singing classes.”
One day, while sipping coffee in a London café between classes, Lisa had the inspiration for a new song. She took out her notepad, and started to write. This proved to be the start of a very productive relationship with London’s cafes. “One does look a bit odd singing melodies into a tape recorder while sitting in a busy café, but I find this environment inspiring; eaves-dropping, people watching, and even reading adverts on buses can generate pretty cool lyrics.”
Over the next few months, Lisa frequented cafes in many parts of London. “My bag is always really heavy because it is packed with note-pads, a tape recorder, and lots of dictionaries. Sometimes, I will open up the dictionary on a random page, choose a word, and use it to stimulate my imagination. It's a really easy way to get new ideas.”
Lisa wrote dozens of songs during this period. She took them to a couple of talented producers – who also happened to be great musicians – and the result was her first album: Montage. This album of 12 diverse tracks is a skilful blending of Celtic folk, pop and jazz that creates a harmonious, tuneful and distinctive fusion – all with a Québécois twist.
Lisa Dery was born in Montréal, Québec. She has a double identity. Equally at home in the Francophone and the Anglophone worlds that exist here, Lisa observes the most intimate parts of both societies. She draws upon her French and Anglo/Irish heritage to write songs that are a unique blend of these disparate musical cultures. A fiddle-filled Celtic background compliments melodies written in a French style, exuberant and poignant in equal measure. Lisa’s love of the French language is evident in her English lyrics, which have a poetic and graceful quality to them.
Affectionately known to some of her friends as the “girl who killed off her parents”, Lisa uses personal, observed and imagined situations in her writing. “I find the thought of losing my parents agonizing, and I wanted to write a song about how devastating I imagine that loss would be. While working on the lyrics to “To my Sister”, I found that the song was much more effective if my parents were already dead, so I killed them (in the lyrics that is). Luckily, my parents have senses of humour and could see the ridiculousness of the situation. Thankfully, they’re both healthy and very much alive! The music is up-tempo and joyful, which contradicts the lyrics. I hope this effect will leave the listener feeling that although the song’s character can’t see it right now, life will go on for her.”
“Stories” could also have been the title of this album as many of the songs are just that. “I like putting the characters in the songs in interesting situations. One of my favourite songs on the album is the dreamy-jazz-folk sounding ‘The Garden’.” The singer overhears the man she loves talking about his lost love. The song is about what happens to someone when the person they love loves someone else instead.
In the folk-pop song “Don’t tell Ryan”, the singer loves her best friend “Ryan”. She decides not to reveal this to him, as she knows it will complicate and change the dynamic of their relationship. She settles for his friendship, as she knows that this is the only way their relationship will endure.
For decades, millions of North American children have put out cookies and milk for old St-Nicholas on Christmas Eve. “Cookies and milk” is the story about one stubborn little girl’s decision to continue to believe in Santa Claus, despite the fact that her parents have told her the truth.
Numerous excursions into the world of stage and radio comedy also influence Lisa’s song writing, giving her lyrics a light-hearted mood - no matter how serious the topic. The essence behind many of Lisa’s gorgeous, flowing melodies is her love of Irish and Québec music. Her pure and beautifully clear voice sounds natural and effortless.
Lisa’s songs have won awards in contests such as the Billboard World Song Contest, UK Songwriting Contest, Northern California Songwriter’s Association Song Contest, Songlounge, Goodnight Kiss Song Contest, and L'Éveil Musical Song Contest. The judges for the Unisong International Contest wrote that Lisa’s song “The Garden” is “both very haunting and moving overall…The structure and overall production is tastefully done to a delicate perfection…”
Because of her experience in comedy, Lisa sometimes includes humour in her music act. “I like dark and ridiculous comedy. I often play highly likeable thin-skinned characters that engage the audience because of their obvious flaws. The audience roots for the character because her faults are actually quite endearing.” In the end, perhaps Lisa is just playing herself…
That’s Lisa Dery: an imperfect yet enchanting, funny, quirky character to whom audiences naturally warm. Listen to Lisa’s album and you will warm to her too.