Disco de Lisa Stansfield: “Biography: Greatest Hits”

Lisa Stansfield has one of the greatest voices in music, yet with the exception of her debut CD, her musical efforts have not received the commercial acclaim that they warranted on this side of the Atlantic. Thank God for her native UK, as the fans have supported her and allowed her to have a career on her terms. This woman can do it all with a classic R &B voice that is both explosive yet ever so subtle depending on her intent. She can handle disco and heartbreak in the same breath. And for those of you who have heard the soundtrack for "Swing," you already know that Lisa can tackle the classics like few in music can.

This release more than lives up to its title, something rarely accomplished these days. This collection highlights Lisa's greatest hits in a non-chronological order that in my opinion generally better serves greatest hits collections. Released in 2003, the collection includes her very best from 1989's "Affliction" through her 2001 release "Face Up," along with a live song with G. Michael and the living members of Queen. Although I am generally not a fan of live songs, this one hits the mark.

Hearing this collection I am reminded not only how great a singer Lisa is, but how her sound has evolved through the years. In many ways, she seems to be from another era as her best songs are always sleek yet have much grit. It would seem to be a contradictory statement but Lisa's sound stands out because of these apparent contradictions. She is at once a chanteuse in the vein of a much earlier era who also happens to be right at home with the likes of Barry White and other 1970s legends.

If you love female singers and have never been exposed to Lisa Stansfield, you should give this collection a shot. If you are already a fan but only remember her from the curly-cued girl who sand "All Around the World," you will certainly like what she has been up to since she first hit the scene. In 1997, Lisa released a self-titled CD after a 6-year absence from the music scene that made some noise here in the States, but that release (which also earns 5 stars in my book) should have been a smash. It did well enough for her record company to put out a remixes CD that did quite well. A UK edition of this release has a bonus CD with some of the better remixes of her songs, so if you are interested in those be sure to look for that release as you won't find any of those here.

P.S. for hard-core Lisa fans: I just found out via the Amazon UK site that in late September of this year Lisa will be releasing a new CD titled "The Moment." It appears that she is no longer with Arista as the site says it will be released Ztt, which may be a German label. I am not sure if it will get a US release, but I am so happy that I happened to run into this while researching some dates for this review. I hope this helps.

I'm glad that Lisa has now a greatest hits album. This English fabulous singer who has sold up to 13 million copies worldwide gives us this great gift adding songs like: "All around the world" a 1989 hit that reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified Gold and its album Multi-Platinum thanks to only one song. Other hit singles from Lisa are: "Never gonna give you up" (cover from Barry White which was an instant hit in Europe, the US and Asia), "The real thing" (a 1997 hit which reached #1 on the Club Dance Songs from Billboard), "Someday I'm coming back" (from the multi-million selling soundtrack "The bodyguard"), "People hold on" (another #1 hit all through Europe), "Let's just call it love" (from her latest studio album "Face up").

Lisa is a singer who goes through pop, rock, ballads and disco music. She says that Barry White is a big influence in her career.

"Biography" includes a bonus cd which features remixes and extra tracks such as: "The line" (from her 1997 hit album "Lisa Stansfield"), "8-3-1" and "Never gonna fall".

Lisa Stansfield career cannot be sum in just one cd, this woman holds such talent that hurts. Her 1997 self titled release was and is one of the most classy and soulful ever to be release. So I'm sad that this collection not feature all the singles released from that album, specially "I'm Leavin'". Although for a casual fan and a pop collector this Biography will do good and it is a place to listen to her most mainstream hits and some fans favorites. Five Stars to Stansfield's voice and contribution to music industry.

In the early 90s STANSFIELD was extremely popular with hits like someday , All Around The World ,In All The Right Places and so many other popular songs but by the mid 90s she seemed to fade away from the international scene infact i bought rhe bodyguard soundtrack exspecially for her songs which i feel made the soundtrack the best with a little bit of luck i feel STANSFIELD could ve been in celiene dions place today STANSFIELD had the best voice ever i feel and about this album it contains almost all her hits including someday my favorite so i m going right ahead to order this compilation right now

Lisa Stansfield has, for a decade and a half, managed to produce a string of effortlessly catchy and silky smooth singles and a handful of generally more inconsistent albums. That's why a comprehensive greatest hits collection like this is such a good idea. Biography includes all of her English Top 40 hits with the exception of the What Did I Do To You? EP. It also includes a couple of extras in her track from the Red Hot and Blue album and one from the Five Live EP with Queen and George Michael. Those two are the weakest tracks here, interrupting the seamless flow of smooth dance-pop confections before the one-two finale of All Woman and All Around The World. While there are a couple of other personal faves that I would have liked to have seen included, there is no denying that this set is a great retrospective and shows that Lisa's music sounds as strong today as it ever did.