Dallas, TX · singer-songwriter · alt-pop

Lisa Loeb

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Cat-eye glasses and precise, conversational songwriting from the last great era of the coffeehouse single — 'Stay' still lands soft and exact.

Lisa Loeb was born in Bethesda, Maryland, and raised in Dallas, Texas, where her father worked as a gastroenterologist and her mother led the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance and Foundation; her younger sister Debbie Loeb is also a songwriter. She studied piano before switching to guitar, attended the all-girls Hockaday School, and hosted her own radio show on a station licensed to a nearby boys' school.

At Brown University, where she graduated in 1990 with a degree in comparative literature, Loeb formed the duo Liz and Lisa with Elizabeth Mitchell, with classmate Duncan Sheik playing guitar; the pair released two albums independently. She later formed the band Nine Stories and, working with producer Juan Patiño, recorded a cassette called Purple Tape in 1992 that she sold at shows and used to reach record labels.

Loeb built a following on New York's coffeehouse and rock club circuit, playing venues such as CBGB and festivals including the New Music Seminar and South by Southwest. 'Stay (I Missed You)' emerged from that period, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994 without a recording contract in place, a first for the chart. Two more singles, 'Do You Sleep?' and 'I Do', reached the top twenty, and her albums Tails and Firecracker were both certified gold.

Loeb's screen work includes guest roles on Gossip Girl and Fuller House, a hosting turn alongside Dweezil Zappa on the Food Network's Dweezil & Lisa, and her own show, #1 Single, on E! Entertainment Television. She has also appeared in films including House on Haunted Hill, Fright Night, Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and Helicopter Mom.

Her children's album Feel What U Feel won the Grammy Award for Best Children's Music Album in 2016. Loeb released A Simple Trick to Happiness in February 2020, and she hosts 'Stay with Lisa Loeb' on SiriusXM on weekdays.

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singer-songwriteralt-pop