Lorraine Segato
Encyclopedia
Lorraine Segato is a Canadian
pop
singer-songwriter
, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave
and pop rock
group Parachute Club, with which she continues to perform.
. This band formed the core membership of The Parachute Club. The Parachute Club was particularly active in the 1980s, initially breaking up in 1989. Segato co-wrote nearly every song the band released, including all their singles. A reconstituted version of the band, including Segato, commenced performing in 2005 and continues to perform today. After the initial breakup of Parachute Club, Segato released a solo album
, Phoenix, in 1990. Her second solo album, Luminous City, followed in 1998. She has also worked in film production, writing and directing a documentary
on Toronto
's late 1970s/early 1980s Queen Street West
scene, Queen Street West, The Rebel Zone, and as a lecturer and social justice activist.
Segato also appeared on the science fiction show Lexx
, singing a song as the "Time Prophet" on the episode "Brigadoom".
She performed "Rise Up" at the state funeral
of Jack Layton
on August 27, 2011, supported by the choir of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto
.
, Segato married Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, the daughter of journalist Michele Landsberg
and politician and diplomat Stephen Lewis
and the sister of journalist Avi Lewis
, in 2009.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
group Parachute Club, with which she continues to perform.
History
Segato initially became known in the late 1970s as the vocalist in the Toronto rock band Mama Quilla IIMama Quilla II
The rock band Mama Quilla II first performed together in 1977 in Toronto, Ontario and dissolved in 1982.-Band members:Personnel changed over the band’s five year existence, but Mama Quilla II was usually a 7-piece all-female band...
. This band formed the core membership of The Parachute Club. The Parachute Club was particularly active in the 1980s, initially breaking up in 1989. Segato co-wrote nearly every song the band released, including all their singles. A reconstituted version of the band, including Segato, commenced performing in 2005 and continues to perform today. After the initial breakup of Parachute Club, Segato released a solo album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Phoenix, in 1990. Her second solo album, Luminous City, followed in 1998. She has also worked in film production, writing and directing a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
on Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's late 1970s/early 1980s Queen Street West
Queen Street West
Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
scene, Queen Street West, The Rebel Zone, and as a lecturer and social justice activist.
Segato also appeared on the science fiction show Lexx
Lexx
Lexx is a science fantasy television series that follows the adventures of a group of mismatched individuals aboard the organic space craft Lexx. They travel through two universes and encounter planets including a parody of the Earth....
, singing a song as the "Time Prophet" on the episode "Brigadoom".
She performed "Rise Up" at the state funeral
Death and state funeral of Jack Layton
On August 22, 2011, Canadian New Democratic Party leader and Leader of the Opposition Jack Layton died after a bout from an unspecified, newly diagnosed cancer. Prior to his recent diagnosis, Layton led his party to gain a historic rise in seats during the 2011 federal election...
of Jack Layton
Jack Layton
John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...
on August 27, 2011, supported by the choir of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto
Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto
The Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto is a congregation of the worldwide Metropolitan Community Church movement located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is an welcoming congregation openly affirming lesbian, gay, bisexual, heterosexual and transgender people...
.
Personal life
An out lesbianLesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, Segato married Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, the daughter of journalist Michele Landsberg
Michele Landsberg
Michele Landsberg, OC is an award-winning Canadian writer, social activist and feminist who wrote a column for the Toronto Star newspaper.-Life and career:...
and politician and diplomat Stephen Lewis
Stephen Lewis
Stephen Henry Lewis, is a Canadian politician, broadcaster and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s. During many of the those years as leader, his father David Lewis was simultaneously the leader of the Federal New Democratic Party...
and the sister of journalist Avi Lewis
Avi Lewis
Avram David "Avi" Lewis is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, host of the Al Jazeera English show , and former host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation current-affairs program On the Map.-Family:...
, in 2009.
Singles (Parachute Club)
| Release date | Title | Chart peak | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... RPM |
|||
| July 1983 | "Rise Up" | 9 | The Parachute Club |
| 1983 | "Alienation" | ||
| 1984 | "Boy's Club" | ||
| October 1984 | "At the Feet of the Moon" | 11 | At the Feet of the Moon |
| February 1985 | "Act of an Innocent" | 61 | |
| June 1985 | "Sexual Intelligence" | ||
| October 1986 | "Love Is Fire" | 24 | Small Victories |
| February 1987 | "Love and Compassion" | 81 | |
| May 1987 | "Walk to the Rhythm" | 90 | |
| January 1988 | "Big Big World" | 93 | Non-album single |
With Mama Quilla II
- 1982 KKK//Mama Quilla/Angry Young Woman Tupperwaros; EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
.
With The Parachute Club
- 1983 The Parachute Club Current/RCARCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
- 1984 At the Feet of the Moon Current/RCA
- 1985 Moving Thru the Moonlight Current/RCA; remixes
- 1986 Small Victories (1986) Current/RCA
- 1992 Wild Zone: The Essential Parachute Club BMGBMGBertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
; reissued 2006 by EMI InternationalEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Solo
- 1990 Phoenix Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
- 1998 Luminous City True NorthTrue North RecordsTrue North Records is a Canadian independent record label. It was founded in Mississauga, Ontario in 1969 by Bernie Finkelstein. On December 17, 2007, True North was acquired by an investment group led by Linus Entertainment...
External links
- Lorraine Segato Website; not updated since 2004
- Parachute Club Website/Blog