Dead Can Dance 1989 Dead Can Dance originally formed as a quartet in 1981 in Melbourne, with members Gerrard, Perry, bassist
Paul Erikson, and drummer Simon Monroe. By 1982, Gerrard, Perry and Erikson decided to relocate to
London, but Monroe decided to stay in Australia, leaving the band as a trio. The band split in 1998, but reunited in 2005 for a world tour. In 2012, the band announced a new world tour to coincide with the release of their new album,
Anastasis. Dead Can Dance recorded seven studio albums on the
4AD Records recording label—beginning with the self-titled
Dead Can Dance LP in 1984, and two studio albums released by
PIAS Recordings.
Solo and collaborative career In 1995, Gerrard recorded and released her first solo album,
The Mirror Pool, accompanied by the
Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra. The album peaked at No. 38 on the
Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart on 9 September 1995, and was on that chart for one week. In 1998 she recorded
Duality in collaboration with composer
Pieter Bourke. The album went to No. 23 on the
Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart on 2 May 1998; it was present on the chart for two weeks.
Duality would mark the beginning of an extensive collaboration for a number of film scores, including
The Insider and
Ali. Gerrard began a new collaboration with composer
Patrick Cassidy in 2004 with the release of
Immortal Memory. Again, this collaboration was furthered in film work, including ''
Salem's Lot''. The following year in 2005, Gerrard contributed to the
Ashes and Snow Soundtrack. For the songs "Womb" and "Wisdom", she and Patrick Cassidy wrote and performed together. Her collaboration with Cassidy extended to include work with conductor Julie Rogers on the songs "Devota" and "Vespers". In 2006,
Sanctuary, a documentary about the life and work of Gerrard, was recorded and released in September. It is the work of producer and director
Clive Collier and features extensive interviews with Gerrard and various people who have collaborated with her in the past, including
Michael Mann,
Russell Crowe,
Hans Zimmer and
Niki Caro. The documentary was released on DVD by
Milan Entertainment on 24 April 2007.
Sanctuary debuted at the
Raindance Film Festival in London, on 27 September 2006. On 20 November 2006, Gerrard released her second solo album,
The Silver Tree. The album climbed to No. 4 on the
Billboard New Age Albums Chart on 26 May 2007, spending nine weeks on the chart. This album was markedly different from her previous work and was also her first album released outside 4AD Records.
The Silver Tree was first released on
iTunes, with a wider physical release planned at a future date. In 2007 a retrospective album,
The Best of Lisa Gerrard, a compilation of fifteen songs, was released covering her career in Dead Can Dance, solo work and film work. It was released on 12 February 2007 in the UK and 7 November 2007 in the US. A world tour was undertaken in 2007 beginning in April in Melbourne, Australia. More performances took place in Europe and Russia from 30 October to 22 November 2007. In November 2007, Gerrard collaborated with German electronic musician
Klaus Schulze on the double-album
Farscape. The album was released on 4 July 2008, followed by a European tour, and the release of a DVD,
Klaus Schulze featuring Lisa Gerrard: Rheingold, Live at Loreley, recorded during the Night Of The Prog Festival III in
Loreley, Germany on the 18 July 2008. In 2009, Gerrard completed work on the documentary by Australian adventurer
Tim Cope called
On the Trail of Genghis Khan and contributed her voice to the soundtrack, which began airing in 2010, of the Japanese
NHK taiga drama Ryōmaden, a story based on the life of
Sakamoto Ryōma. Furthermore, in 2009, Gerrard created her own record label, Gerrard Records, which, aside from being a conduit for the release of Gerrard's future works, will also act to promote and support unrecognised artists of all genres. In September 2009, Gerrard and Schulze performed another tour in six European cities –
Warsaw,
Berlin,
Amsterdam,
Essen,
Paris, and
Brussels. In October 2009, Gerrard released her third solo album,
The Black Opal. The album included collaborations with Patrick Cassidy, Michael Edwards, Pieter Bourke and
James Orr and was the first release to come from Gerrard Records. In 2010, Gerrard released a new album entitled
Departum from Gerrard Records, with composer Marcello De Francisci, which was followed by the singles "Coming Home" (as featured in ''
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole), "Come This Way" and "Entry". Gerrard also collaborated with multi-instrumentalist Prash Mistry, from UK based live dubstep collective Engine Earz Experiment, on a track titled "Spirit Guide", which appeared on his 2011 album. On 1 December 2010, Gerrard released the soundtrack album with Cye Wood titled The Trail of Genghis Khan'' which contains music from the Gerrard and Wood score to the documentary TV series by Tim Cope. In July 2014, Gerrard released a new solo album entitled
Twilight Kingdom through her own record label, Gerrard Records. The album was recorded in collaboration with
Daniel Johns,
Astrid Williamson, Patrick Cassidy, and words by Russell Crowe. In 2014, Gerrard collaborated with British composer, songwriter and producer,
Chicane, on the album
The Sum of Its Parts, released on 25 January 2015 by
Modena Records. Gerrard's vocals are featured in the video game
Armello launched on 1 September 2015, titled "Wyld's Call"; her vocals feature towards a Celtic theme of the soundtracks, released on 2 September 2015, on the music composed by Michael Allen and Gerrard. On 14 March 2018, Gerrard performed a concert at the
National Palace of Culture in
Sofia with Genesis Orchestra, conducted by
Yordan Kamdzhalov, entitled
Symphony of Sorrowful Songs by
Henryk Górecki. During the concert, she also sang her own songs from both her solo career and those of Dead Can Dance. Gerrard emphasized that she—and her collaborators—had striven not to impair the women's essential sound, she said "we're walking toward them, not the other way around"—adding, "if anybody is changed by this, it's me'.
Hiraeth was nominated in the
Best New Age Album category during the
61st Annual Grammy Awards at
Staples Center, held on 10 February 2019. Gerrard toured as a special guest with the eighteen choir members of the Mystery of Bulgarian Voices, performing fifteen select dates across Europe from 12 March to 20 October 2019.
Film career Gerrard's first experience in composing music for a film came with the 1989 Spanish film
El Niño de la Luna, directed by
Agustí Villaronga. The film score was composed by Dead Can Dance and the film featured Lisa Gerrard in her first acting role.
El Niño de la Luna describes the story of David, a young orphan with special powers, escaping an institution with the help of a fellow institute inmate, Georgina, played by Lisa Gerrard. Gerrard participated in a number of musical scores but came to fame as a film composer after recording
The Insider in 1999, with
Pieter Bourke, and
Gladiator in 2000, with
Hans Zimmer, which received an
Academy Award nomination for best music score, although only Zimmer was nominated. It did, however, win a
Golden Globe Award for both composers. Gerrard's score for the New Zealand independent film
Whale Rider consisted entirely of solo material; a soundtrack album was released by 4AD. In 2005, Gerrard collaborated with
Ennio Morricone for
Fateless, followed by a collaboration with
Jeff Rona on the score for the feature film
A Thousand Roads and the song '"On an Ocean" for the
Henry Poole Is Here score. With Dead Can Dance, she provided several contributions to the soundtrack of
Baraka, a visual journey showcasing mankind's impact on the planet. She was invited by
Denez Prigent to collaborate with him on his piece "Gortoz a ran – J'attends" (meaning "I await"), a piece that was later used in the soundtrack of
Ridley Scott's film
Black Hawk Down. In 2009, Gerrard wrote the score for
Balibo, for which she won a Best Feature Film Score award at the
2009 APRA Screen Music Awards and an Aria Award for Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album at the
2009 Aria Awards. She finished 2009 by contributing her voice to the theme song for the Japanese
NHK taiga drama Ryōmaden, which began airing in 2010. That year Gerrard completed the score for
Tears of Gaza with Marcello De Francisci which was well received despite its controversial theme. She scored the
Jim Loach-directed
Oranges and Sunshine, starring
Emily Watson and
Hugo Weaving, released in April 2011, which gained her another nomination at the 2011 IF Awards for Best Music Score. In November 2010, Gerrard provided vocals and additional music for the post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller
Priest, scored by Christopher Young, which was released in 2011. On 28 May 2011, the song "Now We Are Free", part of the
Gladiator original soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer and Gerrard, peaked at No. 2 on the
Billboard 200 and remained in the chart for 460 weeks. In November 2011 Gerrard completed the score for
Burning Man, which won her Best Music Score at the 2012 Film Critics Circle of Australia awards, beating scores for
Snowtown,
The Hunter and
Red Dog. ==Vocal ability==