With the Revolution In 1980, Lisa Coleman replaced Gayle Chapman in Prince's touring band on keyboards and piano. Coleman was asked to contribute vocals to several tracks over his next few albums. In 1983, guitarist
Dez Dickerson left the band over religious conflicts. Prince invited
Wendy Melvoin (Lisa's girlfriend at the time) into the band as they began to record
Purple Rain (1984). The film and album turned Prince and the newly named
Revolution into superstars. Prince's personal life also became intertwined with Melvoin's when he began dating her twin sister
Susannah. After
Purple Rain (1984), Prince and the Revolution recorded
Around the World in a Day (1985) and then
Parade (1986), the soundtrack to Prince's film
Under the Cherry Moon (1986). In interviews, the two reported they felt they were not getting the recognition and credit they deserved despite their growing contributions to his work. During 1986, Melvoin and Coleman became increasingly disillusioned with Prince's decision to expand the Revolution with non-musicians, such as Wally Safford and Greg Brooks, and Prince's increasing
machismo that these new members brought with them. Unhappy and vocal about their feelings, they were eventually convinced to remain with the band through the end of the
Hit N Run - Parade Tour. However, Prince felt spurned and as a result he had already decided he would dissolve the Revolution once the tour was complete. Hence, by October 1986, Melvoin and Coleman (along with
Bobby Z.) were dismissed by Prince, disrupting the
Dream Factory album that was already completed and effectively dissolving The Revolution.
As Wendy & Lisa In 1987 the duo released an album simply titled
Wendy and Lisa on
Columbia Records in the US and on
Virgin Records in the UK. The singles released were "Honeymoon Express", "Waterfall" and "Sideshow" but none hit the top 40 on either side of the Atlantic. and the project was shelved, leaving the master tapes in Horn's hands and acrimony between the parties involved. Their next solo effort – the 1998 album
Girl Bros. – was the first to be independently released, with all subsequent releases also self-released. In 2004, the duo reached a rapprochement with Prince and contributed to several tracks on his
Planet Earth (2007) album. In December 2008,
White Flags of Winter Chimneys was released. The title is taken from a line in the
Joni Mitchell song "Hejira". 2011 saw the release of the
Snapshots EP, the CD version of which came as limited edition of 425 copies accompanied by an A5 sized photo book which was signed (with individual doodles) by both artists. It is a 6-track collection of songs that were recorded over the preceding 20 years of their careers but had previously never been released.
Session and scoring work Melvoin and Coleman have done session work and/or written songs with
Seal,
k.d. lang,
Joni Mitchell,
Meshell Ndegeocello,
Pearl Jam,
Terence Trent D'Arby,
Lisa Germano,
Lisa Marie Presley,
Liz Phair,
Michael Penn,
Grace Jones,
Tricky,
the Three O'Clock,
Uh Huh Her,
Sheryl Crow,
Victoria Williams,
Rob Thomas,
Gwen Stefani,
Skye Edwards,
Scritti Politti,
Nerina Pallot,
OK Go,
Madonna,
The Like,
Nina Gordon,
fDeluxe,
the Family,
Doyle Bramhall II,
Nikka Costa,
André Cymone,
Kate Earl,
Eric Clapton,
Bettye LaVette,
Ilse DeLange,
Mac Miller, and
Walk the Moon. Their vocals were featured on the soundtrack for
Toys (1992). Their first scoring project was for
Dangerous Minds (1995). The team has scored numerous TV shows and films, including popular TV shows like
Crossing Jordan,
Heroes,
Nurse Jackie and
Firefly Lane. ==Awards==