Lisa Gerrard
Australian singer and composer known for glossolalia and film scores.
Lisa Germaine Gerrard (born 12 April 1961) is an Australian vocalist, composer, and musician. She co-founded the group Dead Can Dance with Brendan Perry and was a member until 2022. Her singing is distinctive for its use of glossolalia, and she possesses a dramatic contralto voice spanning three octaves. Gerrard has contributed to the scores of many award-winning films. She shared a Golden Globe Award with Hans Zimmer for the music of *Gladiator* (2000).
Born and raised in Melbourne to Irish immigrant parents, Gerrard grew up in the suburb of Prahran, where she was surrounded by Mediterranean music. She was active in the city's Little Band scene, a post-punk experimental movement, and fronted the group Microfilm before co-founding Dead Can Dance in 1981. With Perry, she explored a wide range of traditional and modern styles, helping to establish what became known as neoclassical dark wave. She often sings in English, but also in a language she invented herself. Besides singing, she frequently plays instruments, most notably the yangqin, a Chinese hammered dulcimer.
Gerrard released her first solo album, *The Mirror Pool*, in 1995. Her first collaborative album, *Duality* with Pieter Bourke, followed in 1998. She has since worked with many artists, including Patrick Cassidy, Klaus Schulze, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone, and Zbigniew Preisner. By 2020, she had released four solo albums and collaborated on sixteen others, and had composed or contributed to the scores of over 48 films. Her score for *Balibo* won an ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack and an APRA Screen Music Award for Best Feature Film Score. In total, she has won 11 awards from 23 nominations, including two Grammy nominations. Gerrard is often associated with the "wailing woman" music style popularized in *Gladiator*.
Dead Can Dance began as a quartet in Melbourne in 1981. The band split in 1998, reunited for a world tour in 2005, and announced another tour in 2012 alongside the album *Anastasis*. Their albums *Spiritchaser* (1996) and *Anastasis* (2012) both reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart. The group recorded seven studio albums on 4AD Records, starting with their self-titled debut in 1984, and two on PIAS Recordings. Gerrard left the band in 2022, with Perry continuing the project.
Her first solo album, *The Mirror Pool*, recorded with the Victorian Philharm
- born
- 12 April 1961
- field
- Musician, singer, composer
- nationality
- Australian
- known_for
- Unique singing style (glossolalia), founding Dead Can Dance, film scoring
- golden_globe
- Yes, for Gladiator (2000)
Quick Facts
- Background
- solo_singer
- Birth Name
- Lisa Germaine Gerrard
- Birth Date
- 1961-04-12
- Birth Place
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Genre
- Avant-garde / neoclassical dark wave / new-age / ethereal wave / classical / baroque / gregorian chant / Bulgarian chant / world music
- Occupation
- Songwriter · singer · musician
- Years Active
- 1980–present
- Instrument
- Vocals · yangqin
- Label
- Gerrard Records / 4AD / Warner Bros. Records
- Website
- lisagerrard.com
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Lisa Gerrard was born in Melbourne to Irish immigrant parents and grew up in Prahran, an inner suburb with a substantial Greek population. She recalled growing up with Mediterranean music blaring from houses, which influenced her music. She first began forming bands as a member of Melbourne's Little Band scene, an experimental post-punk scene from 1978 to 1981. There she met Brendan Perry, who initially thought her music too avant-garde. Gerrard became lead vocalist of Microfilm before co-founding Dead Can Dance in 1981.
Dead Can Dance originally formed as a quartet in Melbourne in 1981. The band split in 1998 but reunited in 2005 for a world tour. In 2012 they announced another world tour coinciding with the album Anastasis. Gerrard departed Dead Can Dance in 2022, leaving Perry to continue the project. Her first solo album, The Mirror Pool, was released in 1995. She has since collaborated with many artists including Pieter Bourke, Patrick Cassidy, Klaus Schulze, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone, and Zbigniew Preisner.
Reader's Guide
Lisa Gerrard's significance lies in her distinctive vocal technique of glossolalia—singing in invented languages—and her dramatic contralto voice. As a founding member of Dead Can Dance, she helped lay the foundations for neoclassical dark wave, exploring traditional and modern styles. Her work in film scoring, particularly the Golden Globe-winning Gladiator score with Hans Zimmer, brought her international recognition. She has composed or contributed to scores for more than 48 films and has won 11 awards from 23 nominations, including two Grammy nominations. Gerrard is often affiliated with the 'wailing woman' music phenomenon popularized in Gladiator. Her legacy includes four solo albums and sixteen collaborative albums as of 2020, and she founded her own label, Gerrard Records, in 2009 to promote unrecognized artists.
Did You Know?
- Gerrard sings in a unique language she invented, in addition to English.
- She most prolifically uses the yangqin, a Chinese hammered dulcimer.
- Her first solo album, The Mirror Pool, was accompanied by the Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra.
- She received a Golden Globe Award for the music score to the 2000 film Gladiator.
More in Constructed language creators 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record