Home | Armory | Origins | Early Records| Branches| Famous| Surnames| Anedotes| Contact

Lisa Hindmarsh -Jazz Singer- United States

LisaHindmarsh Lisa Hindmarsh has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest vocalists in the Greater Pittsburgh area.  She is widely regarded by listeners and by her colleagues as a musician of consummate technical skill and a performer of great versatility and depth. Lisa's greatest musical love has always been jazz.  While growing up in Fayette City, Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh, her father, locally-known Hammond B-3 player Barry Hindmarsh, had an extensive collection of vocal and instrumental recordings that Lisa would play on the stereo "until you could see through them."  A school performance at age 8, singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" over the public address system, convinced Lisa that she wanted to be a singer,and she credits the legendary Nancy Wilson as her greatest (and earliest) vocal influence.  In addition, she discovered and developed her instinctive gift for rhythm while listening to the popular bossa nova and samba sounds of groups like Brasil '66 and the songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim, among others.
Lisa was a child of the'70s pop music era as well, and was also heavily influenced by singers such as Karen Carpenter and Barbra Streisand, "like any other young girl who wanted to be a singer back then."  From the beginning, her intelligent ear was beginning to focus itself on singers known for their skill, phrasing, and ability to touch an audience.  Even as a teenager, Lisa believed deeply in the importance of genuine and honest emotional communication with her audience through the music.  To that end, her already sophisticated ear naturally sought out quality songs, and she studied them intently, phrase by phrase, so that the message and the emotion of the song would be first and foremost in her performances.  Everywhere she performed, listeners remarked on the emotional maturity and level of polish already evident in so young a singer.

Opting for a college education, Lisa earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice (magna cum laude)from West Virginia University and a Master of Music in Voice (summa cum laude) from Marshall University, supporting herself throughout by singing at weddings, in churches and with various bands.  After graduate school, she returned to Pittsburgh and quickly began establishing herself as a soloist with prominent choral groups and at various large churches in the city, including Westminster Presbyterian Church in the south suburbs, where she is a soloist today.

From 1993 through the end of 2000, Lisa was the alto member of the enormously popular Pittsburgh-based a cappella quintet, InVoice.  The critically acclaimed group performed regularly throughout the Pittsburgh region, and released a very successful recording, Out of Nowhere, in 1998 A performance at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Arts Festival caught the attention of Denis Colwell, conductor of the River City Brass Band, and led InVoice to a series of performances with the RCBB and a guest appearance on their Big Band Brass CD.It also led to an opportunity for Lisa to perform again with the Band, throughout the Pittsburgh area and on tour in the Midwest, as 1/3 of a female trio performing music of the Andrews Sisters. Lisa released her debut solo recording, Now I Know, in late 2000, to unanimous critical and audience acclaim. The recording was nominated for 2001 Jazz/Cabaret Album of the Year by Just Plain Folks, a national organization of industry professionals and independent artists, and finished third out of eight nominees. Currently, Lisa divides her time between a soloist position at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, working with other local groups and artists (as a singer and keyboard player), and pursuing her own solo career. She is currently working on her second solo recording, which will be released in late 2002, and she has completed work as the featured lead vocalist on an upcoming recording of original music by the Pittsburgh band.

Acknowledgement: The text for this item came from Lisa Hindmarsh's web site at www.lisahindmarsh.com

Home | Armory | Origins | Early Records| Branches| Famous| Surnames| Anedotes| Contact