Lisa Loeb

Lisa Anne Loeb (born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress.

She started her career with "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film Reality Bites, the first Billboard number one single for an artist without a recording contract.

At Brown in the mid-1980s, Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell formed a band named Liz and Lisa, with future singer/songwriter and classmate Duncan Sheik as a guitarist.

After graduating from high school in 1986, she attended Brown University, where she graduated in 1990 with a degree in comparative literature.

The duo released the albums Liz and Lisa (1989) and Liz and Lisa - Days Were Different (1990) independently.

After college, bassist Rick Lassiter and drummer Chad Fischer joined the band.

After developing a following together, Loeb and Mitchell parted ways a few years after college.

Loeb attended Berklee College of Music in Boston for a session of summer school, and in 1990 formed a full band called Nine Stories.

The band, which was named after the book by J.D. Salinger, included Tim Bright on guitar, Jonathan Feinberg on drums, and Joe Quigley on bass.

Loeb began working with producer Juan Patiño to make the cassette Purple Tape in 1992.

It included the earliest recordings of later popular tracks such as "Do You Sleep?", "Snow Day", "Train Songs", and "It's Over".

Loeb sold the violet-colored cassette to fans at gigs and used it as a sonic calling card to industry gatekeepers.

She and her band made a recording of her song "Stay (I Missed You)" during the same period.

Loeb developed a following from her solo acoustic performances on the New York City coffeehouse circuit and the rock club circuit.

She travelled to cities such as Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Dallas, but focused mainly on New York City.

She played acoustically and with her band in folk and rock clubs, including at CBGB.

Loeb performed at music festivals such as the New Music Seminar and South by Southwest.

Loeb's big break came through her friendship with actor Ethan Hawke, who lived in an apartment across the street from her in New York City.

She told Cosmopolitan that she met Hawke in the NYC theater community where, as she phrased it, "I made music for his plays".

Loeb gave Hawke the Juan Patiño-produced version of "Stay (I Missed You);" he in turn gave it to director Ben Stiller during the making of the 1994 film Reality Bites.

Stiller subsequently decided to use the song in the film's ending credits, and it was included by Ron Fair on the soundtrack on RCA Records.

Hawke directed a rare one-take video on film, a continuous steadicam shot operated by Robin Buerki.

"Stay (I Missed You)" went on to become a number one hit on the American charts.

When her song hit number one, Loeb earned the distinction of being the first artist to top the Hot 100 before being signed to any record label.

The single reached Gold status on July 12, 1994, just over three months after its release date.

She achieved two additional top 20 singles with "Do You Sleep?" in 1996 and "I Do" in 1998.

Her studio albums include two back-to-back albums that were certified gold: Tails and Firecracker.

Loeb's film, television and voice-over work includes guest starring roles in the season finale of Gossip Girl, and two episodes, including the series finale, of Netflix's Fuller House.

She also starred in two other television series, Dweezil & Lisa, a weekly culinary adventure for the Food Network that featured her alongside Dweezil Zappa, and Number 1 Single on E! Entertainment Television.

She has also acted in such films as House on Haunted Hill, Fright Night, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, and Helicopter Mom.

Loeb has released children's CDs and books; her 2016 children's CD Feel What U Feel won Best Children's Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.

Loeb's latest album, A Simple Trick to Happiness, was released in February 2020.

In addition, she has a line of eyewear, and started a non-profit organization that sends under-served children to camp, funded by Loeb's own organic and fair trade coffee, Wake Up!

Brew.

Lisa Loeb was born to a Jewish family in Bethesda, Maryland, and was raised in Dallas, Texas, where her parents still reside.

Her mother, Gail, was the president of the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance and Foundation, and her father, Peter Loeb, was a gastroenterologist.

She has a younger sister, songwriter Debbie Loeb.

As a child, Lisa studied piano, but later switched to guitar.

She attended The Hockaday School, an all-girls private school.

For two years, she had her own radio show on 88.5 KRSM-FM, a 10-watt station licensed to the nearby all-boys St. Marks School of Texas.