Lisa Price


albums w/ jackets & lyrics
Born in Chatam, NB, Lisa Price grew up in a military family, and after time at Moncton Garrison and 4 Wing Cold Lake, spent her youth in Swwibrooken and Baden Baden, Germany and Metz, France. By ’67 they were back in Canada, where they settled in Quebec while her father finished out his career in the Air Force.

She broke on to the scene fronting a couple of bands at the beginning of the ’80s in the Toronto area, then struck out on her own by late ’82. She assembled an all-star cast of studio musicians that included guitarists Bernie LaBarge (solo, Zwol, Kim Mitchell) and Derry Grehan (ex of Steve Blimkie & The Reason and future Honeymoon Suite), and John Albani (Lee Aaron, ex Wrabit), bassist Ron Garant of Dalbello, Grant Slater and Gerald O’Brien (Wrabit and Surrender, and Zappacosta), and drummer Gary McCracken (Max Webster), and Manta Sound regular backup singers Corina Phillips, Shaun Jackson, and Sharon Williams.

With Paul Gross (Rush, Triumph, Saga, Wrabit) producing, she recorded some demos she shopped around to the labels. Eventually Mirus picked her up and released the six-track EP, PRICELESS in early ’83, first as a radio station promo, and then on the record store shelves with a different jacket that summer.

Critics generally agreed the album defined the era’s hard-edged melodic rocker chick scene – slick production on guitar and keys-edged melodic rock. Price`s powerhouse vocals took over on the lead track, “Can’t Hold On Forever,” Written by LaBarge (who also did it for his own BARGIN’ album a year later, it was pushed as a single, but never charted or gained traction outside the GTA. LaBarge also wrote “Everywhere I Go,” and along with a pair penned by Greehan – “No One’s Business” and “Heartache,” “Runaway,” and the cover of Nils Lofgren’s “Empty Heart” made it a critic’s fave. That however didn’t translate to sales when it failed to get picked up by a major label.

A hot import in Germany when it was originally released, the album’s mystique only grew over the years, and in In 2013, Munich-based YesterRock Music re-released the album, but without any extra goodies.

  • With notes from Erin Combs, Danny Frieschnekt, Chris Lambert, Lisa Price

    priceless
    PRICELESS – DEMO (1983)
    Can’t Hold On Forever
    Heartache
    Everywhere I Go
    No One’s Business
    Empty Heart
    Runaway
    priceless
    PRICELESS (1983)
    Can’t Hold On Forever
    Heartache
    Everywhere I Go
    No One’s Business
    Empty Heart
    Runaway
    priceless
    PRICELESS – REISSUE (2013)
    Can’t Hold On Forever
    Heartache
    Everywhere I Go
    No One’s Business
    Empty Heart
    Runaway