Once the frontwoman of UK band Blue Zone, which saw modest success with their single "Jackie", she became a major international star beginning with her guest vocal stint on Coldcut's record People Hold On.
Stansfield is probably best known for her first UK #1 single, All Around the World (1989), which also peaked at #3 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 the following year. Other worldwide hits from her debut solo album Affection include This is the Right Time (featuring a house music-styled production by Coldcut with Mark Saunders), Live Together, What Did I Do To You? and You Can't Deny It. "All Around the World" was the second song by a white female soloist to hit #1 on the Billboard R&B chart (the first being "Ooo La La La" by Teena Marie in 1988). "You Can't Deny It" also topped that chart. Affection went platinum in the U.S., and sold a total of five million copies worldwide.
In 1990, Stansfield was among a handful of high-profile artists to participate in the Red Hot + Blue charity album, which honored the songwriting career of Cole Porter, and benefitted AIDS research at a time when funding from government agencies was insufficient for those in need. She was given the chance to show her swing and jazz chops on the song "Down in the Depths" (video), which was one of a few throwback renditions to appear on the album. This likely won her the female lead in the independent film Swing (1999), for which soundtrack she also performed most of the songs. Thus began an illustrious and respected tradition of Stansfield offering jazz and torch songs to outside projects (she also sang I've Got the World on a String in the original movie soundtrack of 2003's Mona Lisa Smile).
In 1992, Stansfield won a BRIT Award as best British female solo artist. Her second album Real Love did not quite live up to the success of Affection, despite selling very well. However, it did spawn four Top 40 singles on the European charts: Change, All Woman, Time to Make You Mine and Set Your Loving Free. "Change" has since become one of her signature classics, and still receives regular air-play to this day. "All Woman" became Stansfield's third #1 single on the Billboard R&B chart, and due to the success of that song, the album went gold in the U.S. Filled with pathos and emotion, it is "kitchen sink soul", from the viewpoint of a woman taken for granted. Like "All Around the World", many critics initially believed that it had been performed by a black singer.
Stansfield continued recording disco-influenced soul throughout the 1990s. Her third album So Natural (1993) spawned three Top 40 European singles including the title track So Natural, In All the Right Places and Little Bit of Heaven, but the album was never released in the U.S. She had continued success throughout Europe, but her popularity in America had diminished.
sidenote: "In All The Right Places" was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Indecent Proposal (1993), for which Stansfield was shortlisted as the lead that eventually went to Demi Moore. You can catch her talking about it in this YouTube interview clip (@ 1:30).
Her self-titled fourth album Lisa Stansfield (1997) was a hit in Europe with two Top Ten singles - People Hold On (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Mix) (a re-released dance mix by The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and The Real Thing, and the Top 40 track Never, Never Gonna Give You Up (a remake of the late Barry White's 1973 hit). Upon being released in the U.S., the album scored some mainstream attention, but fared much better in the dance clubs where remixes were very successful; an astonishing four singles - "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up", Never Gonna Fall, I'm Leavin', and "People Hold On" reached #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. It charted modestly, peaking at #30 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and #55 on the Billboard 200. Subsequently, The Remix Album was released due to revived interest in Stansfield within the dance community. The music video for "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" (video) was an eye-catcher featuring her strolling nude down a city street, acquiring a few items of clothing along the way. VH1 featured the clip and even gave it the Pop-Up Video treatment. During the promotion for the single, Stansfield appeared on the RuPaul Show, but inexplicably, did not sing the song (or any others, for that matter).
Her 2001 album Face Up was less successful, barely charting through a lack of publicity, but featured the singles Let's Just Call It Love and 8-3-1, which found her experimenting with newer styles of R&B such as 2-step while continuing with her established sound. Stansfield's husband, Ian Devaney, delivered an arrangement for the ballad How Could You?, which displayed his love of Burt Bacharach's legacy. Only one single was officially released in the UK.
Following the release of Face Up, a 2-CD greatest hits collection titled Biography: The Greatest Hits was released in 2003, which sold well in the UK and Europe. Stansfield then parted ways with Arista/BMG, ending an 18-year association with the label.
Stansfield signed with ZTT Records from the UK, and her 2004 release The Moment was produced by Trevor Horn, well-known for his work with Seal, Grace Jones, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, among others. The album was distributed in Europe by Edel, featuring the singles Treat Me Like a Woman (released as a double A-side with Easier) and If I Hadn't Got You, a song written by Chris Braide with ex-Squeeze songwriter Chris Difford. The album found her exploring more pop-oriented material, and focusing on lush ballads.
Despite this, as with her previous release, the album and supporting singles were not a success. At the time of the project's release, ZTT was directing large amounts of its resources into re-marketing its back catalogue, and producing the Trevor Horn concert for The Prince's Trust and its accompanying double CD Produced by Trevor Horn. The release of "Treat Me Like a Woman" was twice delayed, and the label eventually paired it with "Easier". While ZTT did erect a billboard to advertise the album in Stansfield's home area of Greater Manchester, print advertising and in-store displays were reportedly absent. Later that year ZTT dropped her from their label.
Stansfield's talents also extended into acting; she starred in the 1999 film Swing with actor Hugo Speer, and recorded covers of swing classics and a few original songs written in the style for the soundtrack. She later appeared on a London stage in The Vagina Monologues. In 2006, she guest-starred in the series Goldplated. In 2007, she starred in an episode of Marple: Ordeal by Innocence, and later joined the cast of The Edge of Love.
On June 2012, Lisa told the UK newspaper, The Sunday Mirror that she's working on her seventh studio album, her first in nine years, and that it is going to be released in spring 2013. Lisa announced in November 2012 that the album will be titled 'Seven'.
Official website: http://www.lisa-stansfield.com
Sweet Memories
Lisa Stansfield Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Chorus:
Sweet memories of the love you gave me
Send me reeling into ecstasy
Sweet memories of the love you gave me
Send me crying to my room
And I don't wanna miss you
No I don't wanna miss you
But I do
The weather changes
Like life changes
Like me and you have changed
It's all about nothing to talk about
Then you're washed up in the rain
I wonder why
I let love die
Just let you slip away
I cry and cry myself to sleep at night
Mm baby baby
I'm never gonna hear the last
About how stupid I was
I'm never gonna rest until I have you
Back in my arms
Chorus
I've tried to smile
I can't 'cause I'm
Feeling sorry for myself
And I can't hide
What I feel inside
And babe it hurts like hell
I'm never gonna hear the last
About how stupid I was
I'm never gonna rest until I have you
Back in my arms
Chorus
No space or time could take me away from you
Not ever no no no not never
Ain't nothin' or no-one can split us in two
Not ever not never no no
Sweet memories of the love you gave me
Sweet memories of the love you gave me
And I don't wanna miss you
But I do
No I don't wanna miss you
But I do
The lyrics of Lisa Stansfield's Sweet Memories speak of the nostalgia and heartbreak that comes with reminiscing on a past love. The chorus repeats the phrase "sweet memories of the love you gave me" which sends the singer both into a state of ecstasy and crying in their room. The memories of their past love are bitter-sweet, as they long for that love but also feel the pain of its absence. The song explores the changes that happen in one's life, like the change in weather, and compares it to how people change over time, including the two people in the relationship that is now over. The singer questions why they let love die and allowed their love to slip away. They cry themselves to sleep at night, feeling the hurt of heartbreak.
The verses express the singer's deep longing for the past love. They can't help but feel sorry for themselves and hide the pain that they feel inside. They have tried to smile, but the hurt is too great. They go on to say that they will never rest until they have the person they love back in their arms. The coda of the song emphasizes the strength of their love, which they believe will never be split by anything or anyone.
Line by Line Meaning
Sweet memories of the love you gave me
The beautiful moments spent with you are the fondest of my memories
Send me reeling into ecstasy
Thinking about you fills me with a combination of happiness and sadness
Send me crying to my room
But sometimes, thinking about you makes me so sad that I cry in private
And I don't wanna miss you
I don't want to admit to myself that I miss you
But I do
But deep down, I really do
The weather changes
Like the ever-changing nature of weather
Like life changes
Life can also change suddenly without any warning
Like me and you have changed
Our relationship has changed too, just like everything else
It's all about nothing to talk about
There is nothing left to talk about anymore
Then you're washed up in the rain
Suddenly, you're caught in the middle of a storm and everything becomes overwhelming
I wonder why
I ask myself why this had to happen
I let love die
I take responsibility for letting our love fade away
Just let you slip away
I regret not fighting harder to keep you in my life
I cry and cry myself to sleep at night
I am constantly overwhelmed by emotions and can only find solace in sleep
I'm never gonna hear the last
People won't stop reminding me of my mistakes
About how stupid I was
I regret my actions and feel foolish for letting you go
I'm never gonna rest until I have you
I won't stop until I have you back in my life
Back in my arms
Back where you belong, in my loving embrace
I've tried to smile
I've tried to move on and fake happiness
I can't 'cause I'm
But I can't pretend that everything is okay
Feeling sorry for myself
I am consumed by self-pity
And I can't hide
My emotions are too overwhelming to hide
What I feel inside
I am unable to hide my true emotions
And babe it hurts like hell
The pain is consuming and unbearable
No space or time could take me away from you
No matter how far apart we are or how much time passes, you will always be in my heart
Not ever no no no not never
Never, not in a million years
Ain't nothin' or no-one can split us in two
Nothing and no one can ever come between us
Sweet memories of the love you gave me
The memories of the love we shared will always be with me
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: IAN OWEN DEVANEY, LISA JANE STANSFIELD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind