:Lisa Lee Dark
{{Short description|Welsh opera singer, songwriter, and voice actress}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name = Lisa Lee Dark
|image =
|background = solo_singer
|alias =
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1981|4|16}}
|origin = Swansea, Wales
|genre = Opera, classical crossover, Christian, new-age, dance
|occupation = Opera singer, songwriter, voice actress
|instrument = Vocals
|years_active = 1992–present
|label = Angel Guardian Records, VIP international Records
|website = [http://officiallisaleedarkblog.blogspot.com/ Blog]
}}
Lisa Lee Dark is a Welsh opera singer, songwriter, and voice actress.
Early life
Lisa Lee Dark was born in the Clydach area of Swansea on 16 April 1981.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/930685638/?match=1&terms=%22Lisa%20Lee%20Dark%22 |title=Why I'll be twice as good as the average pop star |first=Maria |last=Williams |publisher=Wales on Sunday |date=11 July 1999}} Her distant relatives include Italian opera singer Adelina Patti.{{Cite news |last=Gledhill |first=Ruth |date=2004-11-20 |title=Highs and lows |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/cb108367-ef74-4009-98d1-0be841d39832/?context=1519360&federationidp=M9JDTX59593 |access-date=2024-09-02 |work=The Times}} She was born with the rare medical condition congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which leads to excessive generation of testosterone during the early part of foetal life.{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Mark |date=2018-03-25 |title=I want people to see me as a human being first and foremost |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/f27f8b6c-8462-4de4-8113-fe64193f664a/?context=1519360&federationidp=M9JDTX59593 |access-date=2024-09-02 |work=Wales on Sunday |pages=6–7}} This meant that she was raised as male because doctors failed to realise that she was biologically female, a fact even she did not discover until she was 19 years old.{{cite news |last=Davies |first=Daniel |date=13 September 2004 |title=Lisa-Lee album launch |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/tm_objectid=14635278&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=lisa-lee-album-launch-name_page.html |accessdate=20 December 2008 |work=The Western Mail |publisher=walesonline.co.uk}}{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 – Changing Sex |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hometruths/lisaleedark.shtml |accessdate=6 August 2008}} She was very badly bullied during her school years.{{Cite news |last=Collins |first=Claire |date=2000-05-08 |title=Showbiz loves the girl who was a guy |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/de8237e8-0971-4c55-bb3d-ef2cffcde404/?context=1519360&federationidp=M9JDTX59593 |access-date=2024-09-02 |work=The Mirror |pages=18}} She went to an all-boys comprehensive school where she would regularly get kicked, punched, spat at, and have obscene things screamed at her; even outside school, she would get the same treatment because she was slightly different and did not behave like all the other boys.{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Mark |date=2018-03-24 |title=The woman who didn't realise she was female until she was 19 |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/woman-who-didnt-realise-female-14447283 |access-date=2024-09-02 |website=Wales Online |language=en}} This left her with agoraphobia and PTSD.
Music career
At age 12 she was discovered while singing in a park in Swansea.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/752631867/?match=1&terms=%22Lisa%20Lee%20Dark%22 |title=Lisa-Lee's refuge in music |first=Christine |last=Doyle |date=25 April 2000 |publisher=The Daily Telegraph }} In 2000 she released a compilation CD of ten years of her recordings she called The Unknown Story of Lisa-Lee Dark. In 2004, Dark released an album entitled Breath of Life. As of 2009 it had sold 50,000 copies.{{Cite news |title=Opera star wants to give back to charities |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/134f127f-29c2-4b8f-b4aa-3a7dc4dccec1/?context=1519360&federationidp=M9JDTX59593 |url-status= |access-date=2009-09-29 |work=South Wales Evening Post |pages=16}} She has released several more since, including one in French. She had previously worked on films, backing tracks and voiceovers.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hometruths/lisaleedark.shtml BBC Radio 4 – Hometruths interview]
- [https://www.myspace.com/darklisalee Lisa Lee Dark myspace]
- [https://www.twitter.com/LisaLeeDark Lisa Lee Dark's Twitter page]
- [https://profiles.google.com/LisaLeeDark/edit?hl=en#LisaLeeDark/about Lisa Lee Dark's official google profile]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark, Lisa Lee}}
Category:Musicians from Swansea
Category:British intersex women
Category:British intersex people
Category:Welsh operatic sopranos
Category:21st-century Welsh women singers
Category:Welsh voice actresses
Category:British people of Irish descent