{"id":179571,"date":"2025-08-27T11:18:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/179571\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T11:18:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:18:18","slug":"belinda-carlisle-on-california-covers-album-brian-wilson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/179571\/","title":{"rendered":"Belinda Carlisle on California covers album, Brian Wilson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt was sort of bittersweet recording some of these songs. It brought back a lot of memories, singing these songs that I used to listen to as a young girl,\u201d muses Belinda Carlisle<\/strong>. The eldest of seven kids, Carlisle endured a \u201cvery chaotic\u201d childhood, growing in various parts of Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley with an absentee father and alcoholic stepfather. But she always had her music \u2014 that mellow gold played by the Real Don Steele<\/strong> and Wolfman Jack<\/strong> on AM radio stations like KHJ.<\/p>\n

So, now the Grammy-nominated Go-Go\u2019s<\/strong> frontwoman is paying tribute to that era on Once Upon a Time in California, a collection of covers of classics by the Youngbloods<\/strong>, the Hollies<\/strong>, the Association<\/strong>, Harry Nilsson<\/strong>, Three Dog Night<\/strong>, Jim Croce<\/strong>, Gordon Lightfoot<\/strong>, and other artists that she says \u201cinspired me to want to be a singer.\u201d The album is out on Friday and will be eligible for the 2026 Grammy Awards.<\/p>\n

\"'KPop<\/a> \"NASHVILLE,<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cMusic for me back then was an escape from my typically dysfunctional family,\u201d Carlisle says. \u201cIn fact, my escape was going to my best friend’s house, Christina. Her mom worked and she was a latchkey kid, and we would just lay every day in summer from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in front of the big speakers and blast all the radio stations. For me, it was a total escape. I was really good at creating fantasy for myself, because of my upbringing and wanting to just leave the family behind. I was really good at fantasy, and I was going to be a big, famous singer one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Carlisle recalls, her family \u201chad no money \u2014 I wouldn’t even say we were lower-middle-class, I would say that we were poor\u201d \u2014 \u00a0so it\u2019s interesting that while she dreamed of a glamorous and globe-trotting rock-star life, she got her start in the scrappy first-wave L.A. punk scene, where bands dressed in trash bags and Goodwill rags and it was considered uncool to admit to any grand aspirations. \u201cBut I still had my little Dior bag that I ate oatmeal for a month to able to buy,\u201d Carlisle chuckles. \u201cI did have a little bit of a fashion thing going on, even in the punk days. \u2026 And even then, I remember [Go-Go\u2019s guitarist] Jane<\/strong> [Wiedlin<\/strong>] and I living at the Canterbury Apartments, which was a punk-rock commune almost, and running down the back stairs of the building yelling, \u2018We’re going to be rich and famous one day!\u2019 Even though you weren’t supposed to say that. As [Go-Go\u2019s drummer] Gina<\/strong> [Schock<\/strong>] says in our documentary: \u2018What are you doing this for? Do you want to stay in clubs forever and be struggling forever?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And the pop sound that Carlisle picked up from listening to \u201860s and \u201870s SoCal radio also made its way into the Go-Go\u2019s\u2019 music from the start. \u201cWe always felt like we belonged [in the punk scene], even though our songs are melodic. But after a while, other people didn’t think that we belonged so much, because we had \u2018sold out\u2019 or we weren’t \u2018punk\u2019 or whatever,\u201d she says. \u201cWe couldn’t play our instruments, but they actually were songs with melodies. Even in the early Go-Go\u2019s, on the stuff that it didn’t even make the first album. We had songs like \u2018Vicious Circle\u2019 that was like, \u2018I go playing with blades,\u2019 about suicide. They were very, very melodic, very sort of uplifting, but we have these dark lyrics. \u2026 My preference for the music is I love that contrast of dark lyrics with a beautiful melody, and lot of the Go-Go\u2019s songs are just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Carlisle doesn\u2019t cover the Beach Boys<\/strong> on her new album, in many ways this project goes back to that formative band, since the very first album she ever owned was the Cali classic Pet Sounds (\u201cI won it at a softball tournament, and it completely changed my life\u201d), and in 1996 she recorded the song \u201cCalifornia\u201d with none other than her idol, Brian Wilson<\/a><\/strong>, who clearly appreciated her pop sensibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used to come to Go-Go\u2019s shows and to my solo shows with Dr. [Eugene<\/strong>] Landy<\/strong>, and I sang background vocals on a couple of his solo albums,\u201d Carlisle reveals. \u201cI remember when I would sing backgrounds on his album, he would stand in front of me and conduct me, and it was amazing. He was such a character. And then from my album A Woman and a Man, we had this song \u2018California,\u2019 and he’d be perfect on it. So, we asked and he said yes, and he came to the studio and sang over this little cassette player. \u2026 He was singing over the track, and I didn’t quite understand where he was going with it, and I thought, \u2018Oh my God, we’re going to have to tell Brian Wilson that we can’t use his part!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I was kind of freaking out, and the producer said, \u2018Let’s let him go into the vocal booth.\u2019 And then all of a sudden, it was like a symphony. It was so emotional. I get really emotional just thinking about it, because he was layering these parts so that it was a symphony. Watching him work and doing that, for me, that little girl that had worshiped him and the Beach Boys, he’s like Mozart. So, he sang for a couple hours on the song, and then when he left, we just sat there \u2014 like, mute. Nobody could say anything because it was so emotional, and we called it a day. He was an amazing, amazing human being. An amazing artist, of course. [His death] was a big loss for me, for sure. It felt like part of my childhood had gone with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Carlisle, who grew up in the shadow of the Watts riots, reading \u201ca lot of Joan Didion<\/strong> books\u201d and obsessing over the Beach Boys-associated Manson murders (\u201cI used to sneak the Herald Examiner when my mom would go out the room and read the testimony from Susan Atkins or Squeaky Fromme\u201d), gravitated towards darker. melancholy songs when choosing covers for Once Upon a Time in California \u2014 like the Carpenters<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cSuperstar\u201d (\u201cI had no idea that song was about a groupie!\u201d) and \u201cReflections of My Life\u201d by Marmalade<\/strong>, which closes the album.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can bring my myself back to a moment with that song. I remember when it came out and I was living in Burbank. I was in the garage where I\u2019d dress up and put elaborate makeup on and have twigs that I’d use for [pretend] cigarettes and sing. I remember that hearing that, and I just thought it was the weirdest song, because it didn’t fit in with a lot of the other material that was coming out then. It’s a little bit odd, but I loved it, and every time it would come on, I would just turn it up and actually be waiting to hear that song again. \u2026 When I decided I wanted to do that one and dig into the lyrics, I was like, \u2018Wow, how amazing that I get to sing these lyrics being this age, and experiencing so much of life and love and loss,\u201d says Carlisle, now 67.<\/p>\n

Carlisle also chose songs that she thought would \u00a0best fit her voice, and while she was always \u201ca singer, not a screamer \u2014 as cool as screaming is,\u201d even in the punk days, Once Upon a Time in California definitely showcases a crooner\/torch-singer side to her vocals rarely heard. \u201cI wasn’t [vocally] trained, but after I heard the second show the Go-Go\u2019s played, at the Rock Corporation in the Valley, someone had a cassette tape of it, and I thought I was hot, like the best thing since sliced bread \u2014 and then I heard my voice and I was like, \u2018Oh my God, I’m horrible! I have to do something about this!\u2019 So, I was saving my money to go to vocal lessons, and I started that after I heard that cassette,\u201d she explains. \u201cBut I never really took my voice that seriously until after I got sober. I used to smoke and drink and carry on all night, and then get up onstage the next night. I don’t know how I did that, but I did. So, I never really took care of it. But now, for the past 20 years or so, I’ve really, really take care of it, and I’m serious about it. And I think it shows in the album.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Carlisle says it was actually when she finally quit alcohol and cocaine for good, at age 47, that she started having vocal issues. \u201cIt started happening when I got sober, ironically. \u2026 I went to my doctor, who I still have, and I said, \u2018What is going on? All these years of carrying on, and now that I’m really good and diligent about taking care of myself, I have problems?\u2019 And he goes, \u2018It happens to all singers. They clean up, then the problems start.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlisle underwent surgery last year for a vocal-cord node (\u201cI did a whole tour singing that way; I could tell something was wrong\u201d), and now, thanks to that as well as her breathing exercises and pranayama yoga practice, she\u2019s sounding better than ever. Which of course begs the question if she and her on-and-off Go-Go\u2019s bandmates, who recently reunited for this year\u2019s Coachella and Cruel World festivals, have any new music in the works. \u201cI’ve learned so many times, over and over again, never say never with that band,\u201d she laughs. \u201cBecause something always comes up, always. \u2026 We have no plans to do anything, not even thinking about it. But I’m sure that something is going to come along again. It always does.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a long-rumored Go-Go\u2019s biopic seems to finally be happening, although Carlisle isn\u2019t confirming much about that either. \u201cI can’t really talk about it, but it’s definitely in the works,\u201d she says. \u201cThose kinds of things, they have a very small chance of ever getting made. \u2026 But if it happens, I think it’s going to be great. It’s being written right now, so it’s still in the very early stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as for who would portray her in this cinematic California saga, Carlisle wants Florence Pugh<\/strong> \u2014 \u00a0even though Pugh is reportedly being considered for a Madonna<\/strong> biopic. \u201cI think she’d be much better playing me, although she’d be great playing Madonna,\u201d says Carlisle. \u201cI think that we have a lot of energetic similarities and also physical similarities. \u2026 But I really hope that this does happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Belinda Carlisle\u2019s full interview below:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt was sort of bittersweet recording some of these songs. It brought back a lot of memories, singing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":179572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[995,171,51106,975,77201,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-179571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-brian-wilson","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-fyc","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-the-go-gos","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115100457763426142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}