Danielle LoPresti

Last updated

Danielle LoPresti
Danielle LoPresti on stage at San Diego IndieFest 2010.jpg
Danielle LoPresti on stage at San Diego IndieFest 2010
Background information
Born (1969-01-25) January 25, 1969 (age 55)
Bellflower, California, United States
GenresRock, Pop, Soul, Jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, actress (voice)
InstrumentVoice
Years active1991–present
Labels Say It Records, Trevino Music Group, Universal Music Group
Website DanielleAndTheMasses.com

Danielle LoPresti (January 25, 1969) is an American musician, actress and activist. She is the lead singer of Danielle LoPresti and The Masses, an activist rock band out of San Diego, CA, and is the co-founder and producer of San Diego IndieFest.

Contents

Early life

Danielle LoPresti (born Danielle Marie Lo Preste) is the eldest of three children by San Diego sport-fisherman, Frank Lo Preste [1] and Mary Lou Lo Preste. She was born in Bellflower, CA and raised in San Diego, CA. After she graduated valedictorian from Chula Vista School of the Creative and Performing Arts in 1987, LoPresti accepted a scholarship to United States International University where she studied acting alongside talents such as Jamie Foxx and John Barrowman. She graduated valedictorian from USIU in 1991. [2]

Career

Music

Upon college graduation, LoPresti put her primary focus on music performance. She fronted the San Diego party band, The Fabulous Mar Dels, from 1991 to 1993 before moving to Los Angeles to pursue songwriting. In 1996, LoPresti co-wrote original music for the Universal Studios motion picture, The Nutty Professor, with André Berry and Worthy Davis, including the end-title track, Homework, which she also performed. [3]

LoPresti next collaborated with producer/ composer Richie Rodriguez on her first original project, Stone7, which combined heavy electronic elements with socially-conscious lyrics that tackled subject matter from racism, child abuse, sexism and more. The Stone7 band included Printz Board, George Pajon Jr. and Tim Izo who found success shortly thereafter as members of The Black Eyed Peas. [4] LoPresti's live performances attracted the interest of several major labels. Interscope A&R executive, Tony Ferguson (No Doubt, Eminem), said that "as an artistic performer, (he's) yet to see better." [5] LoPresti was eventually told after several years of major label courtship that the lyrical content of her music proved too much of a risk for labels to sign her.

In 2000, LoPresti hired Producer and Interscope A&R executive, Michael James, to be Executive Producer of her first release under her new indie label, Say It Records. The debut album and title track, Dear Mr. Penis Head, was inspired by a phone call LoPresti had with an entertainment attorney who used 30 minutes of the phone call to list the numerous reasons he believed she should quit making music. Dear Mr. Penis Head caught the attention of indie music pioneer, Ani DiFranco, who called the album one of her favorites of the year. [6]

She formed the band, Danielle LoPresti and The Masses (named after turn-of-the century activist magazine, The Masses ), [7] and has since put out three more full-length albums through the Say It Records label – 22 Mountains (2003), Outloud (2006) and Run With It (2010). LoPresti signed a one album distribution contract for Run With it with Trevino Music Group/ Universal Music Group. [8]

Acting

LoPresti began professionally acting, singing and modeling as a teenager. At the age of 15, she was signed by the Shamon Freitas Talent Agency and began doing runway and print modeling, as well as live acting/ singing/ dancing for a variety of theater and commercial entities.

As a college student she starred in several USIU Professional Company productions including Man of La Mancha (Dulcinea / Aldonza), Hello, Dolly! (Dolly), The Mikado (Katisha), and The Boy Friend (Madame Dubonnet). [9] Out of college, LoPresti took a few minor television roles (screen and voice), [10] before shifting her focus to music and event production exclusively.

San Diego IndieFest

In November 2004, LoPresti produced the first San Diego IndieFest (originally called San Diego Indie Music Fest) with fellow musicians and collaborators, Alicia Champion and Kelly Bowen. The inaugural event featured 25 independent musicians and bands on three stages, headlined by Jonatha Brooke. [11]

The festival continued to grow on an annual basis. In 2007, the event introduced independent film to the program and officially changed its name to San Diego IndieFest. The event has featured hundreds of bands over the last decade including Cake, Metric, Talib Kweli, Best Coast, Semi Precious Weapons, Juliette Lewis, among others.

In 2014, California State Senator, Toni Atkins, said that she "can attest to the singular effect that IndieFest had on the early years of North Park’s renaissance," and that "cross-cultural activities like IndieFest reach across boundaries and strengthen the social fabric of neighborhoods." [12]

Personal life

LoPresti married her partner of ten years, Alicia Champion, in May 2014. [13] The couple have one child whom they adopted at birth through San Diego County Child Welfare Services in 2011. [14]

The couple divorced in 2024.

In 2013, LoPresti was diagnosed with Stage III Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and underwent an eight-month-long treatment regimen. She has been in remission ever since. [15]

Related Research Articles

Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Music Group and Interscope Communications, it differed from most record labels by letting A&R staff control decisions and allowing artists and producers full creative control. Interscope's first hit records arrived in under a year, and it achieved profitability in 1993. Chair and CEO until May 2014, Iovine was succeeded by John Janick.

Queercore is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through magazines, music, writing and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rocket from the Crypt</span> American punk rock band

Rocket from the Crypt is an American punk rock band from San Diego, California, originally active from 1990 to 2005, then active during 2011 and again from 2013 to the present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jayo Felony</span> American rapper

B. James Savage, better known by his stage name Jayo Felony, is an American rapper from San Diego, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliant International University</span> University in San Diego, California, U.S.

Alliant International University is a private for-profit university with its main campus in San Diego, five additional campuses in California and one campus in Phoenix, Arizona. Its enrollment is approximately 4,000 students, of whom 95% are graduate students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Hoyston</span> American producer, vocalist, guitarist

Jenny Hoyston is an American producer, vocalist, guitarist, and trumpeter based in Austin, Texas, United States. She composed, recorded, and toured as part of the San Francisco, California, political punk and no wave band Erase Errata from 1999 to 2015 and records and performs with William Elliott Whitmore as Hallways of Always, with former Erase Errata bandmate Ellie Erickson as Hey Jellie, and as a solo artist, at times under the name Paradise Island. She also co-produces FABULOSA Fest near Yosemite every year since 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Perry</span> American singer-songwriter

Linda Perry is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. She was the lead singer and primary songwriter of 4 Non Blondes, including their 1993 hit "What's Up?". She has since founded two record labels and composed and produced songs for other artists, which include: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera; "What You Waiting For?" by Gwen Stefani; and "Get the Party Started" by Pink. Perry also contributed to albums by Adele, Alicia Keys, and Courtney Love, as well as signing and distributing James Blunt in the United States. Perry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.

The Shambles is an American power pop and rock group from San Diego, California.

Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Oakland and Berkeley areas.

Manual Scan was an American mod and power pop group from San Diego, active between 1981 and 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yolandi Visser</span> South African singer/rapper

Anri du Toit, known professionally as Yolandi Visser, is a South African singer, rapper, and songwriter. She is one of two vocalists in the alternative hip-hop group Die Antwoord, along with Watkin Tudor Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erika Davies</span> American singer-songwriter

Erika Davies, also professionally credited as Miss Erika Davies, is an American jazz vocalist. A San Diego–based performer and singer-songwriter, Davies resides in California and gigs regularly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael James (producer)</span> Musical artist

Michael James is an American record producer, mixing engineer, guitarist, and former A&R executive. James has produced and/or mixed albums for New Radicals, Too Much Joy, Hole, L7, Maia Sharp, and A.J. Croce, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackslacks</span> American drummer

American rockabilly musician, and author, Chris Giorgio aka Jackslacks adapted his stage name from the Sparkletones 1957 hit song "Black Slacks" and is originally from Valley Stream, Long Island, New York and resides in San Diego, California, United States.

<i>Snowflake</i> (2014 film) 2014 film by Francesco Roder

Snowflake is a 2014 Italian short film written and directed by Italian director Francesco Roder and filmed in New York City. The short film stars American actresses Ele Keats and Tracy Middendorf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricky Rebel</span> American singer-songwriter, dancer, musician, and recording artist

Ricky Godinez, known by his stage name Ricky Rebel, is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, musician, and recording artist.

The Verigolds are a San Diego–based indie band blending psychedelic, folk and pop music. They performed at music festivals KAABOO in 2016 and Lightning in a Bottle in 2018. Their music has been featured in The Huffington Post and National Geographic and their album "For Margaret" won Best Indie Album at the San Diego Music Awards in 2017. Also in 2017, The Verigolds released the single "Walk on Water" which was recorded and produced by Ed Stasium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dewey Defeats Truman (band)</span> American indie rock band

Dewey Defeats Truman is an American indie rock band formed in San Diego, California in the late 1990s. From their founding in 1998 until late 2003, the band quickly made a name for itself in the California indie rock scene, sharing the stage with bands The Jesus Lizard, Jimmy Eat World, Archers of Loaf, and Kelley Deal, and performing at such festivals as NXNW in Portland, SXSW in Austin, CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. The band continued to play together until late 2003, when they went on an extended hiatus, before reforming in 2018. The band's name comes from a printing of a Chicago Tribune article of the same name, which incorrectly stated that Thomas E. Dewey had defeated Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election.

United States International University (USIU) was a nonprofit university based in San Diego, California, that was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. At its peak, it had two additional American campuses and three international locations. It was merged into Alliant International University in 2001, which became a for-profit benefit corporation in 2015.

Pacific Records is an American, San Diego, California–based music label founded in 2003 as an independent record label and music publisher. Amongst the labels releases are albums by O-Town, Slack Key Ohana and the Guitar Legends television special soundtracks. Helmed by CEO Brian Witkin, a San Diego–based entertainment attorney, the seeds of Pacific Records were planted in 1999, with the opening of Real2Reel Records, at first in his parents' home before relocating in November 2004 to a shop located inside all-ages music venue "The Epicentre" in San Diego's Mira Mesa neighborhood. The shop initially began releasing music under the Real2Reel name, but soon changed to Pacific Records. While the shop closed in June 2007, Pacific Records continued as a label. Witkin signed both local and national talent from the beginning, including San Diego's Get Back Loretta and Virginia based, Life's Only Lesson. A short time after, the imprint was acquired by Wingnut Media Group, Inc, based in Del Mar, California, soon transferred to Georgi Entertainment, LLC. In 2009 Witkin purchased the company back under the holding company New Pacific Group, currently, Pacific Records, Inc. The label includes in house recording studios, engineering marketing and distribution.

References

  1. ↑ "Heartbreak? That's Fishing. Frustration? That's Fishing. The Good Life? That's Fishing". sandiegoreader.com. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  2. ↑ "VOICE123.com Profile – Danielle LoPresti".
  3. ↑ "The Nutty Professor IMDB". IMDb .
  4. ↑ Easlea, Daryl (October 1, 2012). Let's Get It Started: The Rise & Rise of the Black Eyed Peas. Music Sales Group. ISBN   9780857127952.
  5. ↑ "Indie Music: A World of Flakes, Hooligans, and Sharks". sandiegoreader.com. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Ani Difranco". IMDb. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Main Stage Headliner: Danielle LoPresti". Gay and Lesbian Times. Archived from the original on September 7, 2003. Retrieved October 14, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ↑ "Danielle LoPresti battling stage III non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer". sandiegoreader.com. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ Churin, Nancy (October 7, 1988). "Speaking of Romance". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Danielle LoPresti". IMDb. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Indie backers put money where their Music Fest is | The San Diego Union-Tribune". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  12. ↑ "IndieFest to move to City Heights". The San Diego Union-Tribune. July 16, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Love within the masses – Gay San Diego". gay-sd.com. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Lucian's success story". cbs8.com. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  15. ↑ Macneal, Christina. "Kicking cancer, producing IndieFest: Danielle LoPresti gets personal". LGBT Weekly. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.