Linda Perry: ‘I’ve been behind the scenes for too long’

Anyone who has not yet reached the age of forty has most likely never heard of 4 Not Blondesa female band led by the guitarist and singer Linda Perryassisted by Christa Hillhouse on bass and, in the early days, by the guitarist Shaunna Hall and the drummer Wanda Daythen replaced respectively by Roger Rocha And Dawn Richardson. The group, originally from San Francisco, was formed in 1989 and disbanded only five years later. In between only one album, released in 1992, “Bigger, Better, Faster, More!” and, above all, “What’s Up?”a hit that hit the charts around the world.

The experience is over 4 Not Blondes Linda Perry she started a solo career which led her to release albums “In flight” (1996) e “After hours” (1999). Then, together with Tony Tornayin 2011, gave birth to Deep Dark Robots who lived just long enough to release the album “8 Songs About a Girl”. In all these years Linda hasn’t sat around with her arms crossed enjoying life, she has in fact built a prestigious career as an author by writing songs for Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Courtney Love, Kelly Osbourne and for ours too Giusy Ferreri (“The Staircase”, “Heart absent” from the album “Gaetana” (read the review here) in 2008 co-signing four songs included in “The Wait” (laws here is the review) of 2014). In 2015 her work as an author was recognized at the highest levels with election to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Coming to the present day, it is news from a couple of months ago that Linda Perryafter over 25 years will release a new solo album on May 8th. The title of the album, “Let it die here”is borrowed from the documentary “Linda Perry: Let It Die Here”directed by the director Don Hardywhich tells who he is Linda Perry. The film will be screened in US cinemas this May, and will subsequently also be available in streaming. The first extract of the album is “Beautiful”a song written by Perry some time ago and brought to success by Christina Aguilera in 2002.

After years in which he favored other activities in the musical field – production and composition, above all – a Linda Perry the desire to go on stage again and compete in front of an audience seems to have returned. In fact, last year she reunited with i 4 Not Blondes – Christa Hillhouse, Dawn Richardson And Roger Rocha – for the first time in over 33 years. A dozen or so concerts with no apparent commitment, just to make her declare: “I tested the waters. Playing a few songs with 4 Non Blondes just seemed like a fun thing to do, in a way that it had never been before. I’ve been behind the scenes for too long. I want to come out and be the artist that I am. I’m open to all the possibilities that I’ve created around me.”

That “I’ve been behind the scenes for too long” sounds sweetly threatening, who knows if it opens up to a future that at the moment is tinged with soloist hues, with the release of a new album of hers that has been awaited for 27 years. But nothing prevents us from hoping, always with regards to very long waits, for an album, it would only be the second of the 4 Not Blondeswhich has been missing since 1992. Whatever happens, it is right to wish one of the protagonists of the first part of the nineties a welcome return.