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Lisa Stansfield facts: Singer's age, husband, children, songs and more revealed

2 February 2021, 18:04 | Updated: 8 February 2022, 17:07

Lisa Stansfield is one of the most successful singers of her generation, selling millions of records around the world since bursting onto the scene in the 1980s.

Lisa first found fame after winning the Search for a Star competition in 1980, but it wasn't until her vocals appeared on the 1989 dance hit 'People Hold On' by Coldcut that she became a pop force.

The same year, her solo single 'All Around the World' became an international number one hit, and has since sold over 20 million records worldwide, won numerous awards, and released her eighth studio album Deeper in 2018.

Read more: Remembering Lisa Stansfield's amazing forgotten duet with Barry White

Lisa has also had a successful acting career, appearing in films such as The Edge of Love, Swing and Northern Soul .

But where is Lisa from and what are her biggest hits? Here's all the important facts about the talented star:

How old is Lisa Stansfield?

Lisa Stansfield was born on April 11, 1966. She celebrated her 54th birthday in 2020.

She was born in Manchester to parents Marion and Keith Stansfield. She also has two sisters, Karen and Suzanne.

Lisa grew up listening to soul music, and it was her mother's love for records by Diana Ross and the Supremes that was her first musical influence.

Is Lisa Stansfield married and does she have any children?

In 1987, Lisa Stansfield married Italian designer Augusto Grassi, who she met during a holiday in Tunisia.

The couple moved to Zagarolo in Italy, but their marriage only lasted four months.

After years of friendship and a long engagement, Lisa then married Ian Devaney in 1998.

Lisa Stansfield does not have any children. Speaking about starting a family in 2018, Lisa told The Sun: "I was happy to carry on without children because I was completely immersed in my work and my career.

"I only heard the clock ticking in my late 30s, and when my mother Marion died the year I turned 40 it hit me with such a force that we ended up having IVF, which turned out to be unsuccessful.

I take my hat off to anyone who’s been through that. After the third round of IVF I knew I couldn’t do any more as it was so physically and emotionally exhausting for both of us.

"You really have to want it with everything you have. I just didn’t."

What are Lisa Stansfield's biggest songs?

Lisa Stansfield - All Around the World (Official Video)

Among Lisa's most famous songs include:

- All Around the World

- People Hold On (with Coldcut)

- Live Together

- In All the Right Places

Lisa Stansfield - This Is The Right Time (US Version)

- This is the Right Time

- The Real Thing

- You Can't Deny It

- All Woman

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Lisa Stansfield: how we made All Around the World

‘We were nervous about how Barry White would react since the spoken intro was unashamed pastiche. But he ended up rerecording it as a duet’

Lisa Stansfield, singer, songwriter

I met my husband Ian [Devaney] in school when I was 14 and he was 15; we formed a band with Andy Morris, who played trumpet in the school band. We called ourselves Blue Zone and were like three little terriers, getting on the train to London and bugging record companies until someone took notice.

Ian and Andy did the horns on Coldcut ’s first album, and I sang a song with them called My Telephone . After hours we all went back in to the studio to see if we could come up with anything together, and the result was People Hold On , a massive hit. Because everyone said it would look clumsy with two bands’ names on, it was released as “Coldcut featuring Lisa Stansfield”. When we went back to our own music, they said, “Well everyone knows you as Lisa Stansfield now” and that was the end of Blue Zone. But I wanted my mates with me, even though it was my name on the record. That triangle of people was very strong.

All Around the World was something we wrote together. I came into the studio, and Ian was messing around at the piano. He had a melody, and I just started singing: “Been around the world and I, I, I…” Everyone laughed but Ian said, “Wait, it’s really good, that.” It just came into my head – it was nonsense, but had a really good feel to it. “I, I, I” became the main hook. We’d no idea how massive it would become.

I was the first white British woman to reach No 1 on the R&B chart – the American black music chart. I remember sitting in a hotel room reading all the different charts around the world and just going: “Fucking hell!” All Around the World was top of most. Over the years, a lot of people have told me the song helped them through a difficult period. That’s beautiful, to know you’ve helped someone in that way. The song literally took us around the world, four times. I suppose you have to be careful what you sing, because you might have to do it.

Ian Devaney, songwriter, producer

Blue Zone was signed to an indie label, then Arista bought the label, so we ended up on a major by accident. We made a mainstream pop record and they needed a B-side, so we knocked out this song called Big Thing in an eight-track studio behind Lisa’s mum and dad’s house. It was more soul than pop, and got more attention than the rest of the record. The label asked if we had any other songs like that, so we played them All Around the World.

The song came together really quickly. Once Lisa had all the lyrics down and I’d done a basic track with Andy, the whole vocal was two takes: one lead vocal and one take for single harmony. She just went in and sang it. The vocals from that original eight-track recording are what’s on the global hit. We put real strings on it at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, but otherwise it was all low-budget and DIY. It’s hilarious, really.

The song’s hugely influenced by Barry White. He was ridiculed in the disco era [as “the walrus of love”], but we really respected him as a soul artist. The album version of his single Let the Music Play has a spoken intro that goes on for about a minute and a half. So on All Around the World, we did a shorter spoken intro as an unashamed pastiche or tribute. We were nervous about what he might say about it, but he was very sweet. We met him several times, and Lisa and Barry really got on and rerecorded it as a duet .

The lyrics – about searching the world for an estranged lover – aren’t from personal experience. Lisa tends to make up stories and she’s good at putting herself in someone else’s shoes. If you write down “been around the world and I, I, I, I can’t find my baby” it sounds nonsensical, but there’s obviously something that connects emotionally. It leapt out to other people far more than it did to us. For us, it was one song in a group of five that we thought were good. But as soon as our manager, Jazz Summers , heard it, he went: “That’s it!”

Lisa Stansfield tours the UK from 21 October until 1 November.

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Lisa Stansfield

• Born April 11 , 1966 · Rochdale, Lancashire, England, UK
• Birth name Lisa Jane Stansfield
• Height 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
• Lisa Stansfield was born on April 11, 1966 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress and composer, known for Indecent Proposal (1993) , The Bodyguard (1992) and Money Talks (1997) . She has been married to Ian Devaney since July 25, 1998. She was previously married to Augusto Grassi .
• Spouses Ian Devaney (July 25, 1998 - present) Augusto Grassi (1987 - 1987) (divorced)
• Deep husky voice
• Was the only Caucasian recording artist to have a #1 hit, let alone three, on the Billboard R & B chart during the 1990's. (The songs were "All Around The World", "You Can't Deny It", and "All Woman".) Fifteen years would pass before the next artist, Robin Thicke, would top the R & B chart.
• She's a pop singer. 1989 - achieved no. 1 with "All Around The World", 1993 - a no. 1 with George Michael , Queen with "Five Live EP", 1997 - hits with "The Real Thing" and "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up".
• Turned down the chance to record "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You", which subsequently became a huge international hit for Bryan Adams.
• Husband, Ian Devaney , is her music co-writer.The couple have known each other since they were 14-year-old classmates. They formed a writing partnership and band together with another school friend, Andy Morris, but it took 10 years for Lisa and Ian to realise their true feelings for each other.
• Sold her pink Victorian mansion for almost $9m in 2008, a home she'd lived in for 14 years. Located in the picturesque Dublin suburb of Dalkey on Ireland's east coast, Stansfield's neighbors over the years have included Enya , U2's Bono , Patsy Kensit , Simple Minds ' Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill , F1 drivers Damon Hill and Eddie Irvine , etc.
• "One of the first things I remember is my mum doing the housework to The Supremes. When you hear music like that when you're young, it stays with you" - on her growing up.

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Lisa Stansfield

Known most for the global pop hit "All Around the World," a sophisticated, soul-inspired singer with broad appeal spanning decades.

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