Luba (singer)

label. A year prior, she had formed a band under her first name, Luba. Their debut album, Chain Reaction, was released on an independent label in 1980 and received only minimal interest outside of their native Montreal.

Breakthrough in Canada

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Luba enjoyed her greatest success in Canada between 1983 and 1987. Capitol-EMI signed her as a solo artist under the mononym Luba in 1982, and she released a self-titled EP that year, followed by the top-40 hit "Every time I See Your Picture" in early 1983. In 1984, Luba issued the album Secrets and Sins. It spawned the singles "Let It Go" and "Storm Before the Calm", both of which reached the Canadian top-40 charts. Luba earned her first Canadian music industry Juno award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1985. Later the same year, she recorded several songs written by Stephen Lunt, Jon Stroll, and Kevin Gillis for the first season of the Canadian cartoon series The Raccoons. Several of these songs were later re-recorded by Lisa Lougheed for use in subsequent seasons. Two of Luba's songs are featured on the 1986 soundtrack to 9½ Weeks, a film starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke In 1986, Luba released Between the Earth & Sky, which included the single "How Many (Rivers to Cross)". This top-20 Canadian hit represented Canada at the 1985 World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan and made the finals. Also in 1986, Luba won her second Juno as Canada's best female vocalist. In 1987, Luba published Over 60 Minutes with Luba, a compilation of her hits with one new track, a live recording of "When a Man Loves a Woman". This track would become her biggest Canadian hit, peaking at number 6 on the RPM top 100. She would cap the year with her third Best Female Vocalist Juno.

All or Nothing; breaking into the US

By 1988, Luba's music was being played mainly in Canada, and her label brought in new management to promote her work in the United States.^{[citation needed]} Her next album, All or Nothing, was recorded over a year and half across seven studios, using various session musicians.^{[citation needed]} Released in the fall of 1989, the album included the singles "Giving Away a Miracle", "No More Words", and "Little Salvation". Her band recorded an acoustic, live-in-the-studio show in Toronto, which was released as Live on Tour in 1990. All or Nothing appeared on the RPM Top 100 chart that year^[4] and reached platinum status in Canada. With few sales in the US, her label then dropped her before the end of the year.^{[citation needed]}

Withdrawal from music

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During the 1990s, Luba experienced both professional and personal problems that resulted in her withdrawing from the music industry. In 1990, her marriage to band drummer and manager Peter Marunzak ended in divorce. Following her release from Capitol Records, she struggled to land a contract with another major record label. Her grandmother and then her mother both died, while her sister and only relative left in Canada, developed multiple sclerosis that required intensive care. Finally, Luba felt she was missing out on a "regular" life from years of long hours in the music industry. Altogether, she decided to put her career on hold and focus on other priorities. Luba's most notable performance during the 1990s was as the featured halftime performer at the 1991 Grey Cup game in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Return to music

The latest album by Luba, From the Bitter to the Sweet, was released in 2000 on her own label, Azure Music. While it won some critical acclaim and produced the top-30 single "Is She a Lot Like Me?", it did not match the sales or radio airplay of her earlier work. At year's end, Luba was featured in a concert performance on a Canadian program entitled An Evening with the Stars, where she sang both new and old material.^{[citation needed]}

Two new songs by Luba appeared on a member music page of the popular social networking site MySpace. One was a ballad called "Heaven", and the other, more upbeat, was titled "Time".^[5]

Luba moved from Canada in mid-2007 and currently lives in Anguilla.^{[citation needed]}

On 18 February 2014, a new compilation album called ICON was released by Universal Music Canada.^[6] It contains remastered versions of hits from her albums Secrets and Sins, Between the Earth & Sky, All or Nothing, and From the Bitter to the Sweet, as well as the track "Heaven". In August of that year, she performed her first live concert in fourteen years, at the Fierté Montréal festival.^[6]

Awards

Luba remains one of the more successful female artists in Canadian music history.^[6] Her three consecutive Juno awards for Female Vocalist of the Year put her in select company: only Anne Murray (9) and Celine Dion (6) have won more.^[6]

Discography

Singles

Other songs

• "Ain't No Planes" (1985) – from the cartoon series The Raccoons
• "Hang On, Hold On" (1985) – from The Raccoons
• "All Life Long" (1985) – duet with Curtis King Jr., from The Raccoons
• "Here I Go Again" (1985) – duet with Curtis King Jr., from The Raccoons
• "Keeping Track" (1987) – duet with Dorian Sherwood, appears in the 1987 movie of the same name

References