Lisa Anne Loeb was raised in Dallas and formed a duo called Liz and Lisa with school classmate Duncan Sheik. They released two albums, "Liz and Lisa" and "Liz and Lisa - Days Were Different", meanwhile Loeb was hawking around a CD of her solo acoustic numbers called "The Purple Tape". Her big break came in 1994, when an actor friend gave a copy of her song "Stay (I Missed You)" to Ben Stiller, the director of a film he was working on. The track was soon released under the name "Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories", and a Billboard number one and an era of pop music which nobody called The Loeb Dynasty had begun.

"Stay"'s parent album "Tails" 'spawned' more hits in the US in "Do You Sleep?", "Waiting For Wednesday" and "Taffy". My favourite Lisa Loeb song is "Taffy". Meanwhile "Stay" lingered round the UK Top 10 like a bastard.

Lisa's parties were "girls only"

In 1997, Loeb's second major-label album "Firecracker" was released, but with diminished aclaim. She had a modest radio hit with "I Do" and some dreary soundtrack songs, but "Firecracker" failed to get past a gold disc. Dame Success had linked arms with Dame Hit and skipped out the building.

In 2000 (three years later, natch), she was on an Ozzy Osbourne tribute album before the "Cake and Pie" album was recorded. This was then delayed until 2002, when nobody could be arsed to promote it. Loeb was soon dropped like a hot brick.

Stubborn as a mule, she bought the album masters herself and re-released in on Artemis Records as "Hello Lisa". Alas, it was still not a big hit. Face it love, it was a dud.

Cake and Pie - just let it go!

In 2003 she released a children's album and then moved to Zoe/Rounder label (LOST!) for her fifth album "The Way It Really Is". She promoted it by gate crashing the David Letterman show, topless and carrying a baby seal, to the horror of middle-America.
 

In January 2004 her first reality show "Dweezil and Lisa" aired, she also contributed to a smattering of films (including "The Rugrats Movie", didn't they all!) and played Mary Jane Watson in "Spider Man: The New Animated Series".

Loeb - fawns like her

In 2006, she got a major reality show "#1 Single" on the E! Network (home of top twink-fest "House of Carters") to chronicle her "quest for love, family and success". "I decided to do it because what I do as a musician and songwriter is connect to an audience, so why not take that to another level?" she parped. Not for the cash, then.
 

Apparently singer Laura Veirs has been called "a poor man's Lisa Loeb". It's like a TV presenter being called "the poor man's Konnie Huq".

The topless and with a baby seal thing was made up to make her seem more interesting.
 

The "Cherries" EP is out now on Itunes, a rarities collection that includes "Life Is Like A Bowl Of Cherries".

Then there's the inevitable...

"The literary Loeb also penned the album’s liner notes." it says on her website. Bloody hell, you don't need to be Shakespeare, love.

You could be wearing this hideous "spaghetti strap tank" thing if you visit the official site.

www.lisaloeb.com

There's a forum where you can ask Lisa questions. Fascinating sample offerings include "How did you make your music videos?", "Are you against the cruelty of animals?" (er... she ain't gonna say no is she) and "Will you come and see The Police with me in Tampa?". Imagine if she turned up, wearing a Sting T-Shirt and humming "Don't Stand (So Close To Me)". Just imagine.

She's wretched!

Lisa, yesterday. At a loose end.