Lian Ross, whose Euro disco hits include “Fantasy,” “It’s up to you,” “Say you’ll never,” “Scratch my name,” “You’re my soul” and others, is performing two upcoming shows this month — on 20 September at R3 Social Lounge in Stanton, Orange County and on 21 September at Red Velvet in
Houston, Texas. Both events will be DJed by DJ BPM and hosted by TQ.
If you’re at all familiar with the European pop scene then you probably suspect that Lian Ross is a stage name — if so then you’re correct. Ross was born Josephine Hiebel, on 8 December 1962 in Hamburg, Germany. Throughout her career, Ross’s partmer both in music and marriage has been Luis Rodriguez-Salazar, himself distinguished by an impressive musical career.
Rodriguez was born in Fuente el Fresno, Ciudad Real, Spain in 1948, and as a young man played bass and guitar in Los Esclavos — a Spanish group who played the clubs of Hamburg, the German city where Rodriguez would later make his home. His first single, “Rose von Valencia” b/w “Es kommt die nacht,” was an Hispano-Teutonic ballad. More solo singles followed but it was as an arranger, co-producer, engineer and mixer (usually employing the pseudonym Bobby To) with artists like Modern Talking and C.C. Catch that Rodriguez would first truly make his mark.
Rodriguez’s wife and collaborator first recorded as Josy, releasing “Do the rock” b/w “What’d you say” and “I know” b/w “Gimme more” (both 1981), and “Mama say” b/w “Stop and go” (1983) for Hamburg’s Master Records.
Her last release on the label was 1984’s “Magic” b/w “Who said you were the one” which also represented the couple’s first collaboration with arranger Fauntleroy Skeete Davis aka “Leroy Skeete.”
In 1985 Hiebel adopted the stage name to Lian Ross and, continuing to work with Rodriguez-Salazar
and Skeete, released “Say you’ll never” and “Fantasy” b/w “Saturday night.” In 1986 Ross released“It’s up to you” and “Neverending love.” In 1987 she released “Oh won’t you tell me” b/w “Reach out” and a cover of Sylvester‘s “Do you wanna funk?” In 1988 she released “Say say say.” In 1989 she released “Feel so good.” During the same period, though uncredited, she contributed vocals to Loco Loco‘s “Hey Mr. DJ,” Chicano‘s “Tengo tengo,” and Don Luis y Compania‘s “Viva el amor.” As was the case with many Euro disco recording artists of the 1980s, Ross/Hiebel spent most of the 1990s lending her vocals to a various dance projects including Bass of Spades, Boom Boom Club, Cherry, Dana Harris, Divina, Dreamscape, Exotica, Happy House, Hi-Q, Jay Jay, Jobel, Joelle, Shona, Stockholm Underground, Tears N’ Joy, Teeko X, and 2 Funky.
During that decade, only 1994’s “Keep this feeling” was credited to Lian Ross.
In 2005, again as Lian Ross, Hiebel released “I wanna” and “Never gonna lose.” That year she also released a collection of hits — The Best of and More was released in 2005. In 2009 she released “Young hearts run free.”
In 2012, Ross and Alan Alvarez released their version of “Minnie The moocher” which was included on her debut album, 2013’s I Got The Beat (Weiss Records).
Tickets (limited to just 200) for the Stanton show are $30 in advance, $35 at the door (order here). More information about the Houston show soon.
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Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, writer, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities — or salaried work. He is not interested in writing advertorials, clickbait, listicles, or other 21st century variations of spam. Brightwell’s written work has appeared in Amoeblog, diaCRITICS, and KCET Departures. His work has been featured by the American Institute of Architects, the Architecture & Design Museum, the Craft & Folk Art Museum, Form Follows Function, Los Angeles County Store, Skid Row Housing Trust, and 1650 Gallery. Brightwell has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Magazine, LAist, Eastsider LA, Boing Boing, Los Angeles, I’m Yours, and on Notebook on Cities and Culture. He has been a guest speaker on KCRW‘s Which Way, LA? and at Emerson College. Art prints of his maps are available from 1650 Gallery and on other products from Cal31. He is currently writing a book about Los Angeles and you can follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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