Born on August 17: Belinda Carlisle, former singer of the Go-Go's still has the beat

This may make some people snigger, but it was in Hollywood and nowhere else that the former Go-Go's singer was born in 1958. And California continues to be close to her heart...

The eldest of seven children, it's hard to say that her childhood resembled the fairy tales so beloved by American cinema. Her father abandoned the family home when she was barely five years old, and her relationship with her stepfather seems to have been extremely strained. At 19, she decided to strike out on her own to try to realize her own dreams in music.

After a few brief stints (including one as a drummer in a punk band), in 1978 she founded what would become the Go-Go's with a group of equally inexperienced friends. Initially, they called themselves The Misfits. You couldn't make it up!

In a music industry that is, after all, very macho and male-dominated, the Go-Go's' adventure can also be read, implicitly, as an ode to feminism. Until then, particularly in the 1960s with The Supremes or The Shirelles, female groups remained under the thumb of a male manager and/or producer. Under the leadership of the eccentric Kim Fowley, the Runaways, who emerged around the same time, had absolutely no control over their careers.

The Go-Go's' carefree pop and acid melodies will probably never be dissected in universities, but the five girls hold some landmark records. With three albums from 1981 to 1984 (and a few short nostalgic reunions thereafter), they enabled the artistic emancipation of women. In 1981, their debut album, "The Beauty and the Beat" (featuring the hits "Our Lips Are Sealed," co-written with Terry Hall, ex-Specials, and "We Got the Beat") topped the Billboard charts in the United States for six weeks. It was the first time a female group had reached that position.

Always heavily inspired by her native California, only her first two solo albums, "Belinda" (1986) and "Heaven On Earth" (1987), boasted notable hits like "Circle In The Sand," "Heaven Is A Place On Earth," and "Mad About You." She is now more popular in Australia than in her native country. On August 29, 2025, she will release her ninth studio album, the aptly titled "Once Upon A Time In California."

Upcoming concerts:

September 3: Cirque Royal - Brussels (Belgium)

September 9: Usher Hall - Edinburgh (Scotland)

September 10: Royal Concert Hall - Glasgow (Scotland)

September 12: Eventim Apollo - London (England)

Photo : Belinda Carlisle avec The Go-Go’s sur le plateau de l’émission télé "Génération 80" à Bruxelles (Belgique) le 30 octobre 1982