Lavender Diamond is an American,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

-based band, fronted by singer Becky Stark. Becky Stark at NFF

History

While living in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, Stark began performing as Lavender Diamond in a play that she and puppeteer Xander Marro wrote, created and toured with called ''Birdsongs of the Bauharoque'' inspired by the work of artist Paul Laffoley. A self-produced CD of Stark's songs accompanied the tour in a hand-sewn,

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...

ed sleeve. Lavender Diamond became a duo and eventually a four-piece band after Stark relocated to Los Angeles. With the help of local patrons Brian Kaneda and Josh Scuteri, Lavender Diamond self-released a four-song EP and performed at L.A.'s

ArthurFest ArthurFest was a two-day music festival curated by Arthur Magazine. The festival took place September 4 and 5, 2005 at the Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles, California. The lineup included such acts as: Yoko Ono, Sonic Youth, The Black Keys, Modey ...

, at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and at the

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

New Music Seminar in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 2006 Lavender Diamond signed to Rough Trade Records in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, and

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apar ...

in the U.S., and toured and performed with

The Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy (lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...

for three weeks. In 2007 the band released its first full-length album, ''

Imagine Our Love ''Imagine Our Love'' is a studio album by the Los Angeles-based folk band Lavender Diamond. It was released in May 2007 by Matador Records. Track listing #"Oh No" – 3:47 #"Garden Rose" – 5:04 #"Open Your Heart" – 3:11 #"Side of the Lord" ...

'' and appeared on the Madonna tribute/

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

record, ''

Through the Wilderness ''Through the Wilderness'' is a tribute album with contributions from a variety of artists dedicated to American singer Madonna. It was released on November 27, 2007, by Los Angeles-based Manimal Vinyl Records. According to label head Paul Beah ...

.'' In 2009 they covered "Purple Rain" for

SPIN Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps) is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. Histor ...

's tribute to Prince's "Purple Rain". The band parted ways with Matador and went on hiatus for a few years while its members continued to work and play in other projects. In 2011, the original Lavender Diamond lineup reunited for a few concerts in the Los Angeles area, and in 2012 released their second album, '' Incorruptible Heart''. Rege furnishes Lavender Diamond with all of its artwork.

Members

* Becky Stark —

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Steve Gregoropoulos —

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

* Ron Regé Jr. — drums, artwork *

Jeffrey Rosenberg Lavender Diamond is an American, Los Angeles-based band, fronted by singer Becky Stark. History While living in Providence, Rhode Island, Stark began performing as Lavender Diamond in a play that she and puppeteer Xander Marro wrote, created a ...

—

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

Former members

* Devon Williams —

* Jeff Kwong —

Discography

Albums

* ''Artifacts Of The Winged'' 12-song solo CD ( 2003, self-released) * ''

'' full-length album (2007) * '' Incorruptible Heart'' full-length album (2012) * '' "Now Is The Time" ''full-length album (2020)

Singles and EPs

* "When Are You Coming Home?" b/w "Wild" ( 2003, self-released) * ''Themepark Ashtray'' 7" with Vague Angels (2004, Pretty Activity) * ''Cavalry of Light'' EP ( 2005, self-released) * "Christmas Time Celebration / The Song Of Impossible Occurrences" 7" with The Queens of Sheeba, Devendra Banhart (2005, Cold Sweat records) * ''Open Your Heart'' EP ( 2007, Rough Trade Records, with

Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acoust ...

) * "Everybody's Heart's Breaking Now" (2012, Paracadute)

Compilation appearances

* ''Hen House Studios Anthology 3, 2003'', performing "Lavender Diamond- Emptiness is a Conductor" (2003, Hen House Studios) * ''

'' a tribute to Madonna performing ''Like A Prayer'' (2007,

Manimal Vinyl Manimal Vinyl is a Los Angeles-based record label founded in 2006 by film/TV producer, composer and former fashion editor Paul Gebser-Beahan. History The label was started out of Beahan's living room in late 2006 in the historical Hancock Park ...

Records) * ''Purplish Rain: A 25th Anniversary Tribute to Prince's Purple Rain'', performing ''Purple Rain'' (2009,

) * '' The Switch (Music from the Motion Picture)'', performing "Open Your Heart" (2010,

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

) * The soundtrack of game Space Ducks, performing ''Moment of Laughter'' (2012)

Mystical Unionists (Becky Stark and Ron Regé)

* ''An Introduction to The Mystical Union of Souls'' 5-song CD * ''"Sketches" for The Craft of Consciousness'' 7"

References

External links

Rolling Stone

Arthur Magazine

New Yorker

L.A. Weekly

Boston Globe

ABC News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavender Diamond American folk musical groups Indie rock musical groups from California Matador Records artists Musical groups from Los Angeles New Weird America Rough Trade Records artists