Lorraine P. Segato (born June 17, 1956, in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

) is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave and

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

group

The Parachute Club The Parachute Club was a Canadian band formed in Toronto in 1982. They released three top 40 hits in Canada between 1983 and 1987, including "Rise Up", "At the Feet of the Moon" and "Love Is Fire" (which featured guest duet vocals from John O ...

, with which she continues to perform.

History

Segato initially became known in the late 1970s as the vocalist in the Toronto rock band Mama Quilla II."Lorraine Segato: Emerging from the Shadows"
'' Music Express'', February 7, 2014. This band formed the core membership of The Parachute Club. The Parachute Club was particularly active in the 1980s, initially breaking up in 1989. Segato co-wrote nearly every song the band released, including all their singles. A reconstituted version of the band, including Segato, commenced performing in 2005 and continued to perform somewhat sporadically through 2014. After the initial break-up of Parachute Club, Segato released a solo album, ''Phoenix'', in 1990. In 1990 she collaborated on the one-off single "Can't Repress the Cause", a plea for greater inclusion of hip hop music in the Canadian music scene, with Dance Appeal, a supergroup of Toronto-area musicians that included

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

Maestro Fresh Wes Wesley "Wes" Williams (born March 31, 1968) is a Canadian rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and author. He is known professionally by his stage names Maestro Fresh Wes (formerly Maestro Fresh-Wes) or Maestro as a musician, and is credited ...

, Dream Warriors, B-Kool,

Michie Mee Michelle Ann Camille McCullock (born November 1, 1970), better known by her stage name Michie Mee, is a Canadian rapper and actress. Canada's first notable female Master of Ceremonies, MC, she is considered a national hip hop music, hip-hop pionee ...

Lillian Allen Lillian Allen (born 5 April 1951) is a Canadians, Canadian dub poetry, dub poet, writer and Juno Award winner. Biography Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, Spanish Town, Jamaica, she left that country in 1969, first moving to New York City, where ...

, Eria Fachin, HDV, Dionne, Thando Hyman, Carla Marshall, Messenjah, Jillian Mendez, Lorraine Scott, Self Defense,

Leroy Sibbles Leroy Sibbles (born Leroy Sibblies, 29 January 1949) is a Jamaican reggae musician and producer. He was the lead singer for The Heptones in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to his work with The Heptones, Sibbles was a session bassist and arra ...

, Zama and Thyron Lee White. Her second solo album, ''Luminous City'', followed in 1998. She has also worked in film production, writing and directing a documentary on

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

's late 1970s/early 1980s

Queen Street West Queen Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original eas ...

scene, ''Queen Street West, The Rebel Zone'', and appearing in the documentary film '' The Pinco Triangle'',"Steelworkers, miners & faggots. Oh my"
''

Daily Xtra ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former p ...

'', May 19, 1999. and as a lecturer and social justice activist. Segato also appeared on the science fiction show ''

Lexx ''Lexx'' (also known as ''LEXX: The Dark Zone Stories'' and ''Tales from a Parallel Universe'') is a science fiction television series created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul Donovan (writer), Paul and Michael Donovan (producer), Michael Dono ...

'', singing a song as the "Time Prophet" on the episode "Brigadoom". She performed " Rise Up" at the

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian politician and academic who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on T ...

on August 27, 2011, supported by the choir of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto."An Anthem to Remember".

CBC News Network CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It is Canada's first all-news channel, and the world's third-oldest television service of this ...

, August 27, 2011. In 2014, the surviving band members released a contemporary dance remix of the song in conjunction with Toronto's hosting of the 2014 edition of

WorldPride WorldPride is a series of international LGBT pride events coordinated by InterPride; they are hosted in conjunction with local LGBT pride festivals, with host cities selected via bids voted on during InterPride's annual general meetings. Its cor ...

."The Parachute Club releases remix version of 'Rise Up'"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', June 23, 2014. Her third solo album, ''Invincible Decency'', was released in 2015. She is also preparing ''Get Off My Dress'', a loosely autobiographical one-woman theatrical play. Segato was one of the people named to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

on December 29, 2022, citing "her contributions to the Canadian music scene and culture as a pioneer in 2SLGBTQI+ Canadian history.""Order of Canada appointees – December 2022"
GG.ca, December 29, 2022.

Personal life

Segato is out as

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

Discography

Singles (Parachute Club)

Albums

With Mama Quilla II

*1982 – ''KKK//Mama Quilla/Angry Young Woman'' Tupperwaros; EP.

With The Parachute Club

*1983 – ''The Parachute Club'' Current/

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

*1984 – ''At the Feet of the Moon'' Current/RCA *1985 – ''Moving Thru the Moonlight'' Current/RCA; remixes *1986 – ''Small Victories'' (1986) Current/RCA *1992 – ''Wild Zone: The Essential Parachute Club'' BMG; reissued 2006 by EMI InternationalParticulars via www.amazon.com; accessed 09-02-07.

Solo

*1990 – ''Phoenix''

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

*1998 – ''Luminous City''

True North True north is the direction along Earth's surface towards the place where the imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface of the Earth on its Northern Hemisphere, northern half, the True North Pole. True south is the direction ...

*2015 – ''Invincible Decency''

References

External links

Lorraine Segato's Official websiteLorraine Segato Website
not updated since 2004
Parachute Club Website/Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Segato, Lorraine 1956 births 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian new wave musicians Canadian women singer-songwriters Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Canadian feminist musicians Women new wave singers Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Canadian LGBTQ singer-songwriters Canadian lesbian musicians Canadian lesbian writers Living people Musicians from Hamilton, Ontario Singers from Ontario Writers from Hamilton, Ontario Singers from Toronto Writers from Toronto Canadian documentary film directors Canadian women film directors 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian women pop singers The Parachute Club members 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian women documentary filmmakers Members of the Order of Canada Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters Lesbian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters Film directors from Hamilton, Ontario