After Dinner Speakers: Belinda Carlisle, Freddie & The Dreamers, Ronnie Ancona

Belinda Carlisle was born in the Los Angeles area in 1958. After graduating from high school in 1976 she began frequenting the L.A. club scene, where she met future bandmates Charlotte Caffey, Gina Schock, Jane Wiedlin and Kathy Valentina. Together they formed the Go-Gos in 1978, an all-female power pop band which became one of the most successful new wave acts of the early '80s. By May 1985, however, the band drifted apart and Carlisle went on to a solo career, releasing Belinda on IRS Records in 1986. Thanks to the success of the Go-Gos-like hits "I Feel the Magic," "Mad About You" and "Since You've Gone" Carlisle became a popular solo performer, subsequently signing to MCA Records. Her major-label debut Heaven on Earth established Carlisle as a more mainstream pop singer and spawned the No. 1 single "Heaven Is a Place on Earth." The album went on to earn a Grammy nomination and sell millions of copies. After the release of 1989's hit Runaway Horses and 1991's Live Your Life Be Free Carlisle returned with 1993's Real, released on Virgin. In 1994 Carlisle joined her former bandmates for a short-lived Go-Gos reunion, but returned to solo recording in 1997 with A Woman and a Man, released on ARK 21 Records.