Danielle Brisebois

Danielle Anne Brisebois (born June 28, 1969) is an American producer, singer-songwriter and former child actress. She is most recognized for her role as Stephanie Mills on the sitcoms All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award), as well as playing Molly in the original Broadway production of the musical Annie.

In the 1990s she recorded two solo albums, Arrive All Over You and Portable Life, and was a member of the New Radicals and contributed to writing the songs for the album Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. She has written or co-written a number of songs, including Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten", and "Pocketful of Sunshine".

In January 2015, Brisebois and writing partner Gregg Alexander were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "Lost Stars" from the film Begin Again.

Early life and acting career

Brisebois was born on June 28, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Mary and Frank Brisebois, a computer instructor. She is of French-Canadian and Italian descent.^[1] She began her career as a child actress appearing in her first movie, The Premonition (1976), at the age of seven. In 1977, she appeared in an episode of Kojak and began starring in the original Broadway cast of Annie as the youngest of the orphans, Molly. (Jay-Z later sampled a clip of Brisebois from Annie for his song "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)".) In the late 1970s, she joined the cast of All in the Family later also starring in its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place in the early 1980s. She was nominated for six Young Artist Awards from 1980 to 1984, winning two; in 1981 as Best Young Actress in a TV Special for Mom, the Wolfman and Me and in 1982 as Best Young Actress in a Television Series for Archie Bunker's Place. In 1982 she was also nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, again for Archie Bunker's Place.^[2]

Brisebois appeared in several episodes of Battle of the Network Stars and Circus of the Stars in the early 1980s and played the daughter of William Devane's character on Knots Landing in the series' fifth season. In the late 1980s, she had several single-episode appearances in various TV series, including Hotel; Mr. Belvedere; Murder, She Wrote; Tales from the Darkside; and Days of Our Lives. In 2005, she ranked number 50 of VH1's 100 Greatest Kid Stars.^[3]

Music career

Brisebois began her career as a recording artist in the early 1990s by providing backing vocals on Intoxifornication, the 1992 album by rock singer Gregg Alexander; this marked the beginning of a long-standing collaboration with Alexander, who co-wrote, produced and sang on her first solo album Arrive All Over You in 1994. Despite a disappointing commercial performance in U.S, the album became a minor hit in Europe. Arrive All Over You performed well critically and continues to maintain a cult following. Mackenzie Wilson of Allmusic described the album as "an earnest and impressive effort ... [that] went largely unnoticed during the reign of gangsta rap and grunge" and compared it favourably to Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill.^[4] Her cover of "Gimme Little Sign" was a minor hit in Europe.

In 1998, Brisebois became a member of Alexander's New Radicals group, who scored their greatest successes with the hit single "You Get What You Give" and the million-selling album Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. She provided distinctive female vocals to the group's sound on tracks such as "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough" and "Jehovah Made This Whole Joint For You". Alexander quickly disbanded the group in 1999, but went on to produce and co-write Brisebois' second solo album, Portable Life, which was originally scheduled to be released on October 26, 1999. Promotional copies of the album and the single "I've Had It" were distributed, reviews appeared in the press and an "I've Had It" video was even shot, but for unknown reasons RCA Records cancelled the release at the last minute. The album was delayed until September 30, 2008, when it was released as a digital download via iTunes and Amazon.com. A compilation album of Arrive All Over You-era tracks, entitled Just Missed the Train, was later released through Sony BMG on September 26, 2006.

Brisebois has written and produced numerous songs for various other artists, including Carly Smithson, Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Paula Abdul and Kylie Minogue. She co-wrote Natasha Bedingfield's Top 10 hits "Unwritten" and "Pocketful of Sunshine", and "Stamp Your Feet" for Donna Summer. In November 2008, she reunited with Alexander, former New Radicals guitarist Rusty Anderson and producer Rick Nowels as The Not So Silent Majority. She sang lead vocals on their song "Obama Rock", supporting the election of Barack Obama. In 2009, she also had two songs on Leona Lewis' album Echo including "Alive" and "Let It Rain". Later that year, Danielle won big at the BMI Awards, both in the US and UK, with "Pocketful of Sunshine" including two of the top awards, the Robert S. Musel award for Song of the Year and the College Song of the Year, as well as a third award for Film and Television for "Unwritten".

In 2012, Brisebois co-write the Halestorm's song "Here's To Us", which was featured on the season finale of Glee. Her recent credits also include co-writing the song "Forward" with Gregg Alexander, Nick Lashley and Fred Golding for President Obama's re-election campaign.

She also co-wrote songs for John Carney's (writer, director of Oscar and eight Tony award winning Once) the 2014 feature film Begin Again starring Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld and James Corden. The song Lost Stars was nominated for a 2015 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Personal life

Brisebois is married to producer/songwriter and guitar player Nick Lashley. She has twin daughters Charlotte and Lola Lashley, born in December 2013.

Filmography

Discography

Albums

• Arrive All Over You (1994)
• Portable Life (1999, released in 2008)

Compilations

• Just Missed the Train (2006)

Singles

• "What If God Fell From The Sky" (1994, 188# (Australia charts)
• "Gimme Little Sign" (1995, #75 UK charts; #23 Swedish charts; #51 German charts)^[5]
• "I Don't Wanna Talk About Love" (1995)
• "I've Had It" (1999, promotional single only)

Songwriting credits

Awards and nominations

Awards won

• 1981 Young Artist Award – Best Young Actress in a TV Special; for Mom, the Wolfman and Me
• 1982 Young Artist Award – Best Young Actress in a Television Series; for Archie Bunker's Place
• 2009 BMI – The Robert S. Musel Award; for "Pocketful of Sunshine"
• 2009 BMI – College Song; for "Pocketful of Sunshine"
• 2009 BMI – Pop Award; for "Pocketful of Sunshine"
• 2009 BMI – Cable Award; The Hills

Nominations

• 1980 Young Artist Award – Best Juvenile Actress in a TV Series or Special; for All in the Family
• 1981 Young Artist Award – Best Young Actress in a Television Series; for Archie Bunker's Place
• 1982 Golden Globe Award – Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV; for Archie Bunker's Place
• 1983 Young Artist Award – Best Young Actress in a Television Series; for Archie Bunker's Place
• 1984 Young Artist Award – Best Young Actress in a Television Series; for Archie Bunker's Place
• 2015 Academy Award – Best Original Song; for "Lost Stars" from Begin Again.

References

External links

• Danielle Brisebois at the Internet Movie Database
• Danielle Brisebois at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Danielle Brisebois at TV.com
• "Don't Wanna Talk About Love", "What If God Fell From The Sky" and "Gimme Little Sign" music videos (via AOL Music)