Lisa Coleman

Most people will draw a blank when you mention the name Lisa Coleman. That is, until you remind them that she is one half of Wendy & Lisa, the musical duo that spun off from Prince's backing band The Revolution, and is rounded out by guitarist Wendy Melvoin. ,Coleman was a 19-year-old shipping clerk and piano teacher when Prince asked her to join his band during a tour where she was helping out Melvoin during pre-concert sound checks. Melvoin and Coleman stayed with the diminutive musician up through 1986, when, depending on whom you believe, they were either dismissed or quit the band. They reemerged the following year as Wendy & Lisa, releasing and touring behind a self-titled debut. Having worked on Prince's "Parade," an album that also served as the soundtrack to the 1986 motion picture "Under the Cherry Moon," it wasn't surprising that Wendy & Lisa eventually moved in the direction of scoring films and television shows. The duo's first major project was composing the soundtrack for the 1995 biopic "Dangerous Minds" with other jobs quickly following. While they have worked on the music for other movies including "Juwanna Mann" and the film version of "Soul Food," television has provided the steadiest opportunities and the biggest accolades. Wendy and Lisa have won ASCAP Awards for their contributions to "Crossing Jordan," "Carnivale," and "Heroes" while "Nurse Jackie" earned them a 2010 Emmy for "Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music."