Lauri Conger is notable primarily as the keyboardist and one of the principal co-writers of most of the songs of

The Parachute Club The Parachute Club was a Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections ex ...

History

Lauri Conger is a native of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

, where she began her professional music career in the 1970s. She received early piano and dance training in

Port Arthur, Ontario Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay. Port Arthur had been the district seat of ...

, prior to its merger into Thunder Bay, and was a graduate of Hillcrest High School.Uncredited
Lauri Conger has left Parachute Club
''

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal ''The Chronicle-Journal'' is the daily newspaper in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Unlike many Canadian newspapers, it does not use the city's name in its masthead. The paper has an average weekday circulation of 17,200. The paper is owned by Con ...

'', July 28, 1987. As archived and summarized in Gateway to Northwestern Ontario History. Retrieved 2016-12-16. Conger moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, where she and

Lorraine Segato Lorraine P. Segato (born June 17, 1956 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave and pop rock group The Parachute Club, with which she continues to pe ...

were members of

Mama Quilla II Mama Quilla II was a Canadian rock band that first performed together in 1977 in Toronto and dissolved in 1982. Although the band recorded only a single EP as Mama Quilla II, after 1982 a revised lineup evolved into the influential pop band Parac ...

. In 1982, Conger and Segato, along with percussionist

Billy Bryans William Taylor Bryans (September 15, 1947 – April 23, 2012) was a Canadian percussionist, songwriter, music producer and DJ, known as one of the founders of The Parachute Club, among other accomplishments in music. As a producer, he worke ...

, formed the nucleus of what would become The Parachute Club. Concurrently, in the early 1980s, Conger was developing a reputation as a solo and duo performer on the Canadian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

circuit. Conger and Lorraine Segato, together with other band members and lyricist

Lynne Fernie Lynne Fernie (born 1946) is a Canadian filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. She spent fourteen years as the Canadian Spectrum programmer for the Hot Docs Festival from 2002 to 2016, and was described as having a passion as "deep as her knowled ...

, wrote of most of the group's songs, including the song for which the group is best known, "Rise Up". Conger was a band member during the production of its three albums, released between 1983 and 1986, but left the group in mid-1987. Her final performance was before the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

and

Duchess of York Duchess of York is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title held by the wife of the duke of York. Three of the eleven dukes of York either did not marry or had already assumed the throne prior to marriage, whilst two of ...

in Toronto. She then trained in Santa Fe, New Mexico to become a

registered massage therapist Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In Eu ...

. She rejoined the band in July, 1988, for what would be its final performances at Toronto's

Ontario Place Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...

.Canadian Pop Encyclopedia
Biography of Parachute Club
www.jam.canoe.ca. Following her departure from the group and despite her significant contributions to music, Conger did not continue in a prominent role as a professional musician or songwriter.

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 The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

*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 BMG may refer to: Organizations * Music publishing companies: ** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 *** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...

; reissued 2006 by

EMI International EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Particulars via www.amazon.com; accessed 09-02-07.

With Other Artists

*1980 Heather Bishop, ''Celebration'' *1980 Rodney Brown, ''When The Bay Turns Blue'' *1981 Mendelson Joe, ''Let's Party'' *1982 Heather Bishop, ''Bellybutton'' (Children's Album) *1982 Heather Bishop, ''I Love Women Who Laugh'' *1985 Soundtrack (with

Michael Beinhorn Michael Beinhorn is a North American record producer, composer, author and musician. He has produced albums for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Hole, Violent Femmes and Marilyn Manson. Career 1977-1983: Early Years, Material, Herbie Hancock ...

), ''Dark Lullabies'' (Director:

Irene Angelico Irene Lilienheim Angelico (born December 9, 1946) is a Canadian film director, producer and writer. Early life Angelico was born in 1946 in Munich. Her parents, survivors of the Vilna Ghetto, emigrated to Canada. She received a BA degree from Sir ...

and Abbey Neidik) (

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

) *1986 Lillian Allen, ''Revolutionary Tea Party'' *1988 Lillian Allen, ''Conditions Critical'' *1988 Soundtrack, ''Calling The Shots'', being profile of

Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...

(Director: Janis Cole and Holly Dale) *1988 Soundtrack, ''Mile Zero: The SAGE Tour'' (Director: Bonnie Sherr Klein) (

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conger, Lauri Canadian singer-songwriters Canadian rock musicians Canadian rock keyboardists Living people Musicians from Thunder Bay Musicians from Toronto The Parachute Club members Year of birth missing (living people)