Girl Overboard were a

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 ...

band formed in 1985 as Separate Tables by Lisa Schouw a

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

on lead vocals, Robin Gist on guitar, and Brett McNaughton on keyboards with an expanded line-up, they changed their name. Girl Overboard released two albums: ''Paint a Picture '' (March 1990) and ''Go'' in 1993. The group split up in late 1993.

History

1983-1988: Founding

In 1983, future member of Girl Overboard, Lisa Schouw (born 5 March 1958 – 2 October 2020) joined as a vocalist for a Melbourne band, Pointz, where she worked alongside Robin Gist on guitar. Over two years they changed their name to Short Story, played around the town, and started negotiating a publishing and recording deal with Wheatley Records. However, the band fell apart before being signed. Schouw returned to New Zealand for six months, and returned to Australia to meet Gist and write songs. After auditioning various players they settled on keyboard player, Brett McNaughton, and together the three formed Separate Tables in 1985, initially using a drum machine. Separate Tables' line-up was augmented by Lee Davidson on drums, Dean Hilson on saxophone and Jenny Milroy on backing vocals and percussion. They released an independent single, "Long Dark Night" backed with "Wrap Your Arms Around Me". After a year the band secured a recording deal with

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 ...

/ BMG and were a support act for

John Farnham John Peter Farnham (born 1 July 1949) is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until the mid-1970s, billed as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...

's Jack's Back Tour. They had a management contract with the Neil Clugston Organisation. Separate Tables promoted their single, "When the Word Came Down" (February 1988), by playing entertainment centres, concert halls and pubs around Australia. Their next single "Change My Sex" (May 1988) was largely ignored by radio. John Favaro joined on bass guitar and another single, "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" (February 1989), was released. They performed music for the soundtrack to the 1988 film ''

Hungry Heart "Hungry Heart" is a rock song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, '' The River''. It was released as the album's lead single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first top-five hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at ...

'' in which Schouw also costarred.

1989-1992: ''Paint a Picture''

The band began recording their debut album, ''Paint a Picture'', with producer Ross Fraser at Metropolis Studios in Melbourne. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1989 The Third Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) was held on 6 March 1989 at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney. First Australian host Greedy Smith o ...

Fraser won

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non-classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in ...

for his work on "When the Word Came Down" by Separate Tables, Farnham's ''

Age of Reason The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empiric ...

'' and

the State A state is a political entity that regulates society and the population within a definite territory. Government is considered to form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states. A country often has a single state, with various administrat ...

's "Real Love". At the same ceremony Doug Brady won Engineer of the Year for his work on "Change My Sex" and "When the Word Came Down" by Separate Tables and additional works for other artists. The name changed to Girl Overboard with the release of the next single, "I Can't Believe" (October 1989). Schouw explained to ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

Kathryn Whitfield, why they changed, "We were playing pubs and were making a lot more noise and the name didn't describe the band, we are more emotional more energetic than that, so we became Girl Overboard." Whitfield observed, "Schouw, Gist and McNaughton have worked together on all the band's songs and though they all lean personally toward different musical styles they seem to reach perfect accord on the band's style." "I Can't Believe" was nominated for Breakthrough Artist – Single at

ARIA Music Awards of 1990 The Fourth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) was held on 26 March 1990 at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney. Australian host Glenn Shorrock of ...

. A subsequent single, "The Love We Make" (January 1990), peaked at No. 23 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. They toured Australia to promote ''Paint a Picture'', which reached No. 18 on the ARIA Albums Chart. According to Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the ''Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, "

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

sound was a safe mix of dance pop, light jazz and American-styled hard rock." They followed with a trip to United States and United Kingdom in 1991 to write new material, and "meet with song publishers and our record company." Fraser won another ARIA Award for his production work for Girl Overboard (and other artists) in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1993: ''Go'' and break up

The band's second album, ''Go'' (1993), was recorded with producer, Charles Fisher, who provided an overall sense of cohesion while new drummer, Tony Day, had replaced Davidson. It provided the singles, "Chain of Fools", "Your Love", and "Jackie". ''Go'' and its singles were less successful on the charts and some band members became disillusioned. McFarlane felt, " heyoffered lushly textured pop with Schouw's rich contralto well to the fore." The band broke up late in 1993. Note: last name is incorrectly given as Shouw.

Death

Lead vocalist Schouw died from cancer on 2 October 2020, aged 62 and was honoured at the

ARIA awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

Members

* Lisa Schouw – vocals (d. 2020) * Robin Gist – guitar * Brett McNaughton – keyboards * Lee Davidson – drums (album: Paint a Picture), Tony Day (Album ''Go'') * Jenny Milroy – backing vocals, percussion * John Favaro – bass guitar * Tony Day – drums *

On ''Some Things Never Change''

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Music Videos

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - , rowspan="2",

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, "I Can't Believe" , Breakthrough Artist - Single , , rowspan="2", , - , Doug Brady for "I Can't Believe" by Girl Overboard , Engineer of the Year , , - , rowspan="2",

, "Permanent Friend" , Best Video , , rowspan="2", , - , Ross Fraser for "The Love We Make" by Girl Overboard ,

, , -

References

External links

* * Entry for Lisa Schouw * {{Authority control Australian pop rock groups Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups disestablished in 1993 1985 establishments in Australia 1993 disestablishments in Australia