Lavender Diamond is an American,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

-based band, fronted by singer

Becky Stark Becky Stark is an American artist, singer, songwriter and entertainer from Los Angeles, California. She is the voice of the band Lavender Diamond. Career Becky Stark has performed extensively as a solo artist and leader of the Lavender Diamond b ...

Becky Stark at Newport Folk Festival in 2008

History

While living in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, Stark began performing as Lavender Diamond in a play that she and

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

Xander Marro wrote, created and toured with called ''Birdsongs of the Bauharoque'' inspired by the work of artist Paul Laffoley. A self-produced CD of Stark's songs accompanied the tour in a hand-sewn,

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen in a "flood stroke" ...

ed sleeve. Lavender Diamond became a duo and eventually a four-piece band after Stark relocated to Los Angeles. With the help of local patrons Brian Kaneda and Josh Scuteri, Lavender Diamond self-released a four-song EP and performed at L.A.'s ArthurFest, at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

in Austin, Texas, and at the

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

New Music Seminar in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Lavender Diamond signed to

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City ap ...

in the U.S., and toured and performed with

The Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, formed in 2000. The band consists of Colin Meloy (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion, backing vocals ...

for three weeks. In 2007 the band released its first full-length album, ''

Imagine Our Love ''Imagine Our Love'' is a studio album by the Los Angeles–based folk band Lavender Diamond. It was released in May 2007 by Matador Records. Track listing #"Oh No" – 3:47 #"Garden Rose" – 5:04 #"Open Your Heart" – 3:11 #"Side of the Lord ...

'' and appeared on the

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

tribute/

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

record, ''

Through the Wilderness Adpositions are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositions (which precede their complemen ...

.'' In 2009 they covered "Purple Rain" for

SPIN Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps as ''SPIN'') is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. ...

's tribute to Prince's '' Purple Rain''. The band parted ways with Matador and went on hiatus for a few years while its members continued to work and play in other projects. In 2011, the original Lavender Diamond lineup reunited for a few concerts in the Los Angeles area, and in 2012 released their second album, ''

Incorruptible Heart ''Incorruptible Heart'' is the second full-length album by the Los Angeles-based band Lavender Diamond, released in September 2012 as a vinyl LP, compact disc and digital download. It received generally favorable critical reviews. Background T ...

''. Bandmember/cartoonist Ron Rege Jr. furnishes Lavender Diamond with all of its artwork.

Members

—

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Steve Gregoropoulos —

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Ron Regé Jr. Ron Regé Jr. (born December 5, 1969, in Quincy, Massachusetts) is an American Alternative comics, alternative cartoonist and musician. He has published a number of graphic novels and was a regular contributor to the ''Kramers Ergot'' anthology; ...

—

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, artwork *

Jeffrey Rosenberg Lavender Diamond is an American, Los Angeles-based band, fronted by singer Becky Stark. History While living in Providence, Rhode Island, Stark began performing as Lavender Diamond in a play that she and puppeteer Xander Marro wrote, created ...

—

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Former members

* Devon Williams —

* Jeff Kwong —

Discography

Albums

* ''Artifacts Of The Winged'' 12-song solo CD (

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, self-released) * ''

'' full-length album (2007) * ''

'' full-length album (2012) * '' "Now Is The Time" ''full-length album (2020)

Singles and EPs

* "When Are You Coming Home?" b/w "Wild" (

, self-released) * ''Themepark Ashtray'' 7" with Vague Angels (2004, Pretty Activity) * ''Cavalry of Light'' EP (

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, self-released) * "Christmas Time Celebration / The Song Of Impossible Occurrences" 7" with The Queens of Sheeba, Devendra Banhart (2005, Cold Sweat records) * ''Open Your Heart'' EP (

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, with

Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band the Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acousti ...

) * "Everybody's Heart's Breaking Now" (2012, Paracadute)

Compilation appearances

* ''Hen House Studios Anthology 3, 2003'', performing "Lavender Diamond- Emptiness is a Conductor" (2003, Hen House Studios) * ''

'' a tribute to Madonna performing ''Like A Prayer'' (2007,

Manimal Vinyl Manimal Vinyl is a Los Angeles–based record label founded in 2006 by film/TV producer, composer and former fashion editor Paul Gebser-Beahan. History The label was started out of Beahan's living room in late 2006 in the historical Hancock Pa ...

Records) * ''Purplish Rain: A 25th Anniversary Tribute to Prince's Purple Rain'', performing ''Purple Rain'' (2009,

) * '' The Switch (Music from the Motion Picture)'', performing "Open Your Heart" (2010,

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company (formerly Rhino Records Inc.) is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded ...

) * The soundtrack of game Space Ducks, performing ''Moment of Laughter'' (2012)

Mystical Unionists (Becky Stark and Ron Regé)

* ''An Introduction to The Mystical Union of Souls'' 5-song CD * ''"Sketches" for The Craft of Consciousness'' 7"

References

External links

Rolling Stone

Arthur Magazine

New Yorker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavender Diamond American folk musical groups Indie rock musical groups from California Matador Records artists Musical groups from Los Angeles New Weird America Rough Trade Records artists