Biography
Since being born in Stockholm, Sweden, Liz Vandall has lived an unconventional, yet somehow conventional life that has brought her all over the world.
After emigrating to the USA at the age of three, she grew up in Rhode Island, realizing very early on that she had a strong love for music and singing. This was coupled with the gift of a beautifully distinctive voice and extremely powerful vocal cords. From the age of nine, much of her time was devoted to practicing with her favorite records and singing into a plethora of whatever household items were at hand, including the trusty old upright vacuum cleaner.
All this was to change drastically in 1983, when Hollywood beckoned its finger.
Liz moved to Los Angeles and, after essentially being self-taught, completed her vocal training by studying intensely with one of the world’s leading vocal coaches, Seth Riggs (Cher, Streisand, Michael Jackson, ad infinitum). The result was that Liz was ready to enter the world of professional singing.
After gaining experience as vocalist in several rock bands, Liz found a perfect match in joining the up-and-coming Sahara - a five-piece semi-progressive heavy rock band.
Sahara recorded two albums, Going Crazy and The Seventh House (released in Europe and Japan) enjoying substantial sales, radio airplay and garnering widespread critical acclaim with quotes such as, “One of the greatest singers in the world” and “One of the most powerful voices in all of music, period!” in various music publications.
After nearly nine years of existence, July of 1995 brought with it the demise of the band with Diane Arens, (one-third of the core writing team of Vandall, Arens and Phil Woodward) leaving the music business entirely. As Liz puts it, "Within the context of Sahara, Diane was irreplaceable, and we found it impossible to go on." And so, began a time of deep soul-searching, contemplation, and evolution into the next era.
Liz then decided to pursue a solo career, but composer/musician/guitarist extraordinaire, Uli Jon Roth (formerly of the Scorpions), unexpectedly contacted Liz to record vocals for his upcoming album, Requiem for an Angel, thus putting her plans on hold temporarily. Upon hearing her distinctive voice for the first time, Roth said “Liz Vandall has a one-in-a-billion and a million-dollar voice!”
In 1998, Liz went on to tour as vocalist with Uli Jon Roth throughout Europe, taking part in a highly successful tour in the well-established G3 - a touring format created by American guitarist Joe Satriani. Renowned guitar-hero Michael Schenker was also a participant on that tour. Uli’s first-rate band consisted of music prodigies Don Airey (Deep Purple, Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Gary Moore and more.) Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull) and Francois Garny. A highlight from these shows was the live performance of the introduction to Roth's "Hiroshima Symphony" which can be heard on the album Transcendental Sky Guitar, which was released September, 2000 worldwide.
In 1997, Liz moved to the United Kingdom where she lived until 2006. Following the birth of her daughter, Akasha Dawn Roth in 1998, she devoted most of her time to being a mother. However, she did make guest appearances at a few select shows. She performed at the 2002 Legends of Rock Tour, featuring Uli Jon Roth, Jack Bruce, Glenn Hughes and Frank Marino - and also at the 2004 Rock Meets Renaissance concert performing with Roth's Sky Orchestra, featuring a performance of one of her own songs, “Falling from the Sky” and a duet with the famous female rock-vocalist, Doro Pesch.
A temporary move to Germany in 2006, led to the long-awaited release of Uli Jon Roth's album, Under a Dark Sky in 2008 - a rock opera type of work - which featured Liz along with Mark Boals (Yngwie Malmsteen, Royal Hunt, Ring of Fire) on vocals. A world tour followed, spanning New Zealand, Japan, USA, and Europe, with the UK leg opening for the Scorpions.
Currently, since late 2011, she is residing again in the UK and has worked on various recording projects, including collaborations with Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) resulting in recording two duets; "Poison Roses" and "Bring on the Night". "Poison Roses" is a remake of a previously released track from Dario Mollo & Tony Martin's The Cage II album. "Bring on the Night" was co-written by Liz, Tony and Aldo Giuntini for his upcoming Project IV album. Liz was also featured on two songs "Nostalgia" and "Meteors in the Blue" on The Time of the Equinox in 2012 by Amadeus Awad, a progressive rock Lebanese artist. 2015 brought the release of Uli Jon Roth's Scorpions Revisited in which Liz is featured on the song, “Pictured Life” followed by further live shows throughout including 2019's A New Day Festival in Kent, England and others in Belgium and France.
A major highlight in Liz’s career was performing with the Prague Philharmonic and Athens State Orchestras at the Herodes Atticus Odeon Acropolis Theater in Athens, Greece in September 2019 for two sold out nights. Liz opened the shows and performed 5 songs.
In 2020, Liz Vandall released a remake of the Bruce Dickinson classic song, “Tears of a Dragon” which received wonderful responses including from Roy Z, the producer and guitarist of the original recording on the Bruce Dickinson album, Balls to Picasso.
Today, Liz has begun writing and recording again in her home studio, and a deal has been signed with 20th Century Music (20thcentury-music.com) to re-release Sahara's two albums along with previously unreleased tracks and video, the first of which, Going Crazy is slated for a 2021 release.