Best Known As: Music Performer

Gist:  Belinda Jo Carlisle (born August 17, 1958) is a Grammy Award-nominated American singer. Carlisle is the lead vocalist and a founding member of the groundbreaking all-female new wave band The Go-Go's, and also a successful solo artist. During her career Carlisle has released 4 Studio albums and 11 singles with the Go-Go's and 7 Studio albums and 31 singles as a solo artist.

Life Facts:  Carlisle was born in Hollywood, California, to parents Harold and Joanne. Harold was a contractor, and Joanne raised the children at home. Belinda was the first of 7 children, with 3 brothers (Butch, Joe and Josh) and 3 sisters (Hope, Mary and Sarah). Her father left home when Belinda was five years old. Her mother later remarried, but Carlisle was not close to her step father. At school, she became a cheerleader.

She graduated from Newbury Park High School. At the age of 19, she left home with the confidence that one day she would be a star that she later became.

In 1991, Carlisle released her fourth solo album, Live Your Life Be Free. The album marked somewhat of a return to 1960s-influenced music for Carlisle. The single "Do You Feel Like I Feel?" was accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek video, inspired by the B-movie Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. The title track, "Live Your Life Be Free", was also released with a promotional video. Subsequent releases "Half the World" and "Little Black Book" (co-written by Marcella Detroit of the Shakespears Sister under her real name Marcy Levy) were also hits outside the U.S., and although Live Your Life Be Free as an album flopped in the U.S., it was a success in Europe (Top 10 in the UK and Gold certification), while the title track was a Top 20 hit single in the UK, Australia, Italy and Sweden. To date, "Do You Feel Like I Feel?" is Carlisle's final single to enter in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #73.

In 1986, Carlisle married Morgan Mason, son of the British actor James Mason, and former Special Assistant to the President of the United States. Morgan made appearances in Carlisle's videos "Mad About You," and "Heaven Is a Place on Earth". They have a son, James Duke Mason (born April 27, 1992).

She has been reported as being "deeply into Buddhist chanting", though precisely what form is unclear. In an interview, printed on March 7, 2007, the singer stated that: "I was wondering about happiness and started reading a lot of books by the Dalai Lama, and slowly embraced Buddhism" (published by Newindpress, India). On Sydney Morning Herald: "I don't smoke anymore, I don't drink anymore and I don't do drugs anymore. I am very much into my Buddhism. I found turning 40 a real passage in time for me".

Carlisle endorsed Hillary Clinton for President of the United States during the Democratic primaries, but then endorsed Barack Obama during the general election.

In January 2009, it was announced that Carlisle was appointed the new spokesperson for NutriSystem.

According to her official website, Carlisle is recording new material and working on her autobiography, both of which are due to be finished in 2010.

* The Best of Belinda, Volume 1 (1992)

* Her Greatest Hits (1992)

* The Greatest (1998)

* A Place on Earth: The Greatest Hits (1999)

* The Collection (2002)

* The Essential (The Best of Belinda Volume 1 re-issue) (2003)

* Belinda Carlisle Collection (re-issue) (2008)

* 'Belinda Carlisle - Heaven On Earth (CD & DVD Special Edition) (Digitally remastered) - released May 11, 2009.

Career Facts:  Carlisle's first venture into music was a brief stint as drummer for the punk band The Germs, under the name 'Dottie Danger'. Soon after leaving The Germs, she founded The Go-Go's (originally named 'The Misfits'), with friends and fellow musicians Margot Olaverria, Elissa Bello, and Jane Wiedlin. Olaverria and Bello were soon out of the group and the new line-up included bassist-turned-guitarist Charlotte Caffey, guitarist-turned-bassist Kathy Valentine, and drummer Gina Schock. The Go-Go's became one of the most successful American bands of the early 1980s, helping usher New Wave music into popular American radio, and becoming the first all-female band in rock history to ever achieve a #1 album, who also wrote their own music, and played their own instruments. The Go-Go's recorded two more studio albums on I.R.S. Records (including 1982 Vacation, which went gold thanks to the title track). "Head over Heels," from their 1984 album Talk Show, made it to #11, but they never repeated the success of their 1981 multi-platinum debut, Beauty and the Beat, which featured the hits "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed".

In 1984, Carlisle made a foray into acting in the movie Swing Shift starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and performed backing vocals for the Don Henley recording of "She's on the Zoom" from the Vision Quest soundtrack.

In 1999, Carlisle released a greatest hits album in the UK, a double-disc on the Virgin label, collectively entitled A Place on Earth: The Greatest Hits. Carlisle recorded three new tracks for the album's first disc, properly called The Greatest Hits, including the single "All God's Children", and the songs "A Prayer for Everyone" and "Feels Like I've Known You Forever". The second disc of the album entitled A Place on Earth, contained previously released remixes of some of her hits, plus a couple of B-sides which were previously unreleased. Some of the remixes were by William Orbit, who also worked with Madonna on her 1998 Ray of Light album. A Place on Earth: The Greatest Hits was certified Gold in the UK and went on to sell an excess of one million copies worldwide.