Lisa Popeil
Lisa Popeil (Chicago, 24 February 1956) is an American singer, musician and voice coach.
In 1981 Popeil visited Zappa's studio to support her auditioning drummer boyfriend. Tommy Mars talked her into auditioning for keyboards and vocals:
"Frank of course tried to stump me with rhythms no musician has ever seen before. As I sight-read the music, I found that I had to move my body in a certain way to feel what 11 over 7 over the barline would feel like and Frank remarked on my "turgid flux"! What a way with words he had."
Popeil rehearsed with the band for a short period in August - "Lisa's life story" was ad-libbed during the rehearsals, then developed further before performing it in concert.
On 11 December 1981 she performed at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and sang Lisa's Life Story during the early show, which was included on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6, and Teen-age Prostitute in both the early and late shows, the latter was included on the album Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch. During the interval between shows Zappa handed her the words to The Dangerous Kitchen and told her that she was going to perform it during the late show - without a rehearsal.
Popeil has been a back-up singer for "Weird Al" Yankovic. In 1984 she released her own album Lisa Popeil, which featured Steve Vai.
In 2016 she performed at the ZappaUnion concert in Oslo, Norway.
