| Lydia Pense | |
| Background: | solo_singer |
| Origin: | San Francisco, California |
| Genre: | Rock, soul, jazz |
| Occupation: | Singer |
| Instrument: | Vocals |
| Years Active: | 1969–present |
| Label: | Reprise (1972); Warner Bros. Records (1974); ABC (1976); Dig Music (2005) |
Lydia Pense is an American rock-soul-jazz singer who, since 1969, has performed with the band Cold Blood. Critics have compared her style to powerful singers including Janis Joplin[1] and Aretha Franklin.
Lydia Pense was born in San Francisco, California. Her family moved to Redwood City when she was 10.[2] At age 14, while attending Sequoia High School, Pense started singing with a band called the Dimensions, with guitarist Fred Tatman, Larry Hatch, and Kerry Yates. She was a fan of Brenda Lee and was singing her songs, but the band encouraged her to sing R&B in the style of James Brown, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Ray Charles.
Janis Joplin had recommended Lydia Pense to music promoter Bill Graham to audition for the band Cold Blood. Lydia joined Cold Blood in 1968, and the band was one of the earliest music groups to be signed by Graham's Fillmore Records.[3]
The band Cold Blood separated in the late 1970s. Pense suspended her music career in the early 1980s to raise her daughter, Danielle before reforming the group in 1988.[4] The band continues to record, tour and perform.
Their initial four albums, Cold Blood, Sisyphus, First Taste of Sin (produced by Donny Hathaway), and Thriller remain the band's best-known work.
| 1969 | Cold Blood | Cold Blood | ||
| 1971 | Sisyphus | Cold Blood | [5] | |
| 1972 | Lights Out San Francisco (Voco Presents The Soul Of The Bay Area) | Various artists | Performed with the band Tower of Power.[6] | |
| 1972 | First Taste of Sin | Cold Blood | ||
| 1973 | Thriller | Cold Blood | ||
| 1974 | Lydia | Cold Blood | ||
| 1975 | The Best of Cold Blood | Cold Blood | ||
| 1976 | Lydia Pense & Cold Blood | Lydia Pense and Cold Blood | this was the last album before the band's hiatus. | |
| 2001 | Vintage Blood: Live! 1973 | Live album | ||
| 2005 | Transfusion | Lydia Pense and Cold Blood | ||
| 2008 | Lydia Pense & Cold Blood: Live Blood "Live Album" | Lydia Pense and Cold Blood | ||
| 2011 | The River City Sessions | Lydia Pense and Cold Blood | ||
| 2015 | Soul Of The Gypsy | Lydia Pense and Cold Blood | [7] |