Lisa Brokop

{{Short description|Canadian country singer}} {{Infobox musical artist |  | image = Lisa Brokop by Mark Farrell in 2006.jpg | caption =Lisa Brokop performing at the 2006 Blue Mountain music festival | background = solo_singer | alias = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1973|06|06}} | birth_place = [[Surrey, British Columbia]], Canada | death_date = | Instruments = | genre = [[Country music|Country]] | occupation = Singer, songwriter | years_active = 1990–present | label = {{flatlist| * Libre * [[Patriot Records|Patriot]] * [[Capitol Records|Capitol Nashville]] * [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] * Cosmo * [[Curb Records|Curb]] * Ellbea * Amersong }} | past_member_of = The Jeffersons | website = {{URL|lisabrokop.com}} }}

'''Lisa Ann Brokop''' (born June 6, 1973) is a Canadian [[country music]] singer/songwriter. Active since 1990 in the country music field, she has released a total of seven studio albums and has charted more than twenty singles on the country music charts in her native Canada. Several of these singles have also crossed over to the American country music charts, although she has not entered the Top 40 in the U.S.; her highest-charting songs, "[[Give Me a Ring Sometime (song)|Give Me a Ring Sometime]]" and "Take That", both peaked at No. 52 in 1994. Her highest chart single is "Better Off Broken"; released in 1999, it reached No. 8 in Canada.

She was inducted into the [[Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame]] in 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://frontporchmusic.ca/lisa-brokop-joe-wood-inducted-canadian-country-music-hall-of-fame/|title=Lisa Brokop and Joe Wood to Be Inducted Into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2025|work=Front Porch Music|date=June 3, 2025}}</ref>

==Career==

===Early life=== Lisa Brokop was born in [[Surrey, British Columbia]] in 1973. By age seven, she was performing on stage with her accordion-playing mother, performing polkas and numerous country music songs.<ref name=lisa>{{cite web|url=http://www.lisabrokop.com/about/Default.htm |title=About Lisa |accessdate=2009-09-18 |publisher=Official Website of Lisa Brokop |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815071829/http://www.lisabrokop.com/about/Default.htm |archivedate=2009-08-15 }}</ref> When Brokop was twelve years old, she began sitting in with bands throughout [[Vancouver, British Columbia]] and joined a touring band in when she was 15.<ref name=lisa/> In 1990, when Brokop was only 17 years old, she issued her debut single, "Daddy, Sing to Me". The song managed to reach the top 10 of the Canadian ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Country Tracks chart. Her debut album, ''[[My Love (Lisa Brokop album)|My Love]]'', was issued the following year on the independent Libre Records label. In June 1991, Brokop graduated from the [[Princess Margaret Secondary School]] in her hometown of [[Surrey, British Columbia|Surrey]];<ref>Princess Margaret Secondary 1990-1991 Student class album, page 88</ref> she then proceeded to move south to [[Nashville, Tennessee]] to further her country music career.

===1994–1999: Breakthrough success=== [[File:Lisa Brokop 1.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A costume Lisa Brokop wore for the 1993 movie '[[Harmony Cats]]' (Surrey Museum)]] In 1992, Brokop began performing in local clubs and caught the attention of [[Spike (TV channel)|The Nashville Network]]. The network began to play Brokop's video for her single "Time to Come Back Home" and had her as a guest on ''The Ralph Emery Show''. The appearance on ''The Ralph Emery Show'' and a 30-minute showcase at a local club got Brokop a record deal with Patriot Records, a label owned by [[Liberty Records]]. Before Brokop began recording her second album, she starred alongside [[Hoyt Axton]] in the 1994 film ''[[Harmony Cats]]'', where she played a country singer who leaves home in search of a big break in Nashville.<ref name=lisa/> Brokop contributed to the movie's soundtrack and her cover of [[Tammy Wynette]]'s 1968 number one hit "[[Stand by Your Man]]" was issued as a single, peaking at No. 88 on the Canadian ''RPM'' Country Tracks chart.

The first single of Brokop's second album, "[[Give Me a Ring Sometime (song)|Give Me a Ring Sometime]]", was issued in June 1994. The single cracked the top 20 in Canada, but only reached No. 52 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' [[Hot Country Songs|Hot Country Singles & Tracks]] chart. Nevertheless, her first major label album, ''[[Every Little Girl's Dream]]'', was released in September 1994. While "Give Me a Ring Sometime" was charting, many Canadian radio stations refused to play Brokop's music after the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] ruled that "Give Me a Ring Sometime" did not have a sufficient amount of Canadian content in the song. Nevertheless, Brokop's album went on to produce two more top 40 singles in Canada with "Take That" and "One of Those Nights". By 1995, the album had been certified Gold by the [[Music Canada|CRIA]], for sales of 50,000 copies.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAsEAAAAMBAJ&q=canadian+country&pg=PA31|title=Exiled From Canada, CMT Begins Boycott|date=21 January 1995|accessdate=2009-11-28|publisher=[[Billboard Magazine]]}}</ref> Also in 1995, Brokop, along with fellow singers [[Victoria Shaw (singer)|Victoria Shaw]] and [[Chely Wright]], received a nomination for Top New Female Vocalist at the [[Academy of Country Music]] awards, but lost to Chely Wright.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AK&s_site=ohio&p_multi=AK&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB631C7C5761AD4&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=30 Years of Country Music Saluted at Anniversary Show|accessdate=2009-09-18|publisher=[[Beacon Journal]]}}</ref>

[[File:Lisa Brokop (June 1999).jpg|thumb|Lisa Brokop in June 1999]] In 1995, Patriot Records had been shut down and Brokop was transferred to Capitol Nashville and issued her third album, ''[[Lisa Brokop (album)|Lisa Brokop]]'', the following year. None of the album's first two singles reached the top 40 in Canada or the United States and the album's third, "West of Crazy", did not chart at all. The failure of the album left Brokop burned out and she then ended her relationship with Capitol to take time off to focus on songwriting.<ref name=lisa2>{{cite web |url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/brokop_lisa/bio.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040614210929/http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/brokop_lisa/bio.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 14, 2004|title=Lisa Brokop - Biography |accessdate=2009-09-18|publisher=[[Country Music Television|CMT.com]]}}</ref>

In 1998, Brokop signed with the Nashville division of [[Columbia Records]], where she released the single "How Do I Let Go". The song reached the top 20 of the ''RPM'' Country Tracks chart and received a nomination for [[SOCAN]] Song of the Year at the [[Canadian Country Music Association]] awards that year. Her album, ''[[When You Get to Be You]]'', was released in July 1998 in Canada and produced five more singles including the No. 21-peaking "What's Not to Love" and "Better Off Broken", the latter becoming Brokop's highest-charting single, peaking at No. 8 on the Canadian ''RPM'' Country Tracks chart in 1999. The album was scheduled for release in the United States in 1998, but was not released due to the poor performance of the album's four American singles and Brokop departed Columbia by the end of 1999.<ref name=lisa2/>

===2000 – present: Continued success=== In 2000, Brokop ventured on her own and launched the Cosmo Records label where she released her fifth album, ''Undeniable''. The album's first single, "Something Undeniable", had reached No. 18 on the country charts in Canada when ''RPM'' had been shut down.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.7268&volume=71&issue=26&issue_dt=November%2006%202000&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=2ovc5nvl9euijqkqf467aqb1s5|title=RPM Volume 71 No. 26, November 06 2000|accessdate=2009-09-18|magazine=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]}}</ref> In 2001, Brokop received two Canadian Country Music Association awards for Independent Song of the Year for "Something Undeniable" and Independent Female Artist of the Year.<ref name=lisa/> The album's third single, "I'd Like to See You Try", won Brokop Independent Song of the Year again in 2002.<ref name=lisa/> She also was awarded Independent Female Artist of the Year again in 2002 and 2003.<ref name=lisa/>

In 2004, in an attempt to have success in the United States, Brokop signed with [[Asylum Records|Asylum]]-[[Curb Records|Curb]] and issued her first single for the label, "Wildflower".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cmt.com/news/hot-talk/1472407/hot-talk-rhondas-cleavage-eddys-exhibit-and-that-old-devil-radio.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607015746/http://www.cmt.com/news/hot-talk/1472407/hot-talk-rhondas-cleavage-eddys-exhibit-and-that-old-devil-radio.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 7, 2011|title=HOT TALK: Rhonda's Cleavage, Eddy's Exhibit and That Old Devil Radio|accessdate=2009-09-18|publisher=[[Country Music Television|CMT.com]]}}</ref> The song failed to chart in the United States. An album, ''Hey, Do You Know Me'', followed in January 2005 in Canada. The album was never released in the United States due to the failure of the first single. Shortly before departing Asylum-Curb in 2005, Brokop released the single "Big Picture" in Canada and the United States; it was never included on any album.

After a three-year hiatus, Brokop went back in the studio to record her seventh album, ''Beautiful Tragedy''. The album was released in August 2008 on the independent Ellbea Records label and featured the hit "Break It". Eleven of the album's twelve tracks were co-written by Brokop and all tracks were produced by Brokop and her husband, country singer [[Paul Jefferson]].

Brokop and husband Paul Jefferson have begun performing as '''The Jeffersons''' and released their debut album as a duo in 2011. The album has since released three singles in Canada: "Find the Sun," "Crazy On Me" and a country cover of [[The Wallflowers]]' 1996 song, "[[One Headlight]]".

In July 2013, Brokop signed a new deal with RareSpark media group to begin working on a new solo album. A new single, "Let It Burn" was released to Canadian Country radio on September 23.

Brokop has continued to release further projects, including "The Patsy Cline Project" in 2015 and "Who's Gonna Fill Their Heels" in 2023.

On New Year's Day 2026, she released the gospel album "The God I Know."

==Personal life== Lisa Brokop married her boyfriend of four years, [[Paul Jefferson]], a fellow country singer and music producer on May 25, 2008. The history of their relationship was documented on the [[CMT (Canada)|CMT Canada]]/[[Great American Country|GAC]] TV series, ''Our Song'', the episode aired in March 2009 in on CMT Canada. Jefferson helped Brokop "shape the stripped-down songs of [the album] ''Beautiful Tragedy'' in the couple's Nashville home studio."<ref>[[The Now (newspaper)|The Now]] Newspaper, Friday September 26, 2008, p.A21</ref> Brokop stated in 2008 that she and a small band were planning "to tour Canada's western provinces next January and February [2009], with a possible stop in [[Surrey, British Columbia|Surrey]]."<ref>The Now Newspaper, Friday September 26, 2008, p.A22</ref> In February 2009, Brokop announced on stage that she was pregnant and, on August 7, 2009, Brokop and Jefferson welcomed the birth of their first child, Ivy Jefferson.

On January 28, 2022, on her Facebook page, Brokop voiced support for the trucker-led [[Canada convoy protest]] -- the so-called Freedom Convoy -- a series of protests and blockades against [[COVID-19]] vaccine mandates and restrictions. She posted a video of her reading a verse from the bible and singing [[CeCe Winans]]' "[[Believe for It (song)|Believe For It]]". She says in the video, "We’ve got to send out our worship songs, we need to worship and lift this up ahead of time, as they go into battle." Some protesters were photographed waving [[Flag of Nazi Germany|Nazi flags]] at the rallies. In a later post, Brokop said that the protest includes “some ugly and hateful images floating around that I definitely don’t support, but most everything I’ve seen has been about love and kindness and standing in support of each other. I’ve seen so many happy tears from people who finally feel like their voices are being heard, and have something to be hopeful for. That’s the Canada I know and love.”<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.surreynowleader.com/entertainment/video-surrey-born-brokop-sings-support-for-truckers-before-battle-in-ottawa/ |title=VIDEO: Surrey-born Brokop sings support for truckers before 'battle' in Ottawa |date=February 2022 }}</ref> She subsequently continued to post in support of the protests.

==Discography== {{main|Lisa Brokop discography}} *''[[My Love (Lisa Brokop album)|My Love]]'' (1991) *''[[Every Little Girl's Dream]]'' (1994) *''[[Lisa Brokop (album)|Lisa Brokop]]'' (1996) *''[[When You Get to Be You]]'' (1998) *''Undeniable'' (2000) *''Hey, Do You Know Me'' (2005) *''Beautiful Tragedy'' (2008) *''The Patsy Cline Project'' (2015) *''Who's Gonna Fill Their Heels'' (2023) *''The God I Know'' (2026)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.lisabrokop.com}} * [https://us.imdb.com/name/nm0111251 Lisa Brokop at IMDB.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brokop, Lisa}} [[Category:1973 births]] [[Category:Canadian women country singers]] [[Category:Capitol Records artists]] [[Category:Columbia Records artists]] [[Category:Curb Records artists]] [[Category:Liberty Records artists]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Actors from Surrey, British Columbia]] [[Category:Musicians from British Columbia]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian women singers]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian women singers]]