{{short description|American singer-songwriter}} {{good article}} {{Use American English|date=February 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = | image = Perla Batalla holding a dove.png | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = A woman with a neutral expression, wearing a dark dress and holding a model of a dove. | caption = Batalla in 2007 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- leave empty if the same "name" --> | alias = | birth_date = {{circa}} {{birth year and age|1964}} | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | origin = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date first) --> | death_place = | genre = | occupations = Singer-songwriter | instruments = | years_active = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) -->1988–present | label = {{Flatlist| *Discovery *Mechuda Music}} | website = {{URL|perlabatalla.com}} | module = | module2 = | module3 = }}
'''Perla Batalla''' (born {{circa}} 1964) is an American vocalist, composer and arranger who first gained international attention as a backup singer for Leonard Cohen before embarking on a solo career at his encouragement. Her debut album, ''Perla Batalla'', was released on Discovery Records in 1994. She formed her own record label, Mechuda Music, and released the album ''Mestiza'' (meaning of mixed blood) in 1998, making sales through her website. ''Discoteca Batalla'' (2002) was recorded as an homage to her parents' record shop of the same name. In 2005, Batalla recorded a tribute album to Cohen, titled ''Bird on the Wire'', and featured in Hal Willner's Cohen tribute concert film, ''Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man''.
==Career== ===Early life and working with Leonard Cohen=== [[File:Leonard Cohen, 1988 02 (cropped).jpg|thumb|alt=Leonard Cohen in Venice, shown from the chest up|Leonard Cohen in 1988]] Perla Batalla was born in Los Angeles {{circa}} 1964, to an Argentinian mother, Barbara, and a Mexican father, Jorge. Her mother was a singer, and her father was a mariachi musician. Her parents ran a record store called Discoteca Batalla in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Two years after graduating from high school, Batalla was granted a scholarship to attend the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.<ref name="CONDRAN"/><ref name="GEHMAN"/><ref name="CR">{{cite web |last=Rabinowitz |first=Chloe |title=Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz to Re-Open With Perla Batalla in Concert |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Thtre-Raymond-Kabbaz-to-Re-Open-With-Perla-Batalla-In-Concert-20210823 |website=Broadway World |date=August 21, 2021 |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510151537/https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Thtre-Raymond-Kabbaz-to-Re-Open-With-Perla-Batalla-In-Concert-20210823 |url-status=live }}</ref> Meanwhile, she earned money from participating in talent contests at bars.<ref name="AJ99">{{cite news |last=Steinberg |first=David |title=Perla Batalla thrilled with bilingual album's success |newspaper=Albuquerque Journal |date=February 12, 1999 |page=E15 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114766248/perla-batalla-thrilled-with-bilingual-al/}}</ref> Batalla told an interviewer from the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 2001 that she had been attending law school when she took a friend's advice to follow a career in music instead. She was introduced to Leonard Cohen by her friend Julie Christensen, when Cohen was auditioning for backup singers for his ''I'm Your Man'' tour.<ref name="LOCEY" /><ref name="KUBERNIK">{{cite book |last=Kubernik |first=Harvey |title=Leonard Cohen : Everybody Knows |year=2014 |location=London |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=9781783053179}}</ref>{{rp|144}} Batalla said in 2001 that meeting Cohen was her "big break and the opening of everything".<ref name="LOCEY">{{cite news |last=Locey |first=Bill |title=At Home in the Spotlight; Ojai pop vocalist Perla Batalla will give a concert for the neighbors |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 13, 2001 |page=B4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114766303/at-home-in-the-spotlight-ojai-pop-vocal/}}</ref>
In 1988 and 1993, she toured as a backup singer with Cohen, who encouraged her to write her own songs.<ref name="KUBERNIK"/>{{rp|219}}<ref name="CONDRAN">{{cite news |last=Condran |first=Ed |title=Latin singer takes a rare road trip; New York's the lure for Perla Batalla |newspaper=The Record |location=Bergen County, New Jersey|date=January 9, 2004 |page=Go! 17|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114817744/latin-singer-takes-a-rare-road-trip-new/}}</ref><ref name="GEHMAN">{{cite news |last=Gehman |first=Geoff |title=Perla Batalla |newspaper=The Morning Call |location=Allentown, Pennsylvania |date=June 23, 2001 |page=A56 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114766361/perla-batalla-heaven-and-earth-the-mes/}}</ref> Reviewing a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1988, David Sinclair of ''The Times'' wrote that the effect of Batalla and Christensen was "exquisite" and "instrumental in shoring up many of the melodies against Cohen's lachrymose grunt".<ref>{{cite news |last=Sinclair |first=David |title=Rock: Leonard Cohen |newspaper=The Times |date=June 1, 1988 |page=16}}</ref> In ''the Guardian'', Adam Sweeting referred to the pair as "exuberant vocal foils to put the skids under Cohen's worn-big-ends croak" in 1993.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sweeting |first=Adam |title=Arts: Grocer of gloom – Leonard Cohen is loving every wittily despairing minute |newspaper=The Guardian |date=May 12, 1993|page=4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114852241/grocer-of-gloom/}}</ref> Batalla was a backing singer on Cohen's album ''The Future'' (1992) and appears on his ''Cohen Live'' (1994), which features live recordings from the 1988 and 1993 tours.<ref name="KUBERNIK"/>{{rp|206, 209}}
===Albums=== Jac Holzman signed Batalla to Discovery Records, which released her debut album, ''Perla Batalla'', in 1994.<ref name="CONDRAN" /><ref name="ZIMM"/> The album includes songs written by Batalla, as well as covers, including "Sixteen Tons" and songs by Cohen and Van Morrison. A review in ''Billboard'' called it an "impassioned, at times sublime debut" and opined that although Batalla had "a tendency to lapse into one-dimensional writing, she makes up for this shortcoming on [some] profound originals".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Album reviews: Spotlight |last1=Verna |first1=Paul |last2=Gillen |first2=Marilyn A.|magazine=Billboard |date=September 10, 1994| volume=106 |issue=37 |page=88}}</ref> After Holzman left Discovery, Batalla parted with the company and founded her own music label, Mechuda Music.<ref name="ZIMM"/><ref name="CONDRAN" /> She released her second album, ''Mestiza'' (meaning of mixed blood), in 1998 on her own label and sold it via her website.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kriz |first=Heidi |title=Women's Work Is on the Web |url=https://www.wired.com/1999/10/womens-work-is-on-the-web/ |date=October 28, 1999 |magazine=Wired |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-date=April 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419150825/https://www.wired.com/1999/10/womens-work-is-on-the-web/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ALLM">{{cite web |title=Perla Batalla Discography |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/perla-batalla-mn0000314507/discography |website=AllMusic |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510155815/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/perla-batalla-mn0000314507/discography |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- completing a the Mestiza song-cycle.--> Both CDs were co-written with David Batteau. Amazon named ''Mestiza'' Best Independent Release of the year.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.amazon.com/Mestiza-Perla-Batalla/dp/B00000IWJO|title = Mestiza|website = Amazon|year = 1999|access-date = September 8, 2017|archive-date = March 4, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304221456/http://www.amazon.com/Mestiza-Perla-Batalla/dp/B00000IWJO|url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="GEHMAN" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Ryan |first=Tim|title=Shunning pop divadom pays off for Batalla |newspaper=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|pages=C-1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114817875/perla-not-just-another-pop-diva/ C-8]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114817836/shunning-pop-divadom-pays-off/ |date=July 6, 2000}}</ref><!--Ryan source has "Best Emerging Artist" and "Best CD by a New Artist" from Amazon in 1999--> ''Heaven and Earth: the Mestiza Voyage'' followed in 2000, and was described by Mark Holston of ''Hispanic'' as a "collection of pensive, poetic themes developed at a leisurely pace" on which Batalla was "a mesmerizing vocalist who casts a lingering spell".<ref name="ALLM"/><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Holston |first=Mark |title=New releases |magazine=Hispanic |date=Jan–Feb 2001 |volume=14 |issue =1/2 |page=86|id={{ProQuest|236997090}}}}</ref> Shortly after the release of the album, a review of a live performance by Batalla by Ernesto Lechner in the ''Los Angeles Times'' compared her to Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, and suggested that she had been influenced by Fleetwood Mac's album ''Rumours''. Lechner praised Batalla's performance, writing that her "music caresses with its harmonies and gentle rhythms, then draws you in with an unexpected chorus or an unusual melodic resolution", and describing her as "a born storyteller with a rambunctious sense of humor".<ref name="LECHNER">{{cite news|last=Lechner |first=Ernesto |title=Pop Music Review; Adventurous Perla Batalla Taps Her Classic-Rock Roots |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=February 17, 2001 |page=F14|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114817918/adventurous-perla-batalla-taps-her-class/}}</ref> Her album ''Discoteca Batalla'' was recorded in 2002 as an homage to her parents' record shop of the same name.<ref name="CONDRAN" /> ''Discoteca Batalla'' was a compilation of new compositions interspersed with treatments of traditional Spanish language songs, which was praised by Holston, who wrote that Batalla's "dark amber-toned voice and unique approach to these classics make them new again".<ref name="CONDRAN" /><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Holston |first=Mark |title=Grab bag of musical delights |magazine=Hispanic |date=Jan–Feb 2004 |volume=17 |issue =1/2 |page=72}}</ref> In 2004 Batalla was invited by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to perform songs from the album as artist in residence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/events/?event=KEYAU|title=Kennedy Center|access-date=March 10, 2014|archive-date=March 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311010738/http://www.kennedy-center.org/events/?event=KEYAU|url-status=live}}</ref>
Batalla recorded a 2005 tribute album to Cohen, titled ''Bird on the Wire''. ''Sing Out!'' magazine's Michael Tearson wrote: "Beautifully conceived and executed, ''Bird on the Wire'' is a rewarding listening experience I find myself returning to frequently. It is every bit the equal of Jennifer Warnes's classic Cohen tribute album 'Famous Blue Raincoat'. For those uninitiated to the glories of the songs of Leonard Cohen this is a wonderful introduction. For the rest of us it is simply heavenly."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Bird on the Wire: The Songs of Leonard Cohen |last=Tearson |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Tearson |magazine=Sing Out |date=Summer 2006 |volume=50 |issue=2 |page=128 }}</ref> Christensen, Batalla's fellow backing singer on Cohen's 1988 and 1993 tours, contributed backing vocals on some of the album's tracks.<ref name="KUBERNIK"/>{{rp|219}}
Her next release, ''Gracias a la Vida'' (2005), was an anthology of traditional South American songs inspired by a trip to meet her Argentine family.<ref name="DS2006">{{cite news |last=Steinberg |first=David |title=Perla Batalla widens horizons: Argentina trip connects singer with family, music |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114766201/perla-batalla-widens-horizons/ |newspaper=Albuquerque Journal |date=May 5, 2006 |page=E15}}</ref> She performed "Hey Look Me Over" on tribute album ''The Best Is Yet to Come: The Songs of Cy Coleman'' (2009).<ref>{{cite web |title=CD Reviews: 'Rain Machine' from TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone: A driving debut |url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2009/12/cd_review_rain_machine_solo_pr.html |website=nj.com |date=December 30, 2009 |access-date=December 19, 2022}}</ref> In 2010, Batalla released a first collection of holiday songs titled ''We Three Kings''. One of the album's songs, "Christmas Time Is Here", was chosen as KCRW's top tune for Christmas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/tu/tu081224perla_batalla_christ|title=KCRW 89.9FM | Music, NPR News, Culture Los Angeles|date=December 24, 2008 |access-date=March 10, 2014|archive-date=March 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311031448/http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/tu/tu081224perla_batalla_christ|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2011, she was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to write and perform a piece to celebrate the opening of ''The Adventures of Women Surrealists in Mexico and the U.S.'' Batalla and her songwriting partner Batteau worked on building this into a full-length theatrical concert called "Blue House"; the song cycle was inspired by two painters, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lacma.org/previous-seasons |title=Previous Seasons |website=Los Angeles County Museum of Art |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610021222/http://www.lacma.org/previous-seasons |archive-date=June 10, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Blue House: Hearts on the Outside |url=https://library.csuci.edu/about/news/perlabatalla.htm |website=California State University Channel Islands |access-date=May 20, 2022 |archive-date=May 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520130102/https://library.csuci.edu/about/news/perlabatalla.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
Batalla has also been a backing singer for k.d. lang, the Gipsy Kings and Iggy Pop.<ref name="SALEM" />
===Film and video=== An edited version of Cohen's performance of his "Tower of Song" at The Prince's Trust Rock Gala in 1988, backed by Batalla and Christensen, was released on the video and DVD of the event.<ref name="KUBERNIK"/>{{rp|217}} The trio also appear in the video for Cohen's "Closing Time" (from ''The Future'').<ref>{{cite book |last=Simmons |first=Sylvie |title=I'm your man : the life of Leonard Cohen |date=August 27, 2013 |publisher=Ecco |location=New York |isbn=9780061995002 }}</ref>{{rp|392}} Batalla played a singer in the film ''You Know My Name'' (1999).<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Gaydos |first=Steven |title=You Know My Name |magazine=Variety |volume=373 |number=11 |date=February 1, 1999 |page=56}}</ref> She featured in Hal Willner's Cohen tribute concert film, ''Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man'' (2005), performing "Bird on the Wire", "Suzanne" (with Nick Cave and Julie Christensen), and "Anthem" (with Christensen).<ref> *{{cite web |last=Kipp |first=Jeremiah |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/leonard-cohen-im-your-man/ |title=Review: Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man |date=May 24, 2006 |work=Slant Magazine |access-date=July 8, 2019 |archive-date=July 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708165438/https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/leonard-cohen-im-your-man/ |url-status=live }} *{{cite magazine |title=Bird on the Wire: The Songs of Leonard Cohen |last=Regenstreif |first=Mike |magazine=Sing Out |date=Winter 2007 |volume=50 |issue=4 |page=109 }} *{{cite magazine |title=U2, Wainwright Rock Cohen Film Soundtrack |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/u2-wainwright-rock-cohen-film-soundtrack-58117/ |magazine=Billboard |date=June 16, 2006 |access-date=December 19, 2022}} *{{cite web |title=Original Soundtrack: Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/leonard-cohen-im-your-man-mw0000579699 |website=AllMusic |access-date=May 23, 2022 |archive-date=October 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151014062537/http://www.allmusic.com/album/leonard-cohen-im-your-man-mw0000579699 |url-status=live }}</ref> Batalla arranged and directed comedic musical vocal scenes for Will Ferrell's ''Step Brothers''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Iwaski |first=Scott |title=Perla Batalla excited to perform at Park City Institute's Illuminati event |url=https://www.parkrecord.com/entertainment/perla-batalla-excited-to-perform-at-park-city-institutes-illuminati-event/ |work=Park Record |date=November 21, 2015 |access-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412155145/https://www.parkrecord.com/entertainment/perla-batalla-excited-to-perform-at-park-city-institutes-illuminati-event/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She has also been a vocal coach for Jeremy Piven of ''Entourage''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Usinger |first=Mike |title=Perla Batalla honours Leonard Cohen's legacy |url=https://www.straight.com/music/1041436/perla-batalla-honours-leonard-cohens-legacy |work=The Georgia Straight |date=March 7, 2018 |access-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-date=November 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109142448/https://www.straight.com/music/1041436/perla-batalla-honours-leonard-cohens-legacy |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Personal life== Batalla has a contralto singing voice.<ref name="SALEM" /> She is married to chef and television personality Claud Mann, and they have a daughter.<ref name="ZIMM">{{cite web |last=Zimmerman |first=Lee |title=Perla Batalla |url=https://mmusicmag.com/m/2010/09/perla-batalla/ |date=June 2010 |website=M Music & Musicians |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506101938/https://mmusicmag.com/m/2010/09/perla-batalla/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Discography== thumb|alt=A full-length picture of Perla Batalla, taken from the side|A promotional photograph of Batalla '''Solo Albums''' * ''Perla Batalla'' (1994)<ref name="CONDRAN" /> * ''Mestiza'' (1998)<ref name="AJ99"/> * ''Heaven and Earth: the Mestiza Voyage'' (2000)<ref name="GEHMAN"/><ref name="ALLM"/> * ''Discoteca Batalla'' (2002)<ref name="SCTD">{{cite news |title=Discography |newspaper=St. Cloud Times |date=April 18, 2009 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/224941001/?terms=%22Discoteca%20Batalla%22&match=1&clipping_id=114878738 |page=2C }}</ref> * ''Bird on the Wire: The Songs Of Leonard Cohen'' (2005)<ref name="SALEM">{{cite news |last=Salem |first=Nancy |title=Bilingual singer grateful for touring with Cohen (2007) |newspaper=Albuquerque Tribune |date=April 13, 2007 |page=C5}}</ref> * ''Gracias a la Vida'' (2005) (also known as ''What I Did on My Summer Vacation'')<ref name="DS2006" /> * ''We Three Kings'' (2008)<ref name="WC3K">{{cite news |first=Karen |last=Bossick |title=Singer's mixed-race music celebrates cross-pollination |newspaper=The Times-News |location=Twin Falls |date=December 5, 2008 |page=C3}}</ref> * ''Love is Everything'' (2014)<ref>{{cite web |last=Woodard |first=Josef |date=September 14, 2023 |title=ON the Beat {{!}} Perla Batalla's High-Stepping Music for el Arte's Sake |url=https://www.independent.com/2023/09/14/on-the-beat-perla-batallas-high-stepping-music-for-el-artes-sake/ |access-date=September 17, 2023 |website=Santa Barbara Guardian}}</ref> * ''A Letter to Leonard Cohen'' (2024)
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
== External links == {{commons category}} * [http://www.perlabatalla.com Perla Batalla's Official Website] * {{AllMusic | id= perla-batalla-mn0000314507 | title= Perla Batalla}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A25DDRsIkUg «¿Por qué canto en español?» – Perla Batalla] (Instituto Cervantes of Albuquerque) (YouTube)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batalla, Perla}} Category:1960s births Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American women pop singers Category:American women singer-songwriters Category:American musicians of Mexican descent Category:Hispanic and Latino American women singers Category:Leonard Cohen Category:21st-century American women singers Category:21st-century American singer-songwriters Category:Spanish-language American singers Category:American people of Argentine descent