Elisa Fiorillo

Elisa Fiorillo is an American singer and Broadway performer born on February 28, 1969, in Philadelphia. She comes from a musical family, one of four children, and her father Alexander Fiorillo, a classical pianist, studied under Vladimir Horowitz. Fiorillo is of German, Italian, Irish, and Cherokee descent. She was married to Michael Dease, with whom she had a daughter named Olivia; Dease died in late May 2019. Fiorillo remarried in 2021 to Carlos Elorza.

Fiorillo made her Broadway debut in 1984, appearing in the musical The Three Musketeers. The following year, at age 15, she won the 1985 Star Search talent competition. She was signed to Chrysalis Records in 1987, the same year she performed the song "Jackie" on the Summer School soundtrack, which brought her to the attention of producer John "Jellybean" Benitez. Benitez recruited her as lead vocalist on two tracks from his 1987 album Just Visiting This Planet. One of those tracks, "Who Found Who," reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and broke into the top 20 in numerous other countries. Also in 1987, Fiorillo released her self-titled debut album, promoted with the single "How Can I Forget You."

Her second album, I Am, followed in 1990 and was recorded at Prince's Paisley Park studio. Several of its tracks were written and produced by Prince, and the album included the single "On the Way Up," which reached the top 30 in the United States and the top 20 in Australia. Around the same time, Fiorillo contributed backing vocals to the soundtracks of Graffiti Bridge and Batman, and she appeared as a backing vocalist on two songs from Prince's album Diamonds and Pearls.

Throughout the 1990s, Fiorillo worked primarily as a backing singer, providing vocals for Savage Garden on their Superstars and Cannonballs tour and for Billie Myers, among others. She also recorded a duet with Savage Garden frontman Darren Hayes titled "Right Dead Back On It." As a lead vocalist, she sang "Don't Be Afraid" for the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. In the 2000s, her musical direction shifted toward jazz, and she released the album Labour of Love in 2007.

Fiorillo rejoined Prince's orbit in 2009, performing as one of his backing vocalists on two of the three consecutive Tonight Show with Jay Leno appearances he made March 25–27 of that year. She became a member of Prince's band, The New Power Generation, in 2009 and toured with him across Europe in 2010. She continued working with Prince until his death in 2016.

In 2013, using her married name Dease, Fiorillo partnered with Nashville-based guitarist Tyler Reese to form an independent duo called The Dease & Reese Project. Their debut album, Life in 20, was produced by Jeff Silverman, who had previously worked with Rick Springfield, and was released in June 2014 on the REMU Records label. The album comprises 12 original songs drawing on Fiorillo's personal experiences, covering themes including faith, self-awareness, food addiction, domestic violence, and motherhood. Its first single released to radio was "All Over the World."

In addition to her music career, Fiorillo voiced the English-language role of Ayamo Nakamura in the 2003 television series Stratos 4 and directed the 2001 series Mahô shôjo neko Taruto and the 2002 series Mao Dante. In 2020, she joined the board and faculty of PurplePlayground.org, where she teaches teenage students songwriting and recording at the Academy of Prince.