imported>Bearcat at 21:49, 23 February 2025

2025-02-23T21:49:26Z

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{{Infobox musical artist
| name =
| image =
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| landscape = 
| alt =
| caption =
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| alias =
| birth_date = 
| birth_place =
| origin = [[Thunder Bay]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| death_date = 
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| genre = [[Pop music|Pop]], [[Dance music|dance]]
| occupation = Songwriter, keyboardist
| instrument = [[Keyboard instrument|Keyboard]]
| years_active = 1970s–1988
| label =
| associated_acts = [[Parachute Club (band)|Parachute Club]]
| website = 
}}
'''Lauri Conger''' is notable primarily as the keyboardist and one of the principal co-writers of most of the songs of [[The Parachute Club]].

== History ==
Conger is a native of [[Thunder Bay]], [[Ontario]], where she began her professional music career in the 1970s. She received early piano and dance training in [[Port Arthur, Ontario]], prior to its merger into Thunder Bay, and was a graduate of [[Hillcrest High School (Thunder Bay)|Hillcrest High School]].<ref name=Gateway>Uncredited, [http://images.ourontario.ca/gateway/3072829/data Lauri Conger has left Parachute Club]. ''[[Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal]]'', July 28, 1987. As archived and summarized in Gateway to Northwestern Ontario History. Retrieved 2016-12-16.</ref>

Conger moved to [[Toronto]], where she and [[Lorraine Segato]] were members of [[Mama Quilla II]]. In 1982, Conger and Segato, along with percussionist [[Billy Bryans]], formed the nucleus of what would become The Parachute Club.<ref name = CanPop/> Concurrently, in the early 1980s, Conger was developing a reputation as a solo and duo performer on the Canadian [[folk music]] circuit.<ref>Such as performing with [[Heather Bishop]] at the [[Winnipeg Folk Festival]] in 1982: see [http://www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca/wp/about-us/past-performers/ List of Past Performers at the Winnipeg Folk Festival] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323105011/http://www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca/wp/about-us/past-performers/ |date=2010-03-23 }}; www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca.</ref>

Conger and Lorraine Segato, together with other band members and lyricist [[Lynne Fernie]], wrote of most of the group's songs, including the song for which the group is best known, [[Rise Up (Parachute Club song)|"Rise Up"]].

Conger was a band member during the production of its three albums, released between 1983 and 1986, but left the group in mid-1987. Her final performance was before the [[Duke of York|Duke]] and [[Duchess of York]] in Toronto.<ref name=Gateway/> She then trained in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], New Mexico to become a [[registered massage therapist]]. She rejoined the band in July, 1988, for what would be its final performances<ref>until a reconstituted version of the band, without Conger, commenced performing in 2005. See [[Parachute Club (band)|Parachute Club]].</ref><ref>Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, [https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/parachute-club-emc Biography of The Parachute Club];www.thecanadianeyclopedia.com</ref> at Toronto's [[Ontario Place]].<ref name = CanPop>Canadian Pop Encyclopedia, {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120709141959/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/P/Parachute_Club.html Biography of Parachute Club]}}; www.jam.canoe.ca.
</ref>

Following her departure from the group and despite her significant contributions to music, Conger did not continue in a prominent role as a professional musician or songwriter.

== Discography ==

===Singles (Parachute Club)===

{| class="wikitable"
!rowspan="2" | Release date
!rowspan="2" | Title
!colspan="1" | Chart peak
!rowspan="2" | Album
|-
! width="45"| <small>[[Canada]]<br>RPM</small>
|-
| July 1983
| "Rise Up"
| align="center"|9
| rowspan="3"|''The Parachute Club''
|-
| 1983
| "Alienation"
| align="center"|
|-
| 1984
| "Boy's Club"
| align="center"|
|-
| October 1984
| "At The Feet Of The Moon"
| align="center"|11
| rowspan="3"|''At The Feet of the Moon''
|-
| February 1985
| "Act Of An Innocent"
| align="center"|61
|-
| June 1985
| "Sexual Intelligence"
| align="center"|
|-
| October 1986
| "Love Is Fire"
| align="center"|24
| rowspan="3"|''Small Victories''
|-
| February 1987
| "Love And Compassion"
| align="center"|81
|-
| May 1987
| "Walk To The Rhythm"
| align="center"|90
|-
|}

===Albums===

====With Mama Quilla II====

*1982 ''KKK//Mama Quilla/Angry Young Woman'' Tupperwaros; [[Extended play|EP]].

====With The Parachute Club====
*1983 ''The Parachute Club'' Current/[[RCA Records|RCA]]
*1984 ''At The Feet of the Moon'' Current/RCA
*1985 ''Moving Thru the Moonlight'' Current/RCA; remixes
*1986 ''Small Victories'' (1986) Current/RCA
*1992 ''Wild Zone: The Essential Parachute Club'' [[Bertelsmann Music Group|BMG]]; reissued 2006 by [[EMI|EMI International]]<ref>Particulars via www.amazon.com; accessed 09-02-07.</ref>

====With Other Artists====

*1980 Heather Bishop, ''Celebration''
*1980 Rodney Brown, ''When The Bay Turns Blue''
*1981 Mendelson Joe, ''Let's Party''
*1982 Heather Bishop, ''Bellybutton'' (Children's Album)
*1982 Heather Bishop, ''I Love Women Who Laugh''
*1985 Soundtrack (with [[Michael Beinhorn]]), ''Dark Lullabies'' (Director: [[Irene Angelico]] and [[Abbey Jack Neidik]]) ([[National Film Board of Canada]])
*1986 Lillian Allen, ''Revolutionary Tea Party''
*1988 Lillian Allen, ''Conditions Critical''
*1988 Soundtrack, ''Calling The Shots'', being profile of [[Jeanne Moreau]] (Director: Janis Cole and Holly Dale)
*1988 Soundtrack, ''Mile Zero: The SAGE Tour'' (Director: Bonnie Sherr Klein) ([[National Film Board of Canada]])

== References ==

<references/>

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conger, Lauri}}
[[Category:Canadian women singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Canadian singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Canadian rock musicians]]
[[Category:Canadian rock keyboardists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Musicians from Thunder Bay]]
[[Category:Singers from Toronto]]
[[Category:The Parachute Club members]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Lauri Conger - Revision history

imported>Bearcat at 21:49, 23 February 2025