Belinda Carlisle Unsealed", published in June 2010, was a "New York Times" Best Seller and received favorable reviews. On August 11, 2011, as a member of the Go-Go's, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Belinda Jo Carlisle was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on August 17, 1958 to Harold Carlisle, a gas station employee, and his wife, Joanne (née Thompson), a homemaker. Her mother met her father, who was twenty years her senior, at age eighteen, and Carlisle was born nine months later. She was named after her mother's favorite film, "Johnny Belinda" (1948). Carlisle was the
Was (Not Was) guest players. In 1982, the group played on "Don't Walk Away", a solo album for lead singer "Sweet Pea" Atkinson. "Born to Laugh at Tornadoes" (1983) had even more guest musicians, including Ozzy Osbourne rapping over electro, Mitch Ryder singing a techno-rockabilly number, Mel Tormé performing a ballad about asphyxiation, and an abstract funk piece called "Man vs. the Empire Brain Building". Singer Donald Ray Mitchell joined the group as third lead vocalist. In 1988, they found their biggest hit with the album "What Up, Dog?", which featured the singles "Walk the Dinosaur" and "Spy in the House of Love".