Belinda Carlisle Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle (born August 17, 1958) is an American singer. She gained worldwide fame as the lead singer of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands in history, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo act. Raised in Southern California, Carlisle began her music career in 1977 as the drummer of the Los Angeles punk band the Germs, and went on to join the Go-Go's as the lead singer after the band's formation in 1978. With their chart-topping debut release "Beauty and the Beat" in 1981, the group helped popularize new
Belinda Carlisle met in an art class while a student at Thousand Oaks High School. However, her time in the band was short due to her contracting mononucleosis, and she never recorded or performed live with the Germs. According to Pat Smear, upon quitting, she introduced her friend, Donna Rhia, who became her replacement. Carlisle does appear on one recording introducing the band at a 1977 performance at the Whisky a Go Go, heard on the live album "Germicide" (1977). Around this time, Carlisle did some back-up singing for Black Randy and the Metrosquad. Soon after leaving the Germs, she co-founded the