January 3, 2017
Lesbian Rockers Danielle LoPresti and Alicia Champion Celebrate Amazing Year
EDGE READ TIME: 5 MIN.
It's been almost exactly one year since indie recording artist, Danielle LoPresti and her wife Alicia Champion won over fans with her music video for "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, " and it went viral.
The video received national and international attention from fans and media for its classic foundation and modern family twist showing Champion getting cozy with Santa, who turns out to be LoPresti. It was the visual partner to LoPresti's cover of the classic holiday song on her Christmas CD, "Winter's Light." The video has been celebrated worldwide and this past week gained another 150k views on YouTube, and to date, it has received close to a half million views.
A few months after Mommy was done kissing Santa, she threw on a tank top, leather pants, a flirtier attitude, and busted out her first solo release video in over a decade with the pop/rock song "Bi." The video, which was officially released in June, features Champion in an energetic flirt fest with men and women of all shapes, sizes, colors, and sexual preferences.
LoPresti makes a cameo appearance at the end when Champion sings "I don't live in promiscuity, I just see the beauty of this world in every girl and guy." "Bi" also stars adult film star and Transgender activist, Buck Angel. The song and video were quickly labeled by fans and critics as "the bisexual anthem of 2016." Huffington Post quoted, "an�unapologetic rocking ode to bisexuality."
Champion first gained nationwide popularity as the winner of Melissa Etheridge's single-season show on VH-1, "You Rock with Melissa Etheridge" back in 2004.
Then in November, LoPresti upped the ante. She and Champion assembled an all-star cast for a story-style music video the song "Holy" off her sixth studio effort, "House of D." This time the video wasn't so much about having fun, but creating a powerful story about love, equality, and the debate between and the LGBTQ community and the Religious Right on how the Bible is perceived and its true meaning. Or, as LoPresti put it, "It's my answer to the Religious Rights' argument that same-sex love is wrong."
The duo incorporated real-life LGBT couples and families starting with actor John Barrowman ("Arrow," "Torchwood") and his husband Scott. Hillary Whittington (author of "Raising Ryland"), husband Jeff, and 9-year-old transgender son Ryland. Hillary and Jeff were both recently appointed as council members on the Human Rights Campaign's Parents for Transgender Equality National Council.
The lead is played by actress Anna Kahja ("Quantico," "Silicon Valley")
The underlying message in all three videos is unity and equality, and in a time when keeping these subjects on the discussion table is paramount, more and more fans seem to be gravitating to the artists.
For Champion and LoPresti, their activism for the LGBTQ community is as important as their music, which is a large reason why they stayed independent artists and a reason they decided to relocate to the Bay area from San Diego where they lived and created one of the largest outdoor music festivals in Southern California, San Diego IndieFest.
Champion and LoPresti both work as producers and composers for film and TV when not recording their own music under their production label, Durga Sound, which now has a new studio in Oakland.
The couple met in 2003, married in 2014 and adopted their foster son XanderLucian in between. They are the perfect balance of rocker and romantic.
"I think one of the things that makes both of them so sexy to fans is their confidence and complete organic nature and honesty. What you see is what you get," said manager Jody Taylor.
Musically, the last 12 months have been incredible. The couple has been labeled "inspirational" and both have been dubbed as "one of the hottest musical lesbians of the year." They have also each made the Gay Music Chart's Top 15. "Holy" made it to number nine, jumping ahead of Sia's "The Greatest" in week 48.
So whether they are sharing a holiday night at home with fans, a sex-charged rock song, or a deeply personal journey about love and marriage equality, fans are relating and can't seem to get enough, and that is just fine with LoPresti, who said, "As with most things, when we have the courage to tell our stories, we discover over and over again how connected we all are."