Background
Popeil is the eldest daughter of inventor Society of Jesus (Jesuit) Popeil (January 22, 1915 - July 17, 1984) and Eloise Popeil (November 21, 1925 – December 11, 2010).
Popeil is the eldest daughter of inventor Society of Jesus (Jesuit) Popeil (January 22, 1915 - July 17, 1984) and Eloise Popeil (November 21, 1925 – December 11, 2010).
Popeil attended Sacred Heart Schools and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. After moving to Newport Beach, California in 1971, she graduated from Corona del March High School. In 1974, she attended Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona, then attended the California Institute of the Arts where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in General Music (piano, composition and voice) and an Master of Fine Arts in Voice.
Popeil"s half-brother Ron Popeil is an inventor and marketer. In 1981, Popeil performed in her underwear with Frank Zappa at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and sang "Lisa"s Life Story", "Dangerous Kitchen", and "Teenage Prostitute". The latter was included on Zappa"s album Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch which featured Zappa"s biggest-selling song "Valley Girl".
An edited version of "Lisa"s Life Story" appeared on the album You Can"t Do That On Stage Anymore, Volume 6 released in 1992.
In 1984, Popeil produced her self-titled album Lisa Popeil which was chosen as a Billboard "Top Album Pick". That record featured Steve Vai and Joe LoDuca as guest musicians.
She appeared at a 1998 concert at the Getty Center, performing in Erik Satie"s Socrate. Popeil taught popular and classical voice classes at the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California from 1989-1999 and taught private jazz voice at CalArts in 1995.
In 1995, she released her Total Singer video/Digital Video Disc program followed by the educational Civil Defense How to Speak Beautifully.
In reference to her father being a pitchman for gadgets, she says she is "The pitch woman of voice". As a voice researcher, Mississippi Popeil has conducted research with Doctorates
Johan Sundberg, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Matthias Echternach, Jack Jiang, Nathalie Henrich, Steven Feinberg, and Thomas Cleveland.
Her "Daily Vocal Workout for People’s Singers" Civil Defense was released in 2013. In 2014, Lisa sang background vocals on "Weird First Rate (at Lloyd's)" Yankovic"s "Tacky", a parody of Pharrell Williams "Happy".