American singer-songwriter Hope Sandoval is best known as the lead singer and co-founder of Mazzy Star, as well as for her work as the frontwoman of Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions. Born on June 24, 1966, in Los Angeles and raised in a family of Mexican descent, she began her musical career in the 1980s alongside her friend Sylvia Gomez in the folk duo Going Home. The two even recorded material produced by David Roback, but the project was never officially released.
In 1987, Sandoval replaced Kendra Smith on vocals for Opal, a band of which Roback was already a member. From this partnership, Mazzy Star emerged toward the end of that decade. The group debuted with She Hangs Brightly (1990) and achieved international recognition with the hit “Fade Into You,” a track from their second album, So Tonight That I Might See (1993), which became a smash hit the following year. With her velvety voice and a sound that blended folk, psychedelia, and dream pop, Sandoval became a prominent figure in the alternative music scene of the 1990s. In 1996, the band released Among My Swan.
During a hiatus from Mazzy Star, Sandoval founded Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions in 2000 alongside Colm Ó Cíosóig, the drummer for My Bloody Valentine. The project released the albums Bavarian Fruit Bread (2001), Through the Devil Softly (2009), and Until the Hunter (2016)—the latter featuring Kurt Vile on the single “Let Me Get There.” In 2017, the duo released the EP Son of a Lady.
With Mazzy Star, the singer returned to the studio in 2013 with Seasons of Your Day, released 17 years after their previous album. In 2018, the group released the EP Still. David Roback, her primary creative partner in the group, passed away in February 2020 at the age of 61.
Throughout her career, Sandoval has also collaborated with artists such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Chemical Brothers, Death in Vegas, Air, Bert Jansch, and Massive Attack—with whom she recorded the memorable tracks “Paradise Circus” and “The Spoils.” In 2019, she appeared on Mercury Rev’s album Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited, performing “Big Boss Man.”
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