Rock star author with Yorkshire in her blood

She once graced the front covers of major rock magazines across Europe, but now Lisa Dominique has her own front cover.

She has just published her first book, a vampire novel called A Walk in the Sun.

It is the latest string in the bow of this versatile woman who now lives in Beverly Hills living the celebrity lifestyle with her US music attorney husband Michael Machat and their 12 year-old son Nicholas, who has Blanket Jackson among his famous classmates.

They run a successful wine business and tasting rooms which has many A-list celebrities as its regulars.

Regardless of this Hollywood lifestyle, Lisa has maintained her Yorkshire grit and says that is what has kept her grounded throughout her eclectic career and life.

“I still am and always will be a Yorkshire girl at heart,” she says. “From Hull to London to LA, I have never lost my accent and I’m proud to say my Yorkshire roots have always been my strength.”

Music was always a massive part of Lisa’s life growing up in the East Yorkshire village of South Cave.

“Mum and dad played rock ‘n’ roll all the time,” she recalls.

“My dad, who sadly passed away this year, was a fantastic percussionist. Music was at the centre of everything in our house and I have always had a passion for rock music because of it.”

Lisa moved to London when she was 18 to follow her dream of becoming a rock star.

It was the ‘80s, the height of glam rock and Lisa took to it like a duck to water.

She initially joined her brother’s band and then after two years later formed her own band. She soon became the pin up for rock music magazines such as Kerrang!.

“I found myself on the covers of all these magazine, next to people like Jon Bon Jovi, it was amazing.”

But it wasn’t all plain sailing.

“It was a male dominated business and it was hard to get yourself and your music taken seriously. Women are leading the way more in music, but it was different in the ‘80s. I had great respect for Sharon Osbourne, she came in as the first female manager and she was an inspiration to me. I do believe that hard work pays off, you do need a bit of luck as well, but if you try hard enough you will achieve.

“I was fortunate to land myself a record deal and then I at last felt that I had a career in the record industry.”

It was the hedonistic ‘80s and Lisa has many stories of her rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle at the time.

“I never took drugs – it must have been my Catholic school upbringing,” she says quickly. “But we did party hard. I remember one occasion Peter Stringfellow had seen me play. I was about to launch my album, Rock n’ Roll Lady and he liked my music so much that he offered to hold my album launch at Stringfellow’s. It ended up being this huge star-studded event. John Waite was there and people were taking pictures and then the London Evening Standard ran an article saying we were an item, it came as news to my fiancé at the time!”

Her fiancé was Michael Machet and he was managing John Waite and Bobby Brown at the time.

The couple married, in a ceremony in South Cave which was featured in Kerrang!, and decided to move to Los Angles.

“Michael had lived with me in London for quite a few years and so I thought we’d give LA a go.” Lisa continued her music career Stateside but found herself becoming increasingly interested in her husband’s second business, Vampire Vineyards.

“Initially we got the wine from Transylvania, but then we decided we really wanted to expand it and make the wine as good as we could and so we started to take grapes from all the best vineyards.

“The wine industry is very conservative and when we said Vampire Wines they thought we were crazy. It took about ten years for them to realised that we were really serious and the wines were good.”

They source their grapes from around the American wine area, and have even bought grapes from the late Robin Williams’s vineyard.

Michael had come up with the vampire branding, long before the current resurgence in popularity.

In 2011 Lisa, who is now a director of the company, came up with the idea of opening the Vampire Lounge and Tasting Rooms close to their home in Beverley Hills.

“There was nothing like it. Because we don’t have an actual vineyard there wasn’t really anywhere people could go to taste our wine” she explains. “I wanted the surroundings to be very sumptuous and European, something very different to what people are used to. I wanted to make an oasis where people could come and escape. We have a lot of very famous customers, but I tell all my staff to respect their privacy at all times.

“The other night we had Meg Ryan and Clare Danes in the Tasting Rooms and they left a lovely message in the guest book.”

Bringing up her son in Beverley Hills surrounded by celebrities, Lisa is acutely aware of the need to keep him grounded.

“The main thing for me is keeping it real,” says Lisa who was in Yorkshire over Christmas and New year visiting her mum.

“My son loves coming to Yorkshire, he’s been looking forward to it for weeks – particularly the food. He is soccer mad and just seems so grounded despite being surrounded by celebrities.

“For me family is the most important thing.”

While they are in Yorkshire Lisa and Michael will be visiting York, where they say they would love to open a Vampire Tasting Rooms.

“We all love York, it would be such a good fit with Vampire Wines.”