https://open.spotify.com/track/3sRCesHh424gmCji7Fz9Gm
One of the greatest Latin HipHop/ Freestyle/ Pop divas to come out of the 1980’s music scene is the legendary Lisa Velez also known as Lisa Lisa of the 80’s super group Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam.
Produced by Full force, the group shot straight up the charts and went platinum several times over with their first few albums. Their freshman album “Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force”, had her break out hits “I Wonder If I Take You Home” & “Can You Feel The Beat”. Those two songs alone helped to launch the underground genre of “Freestyle music” into main stream.
Then the amazing 80’s supergroup did it again with the second album “Spanish Fly” by crossing over to the pop charts with mega hits like “Head to Toe” & “Lost In Emotion”.
If that wasn’t epic enough they sealed that success with their third album “Straight to the sky” releasing another number one pop single called “Little Jackie”.
Needless to say Columbia records had instant superstars on their roster of artist.
As the 80’s faded out and the 90’s came in with a new sound merging both the dance music and hip hop seamlessly, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam rode that wave to a fourth album “Straight Out Of Hell’s Kitchen”.
The group collaborated with two of the 90’s hottest producers Robert Clivilles, and the late great David Cole, a duo known as C&C Music Factory on a song called “Let The Beat Hit Em”.
The song went on to be one of the biggest dance singles of that decade.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
The album “Straight Out Of Hell’s Kitchen” was named after the neighborhood Lisa Velez was brought up in.
The youngest of 10 children, born in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City, Lisa aspired to be a singer very early on in life.
At the age of 13, Lisa would sneak out to nightclubs where she met Mike Hughes of “Cult Jam”.
Mike introduced her to the guys which would become her life changing music producers Full Force.
Full Force’s Lou Star, Paul Anthony and B-Fine were immediately impressed with Lisa’s angelic sounding voice. The collective works of producers & artists would soon launch three individuals Lisa Velez, Mike Hughes and Alex Mosley now know to the world as Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam to super-stardom.
Throughout her journey Lisa Lisa became the first Latin platimun artist to be recognized nationwide. She has paved the way for some of the latin female artist to come after her such as Gloria Estefan, Selena & our very own Jenny from the block, Jennifer Lopez.
After the group went their separate ways in 1994, Lisa released her first solo album “LL77” on Chrysalis records which included a Top 40 hit “Skip To My Lu” and her first Spanish-language track “Cuando Me Enamore”.
Driven, Lisa branched off into the acting world in the mid 90’s. She first gravitated to the theater world performing in Broadway and off Broadway plays such as “Barrio Babes” and “West Side Story”.
Then In 2001 she hit the television airways as a young and sharp witted mother Gloria Morales in the popular Nickelodeon series “Taina” that lasted two season.
Lisa also made an appearances on the hit series Law & Order in 2003 as a desperate mother who made a bad decision to save her terminally ill son life and ends up on the wrong side of the law. This role showed the world her acting diversity.
After more than 30 years of being a trail blazer in the music business & gracing the acting world Lisa’s journey is far from over.
Lisa and her team Robert Drieslein “Bobby Dee Productions” & “Uncle Snoops Army” the legendary Snoop Dog himself are working on bringing you some amazing things in the very near future.
Lisa Lisa continues to tour the world with her band SoDisrespectful and her dance ensemble.
Look out for new tours, new music, & more television. Lisa Lisa will be coming to a city near you soon. Stay turned.