LISA LISA IN CONCERT:
Freestyle icon Lisa Lisa always brings the dance party on her fun-loving live tours, delivering decade-spanning sets of her funky hits to nostalgic fans. Body-rocking jams like “I Wonder If I Take You Home” and “Head to Toe” sound as fresh today as they did in the ‘80s, and Lisa Lisa’s spunky energy and groove sense remain as infectious as ever. Whether she’s throwing it back with ‘80s freestyle favorites or busting out recent material like her 2009 collaboration with Pitbull, Lisa Lisa is a top-drawer performer whose beat-heavy shows always take fans on a dance-worthy journey down memory lane.
BACKGROUND SNAPSHOT:
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam were one of the first acts to break out of NYC’s nascent freestyle scene in the mid-‘80s. New York-born Lisa Lisa, aka Lisa Velez, is of Puerto Rican descent, and grew up surrounded by both Latin music and urban contemporary styles in the city’s multicultural mix. In the mid-‘80s legendary R&B group Full Force discovered Velez, and they put together her backing band Cult Jam and began writing and producing tracks for the group’s debut. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam released their first album Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force in 1985. The record produced several Gold-selling singles including the dance chart No. 1 “I Wonder If I Take You Home”. The band’s rise continued in 1987 with sophomore album Spanish Fly, a Platinum-certified smash that earned them two consecutive No. 1s on the Hot 100 – “Head to Toe” and “Lost in Emotion”. The band continued to be a regular presence on the dance chart through the rest of the decade, but in 1991 they called it quits. Lisa Lisa found some success as a solo artist in the mid-‘90s with moderate hits like “Skip to My Lu” and “When I Fell in Love”, but she spent much of the ‘00s out of the spotlight. She made a triumphant return in 2009 with her sixth studio album Life ‘n Love, and continues to turn it out with party-worthy performances at freestyle festivals around the country.
