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Lisa Lisa music biography continued...

Velez discovered a talent for singing as a youngster in her church's choir. Hoping to be discovered like her idol Madonna, Velez became a fixture on the club circuit, particularly the Fun House, where she was introduced to the street gang turned music group Full Force. FF arranged for her to be backed by musicians Mike Hughes and Alex "Spanador" Mosely (Cult Jam), and in 1985 Columbia released her debut under the name Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Full Force. The album yielded two hit singles, "I Wonder if I Take You Home," a dance club favorite, and "All Cried Out," an emotive ballad that broke the Top Ten pop chart. After a two year interval, Velez and company returned with the album Spanish Fly, which was a major success both critically and commercially. The album featured "the girlish doo-wop of "Lost in Emotion" and the upbeat hip-hop of 'Everything Will B-Fine'." "Lost In Emotion" hit the number one position in two charts, as did the infectious dance cut "Head To Toe," and the album became Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's second platinum-selling effort. At the height of her fame, Velez also had a track in the Chevy Chase movie Caddyshack 2, "Go for Yours," in summer 1988, which gave her even greater recognition.



Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's 1989 LP Straight to the Sky, was a critical and commercial disappointment, but the company changed producers and came back in 1991 with Straight Outta Hell's Kitchen, which yielded the number one R&B single, "Let the Beat Hit 'Em." The follow-up to this album was another disappointment, however, and Velez split with Cult Jam, resurfacing in 1993 as a solo act on the album LL 77. The album yielded two notable singles-- "Skip to My Lu" which landed at #38 on the R&B charts, and the dance tune "When I Fell in Love." Velez didn't resurface again until 2001 on the Nickelodeon series Taina, in which she played the title character's mother. Her second solo album, Mass Appeal Entertainment, was slated for the summer of 2009.