Lisa Lisa

Lisa Velez, known professionally as Lisa Lisa, was born in New York City in January 1967. Her early life in Hell’s Kitchen included singing in her church choir at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and participating in a traveling high school singing group that performed Motown hits and Broadway musical songs. At age 14, Velez auditioned for the Brooklyn production team Full Force, leading to the formation of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. The group, comprising Velez, guitarist/bassist Alex “Spanador” Moseley, and drummer/keyboardist Mike Hughes, quickly signed with Columbia Records.

In 1983, Columbia Records released their debut single, “I Wonder If I Take You Home,” to the European division of CBS Records, followed by a U.S. release in 1984. This single became a chart-topper on Billboard’s Dance/Disco chart, peaked at No. 6 on the R&B chart, and reached No. 34 on the pop chart in 1985, eventually achieving gold certification in the United States. Their debut album, “Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force,” released in 1985, was later certified platinum. The group continued to achieve significant success with their second album, “Spanish Fly” (1987), which produced two gold-certified No. 1 pop hits, “Head to Toe” and “Lost in Emotion.” “Head to Toe” also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the R&B chart.

Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam maintained their presence through the late 1980s and early 1990s with albums such as “Straight to the Sky” (1989) and “Straight Outta Hell’s Kitchen” (1991). The latter included the hit “Let the Beat Hit ‘Em,” which reached No. 1 on both the R&B and club charts before the group disbanded in 1991. Following the group’s dissolution, Lisa Lisa embarked on a solo career, releasing the album “LL77” in 1994, which featured the single “Skip to My Lu” reaching No. 38 on the R&B chart. She later explored acting, appearing in the Nickelodeon series “Taina” (2001-2002) and an episode of “Law & Order” (2003). In 2009, she released another solo album, “Life ‘n Love,” and in June 2019, she signed with Snoop Dogg’s Army. A biopic based on her career, “Can You Feel The Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story,” premiered on Lifetime in February 2025.