R&B Bridgez: The Real Story of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
The Group Will Celebrate The 40th Anniversary of Their Debut Album.
We’re still on a high from the Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam biopic that aired last night. Especially after seeing it spotlight our home St. Paul, MN.
R&B Bridgez: The Real Story of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.
The group will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of their debut album “Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force,” this summer.
Although we were thrilled to have a Lisa Lisa biopic, we pre-gamed and all with the groups hits. We like many of the groups day one fans, were disappointed in what the story on screen played out to be.
A more accurate story of a band that many of us, use to run to the TV when we would hear their videos come on like “Head to Toe” would of been better.
Some other issues we found with it is it airing the first day of Black History Month, while disrespecting black men by erasing them from the history of this story.
The timeline was completely off, not to mention key songs like “All Cried Out” was omitted from the film.
This was doomed from the jump when they erased Full Force from this timeline #CanYouFeelTheBeat https://t.co/wGer2rKV6N
— Trevor Michaels (@trevmikewrites) February 2, 2025
Another issue UB found with the movie, is Lisa Lisa continued to do the fellas like the industry did, by leaving their individual stories out.
The movie was about Lisa and Toni, and should of been titled that.
Between @lifetimetv deciding to start Black History Month with the Lisa biopic instead of Gloria Gaynor, then#CanYouFeelTheBeat completely erasing Full Force from the film eventhough they wrote & produced all the hits in the biopic including title song, this film is very foul pic.twitter.com/z5Mj3hEhZa
— All is Well (@AboveTheFrayNow) February 2, 2025
The reason Lisa gave for Full Force being removed from history: “It was always an issue with people understanding who Cult Jam was (no it wasn’t). Full Force were the producers and management and I wanted to tell the story of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam and who we were, how we started. That’s what the audience needed to know. That’s who I chose to represent.”
The problem with that, is we got the Lisa and Toni show. Also the fans are not slow! We were 80s babies and huge Lisa Lisa fans and trust we knew who belonged in what band. The story over the years from Unsung to other interviews, have expressed the issue with Full Force wearing too many hats. That should of been addressed then, not by trying to rewrite history for television.
Where is Full Force in all of this??? Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t they…discover her?? #CanYouFeelTheBeat pic.twitter.com/i2sCsnykJT
— thatgirl_nunu (@rae_524) February 2, 2025
They began as three young New Yorkers; Alex Moseley and Mike Hughes – led by Lisa Lisa, as a trio that pleased their cult with their jams.
One of the greatest Latin Hip Hop/Freestyle/Pop divas to come out of the 1980’s music scene is the legendary Lisa Velez also known as Lisa Lisa.
Produced by Full Force, the group shot straight up the charts and went platinum several times over their first few albums.
The rise of Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam is a story of transition. For roughly two years, Columbia worked to re-shape the public figures of the group, to expand their image from cult status to the mainstream.
Expanding from a cult base at the time was difficult. However Lisa Lisa had hits. The campaign for the group represented an example of how to do it right!
It all began in the streets, in the underground, in fact, in the fall of 1984 — when quietly began the rise of a cult hero. With the single “I Wonder If I Take You Home,” the group won the early attention of British clubs. They became a sensation, then a rage.
Eventually, their success overseas prompted a domestic release of the record in spring 1985. From the beginning, clubs all over the nation matched the early support that British clubs had given Lisa Lisa. Soon “I Wonder If I Take You Home” was the #1 dance record.
The follow-up single, “Can You Feel The Beat,” indicated that the group’s first chart triumph was no fluke.
Their break out hits “I wonder If I Take You Home” and “Can You Feel The Beat,” helped to launch the underground genre of “Freestyle music” into mainstream.
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam continued under the tutelage of the six-member performing and producing team, Full Force. The group and manager Steve Salem formed Full Force.
They had originally signed Lisa Lisa, before taking them to CBS to secure a deal.
In April of 1987, the groups sophomore platinum album “Spanish Fly” was released.
The album led with the Billboard #1 “Head to Toe,” the single also reached gold status. Followed by the second straight Billboard #1 from the album “Lost in Emotion.”
“We worked the first album for a year and a half. We just never gave up,” stated Ruben Rodrigues, VP/R&B Promotion at Columbia to an industry trade. “One of my first projects when I joined the company was Lisa Lisa’s ‘Can You Feel The Beat.’ It was going down the charts, at #96. We brought it back. We pushed it back to the high 50s. Consequently, we sold another 100,000 units. That set the stage for ‘All Cried Out.’ It became a top record. And Lisa Lisa was a star.”
“That record set the stage for ‘Head To Toe.’ Everyone here in the company got together on this. When you have the kind of machinery that CBS has working for you, there’s only one way to go. Everyone said, ‘We’re going to bring this one home.’ “We have a multi-platinum artist here. We went gold in only a few weeks. We want to do three to four million units, and beyond. That is what this company is about right now — taking a new artist and developing a superstar. Everyone knows who Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam is. They have a household name. “They went from a cult following to a huge, mass-appeal act.”
Lisa shared her thoughts at the time, to the key to their success? “Our ability to produce a different sound each time we come out. We don’t like to stay the same, we like to change with the times. What we really want to bring back is the feeling of the “live” band music from the ’60s and early ’70s. I think that’s what’s kept us on the top. While everyone’s doing that mainstream sound we come in from left field.”
The groups third album “Straight to the Sky,” came in April of 1989. It featured the modest hit “Little Jackie Wants to Be a Star.” The single reached the top 5 on the Billboard R&B chart.
Lisa told an industry trade why they led with it for the album release; “Because it’s different from what everyone else has out now. Everyone’s coming out with a dance hit that sounds the same, we just wanted to be different and do something that everyone liked. Plus, Little Jackie is a true story, it’s everybody’s true story, every little girl out there dreams of becoming a star some day. Everybody thinks that Little Jackie is Lisa, but it’s not.” Lisa went on to say; “It’s every little girl’s dream of going for what she wants to be. We’re kind of playing the role of Jackie telling people out there that if you want to be somebody go for it, but don’t get yourself into anything that you can’t get out of.”
In 1991, the group collaborated with two of the 90’s hottest producers Robert Clivilles, and the late David Cole, known as C&C Music Factory on their forth album “Straight Outta Hell’s Kitchen.”
The lead single “Let The Beat Hit Em,” was one of the biggest dance singles of that decade.
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. “I think when I was growing up I listened to a lot of the Jackson 5, Roberta Flack, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and the Supremes. If it was on Motown I liked it. But my idol was always Patti Labelle. To me she’s like the mother of female vocalists,” Lisa told an industry trade.
At age 13, Lisa would sneak out to nightclubs where she met Mike Hughes of ”Cult Jam.” Mike introduced her to music to producers Full Force.
As the group went their separate ways in 1994, Lisa released her first solo album “LL77,” which featured a Top 40 hit “Skip To My Lu” and her first Spanish track “Cuando Me Enamore.”
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.”
In 2001 she starred in the popular Nickelodeon series “Taina” that lasted 2 seasons and also appeared on NBC’s “Law and Order SVU.”
Some of the groups biggest hits have been re-recorded by Allure & 112, Nina Sky, and The Black Eyed Peas.
Not only did Lisa Lisa set the music bar high for those to come later but she set fashion trends as well.
Lisa’s hair flipped over one eye and her unique style caught fire in the urban community.
Lisa Lisa paved the way for an entire generation of Latino American artists to follow in her footsteps such as Selena, J-Lo & Cardi B, to name a few.
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam were definitely pioneers and trendsetters, of an entire generation.
Take A Trip Down Memory Lane With Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam!
