The Freestyle Music Thread

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FREESTYLE ALL DAY EVERYDAY!!

Freestyle or Latin Freestyle, also called Latin Hip Hop in its early years, is a form of electronic music that emerged in the early 1980s and declined around the early 1990s.

Information Society, Exposé, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Shannon, La India, TKA, Corina, Nocera, Company B, The Cover Girls, Stevie B, Korell, Noel, Sa-Fire, Johnny O, Pajama Party, Shana, Will to Power, Sweet Sensation, Seduction, Judy Torres, Linear, George Lamond, Lil' Suzy, Lisette Melendez, Coro, and Collage are some notable performers of the genre. It continues to be produced today and enjoys some degree of popularity, especially in the urban Hispanic-American communities, as it did when it first came on to the scene. Another popular modern dance music genre, Florida breaks, evolved from this sound.

The music first developed primarily in the Latino communities of New York City and then Miami in the early 1980s. Initially, it was a fusion of the vocal styles found in 1970s disco music with the syncopated, synthetic instrumentation of 1980s electro, as favored by fans of breakdancing. It was also influenced by sampling, as found in hip hop music. Specifically, Freestyle's true roots are traced back to Soul Sonic Force's "Planet Rock" (1982) and Shannon's "Let the Music Play", which debuted in 1983. Silent Morning, composed by Noel, boosted Freestyle's popularity and brought it to the forefront of the international scene in 1987, expanding its potential. Before Freestyle could make a permanent impact, however, by the late 1980s and early 1990s, house music, a reincarnation of 1970's disco, challenged the original, upbeat 1980s Freestyle. In the late 1980s and on through the 1990s, the electro and Latin hip hop influences of Freestyle were supplanted by house music, which marked Freestyle's downfall. Freestyle reached its peak in the early 1990s before it began to fall in popularity and was slowly replaced by burgeoning house music.

Freestyle has continued to have a strong following in its two founding cities, although a club sound, Freestyle has begun to spread back into the mainstream media. Beginning in 1996 New York's WKTU radio station began holding live concerts titled "Freestyle Free for ALL". They also presently hold Freestyle nights (Weekends), dedicating a few hours to freestyle music hosted by Judy Torres. Since its debut the concert reinserted Freestyle into the lime light paving the way for new releases later that year, such as "Do unto me" by Coro. After the popularity of Reggaeton began to diminish interest in Freestyle began to increase, with some radio stations giving up their Reggaeton blocks for Freestyle blocks. In 2006, WKTU invited Coro to perform in their "Beatstock" Concert which was very well received. Although Freestyle remained an "old school beat", its popularity continued to expand further than New York City and Miami, beginning to spread into Europe. In 2008, arguably the largest Freestyle concert in its existence was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The concert titled "Freestyle Extravaganza" sold out and was one of the most celebrated concerts. Freestyle has begun to influence Reggaeton with a few singles being released with Freestyle beats, as well as, remakes of old Freestyle songs; Pitbull and Stevie B releasing a remake of the hit "Spring Love".

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PLEASE NOTE, THAT THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FREESTYLE RAP


The 80s were my formative teen years, and that's when I first heard Freestyle music, and loved it from the get go.
Finally decided to do a thread for a music genre that I still listen to at this later point of my life.
I'm pretty sure that there probably isn't anyone else on JPH!P who listens to Freestyle music, but that ain't no thang to me.
I've already posted a number of videos in the 80s and 90s MV threads, so those will end posted in here also.
I'll post some info about each singer/group from their wiki pages, as well as the link, as long as there is a wiki page to found.

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DEBBIE DEB

Debbie Deb is an American dance-pop singer, best known for 1980s freestyle dance classics such as "Lookout Weekend" and "When I Hear Music".

Deb was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in North Miami Beach, Florida. A music aficionado from a young age, she was "discovered" at the age of 16 by producer Pretty Tony at a Miami record store where she was working. While Debbie had no formal training in singing, she had been singing most of her life. Pretty Tony told her that he liked the way she spoke and asked if she could sing, and she answered yes. They recorded "When I Hear Music," which she co-wrote with Pretty Tony in his studio the very next day. Released on the Jam Packed record label, the song has since become a staple in clubs and on dance radio stations and mixshows. Other hits followed, including "Lookout Weekend", "I Wanna Work It Out", "There's A Party Going On", "I Wanna Dance," and a remake of Connie's 1980s Latin freestyle classic "Funky Little Beat".

However, Deb was overweight and suffered from low self-esteem, and found her sudden fame difficult to cope with. She was crushed when her record company decided not to put her picture on the sleeves of her records and, in a Milli Vanilli-esque move, even hired an "impostor" to perform and pose as "Debbie Deb". As a result, she made little, if any, money from her hit singles, and was so hurt by the experience that she stopped singing for years, relying on her work as a hairdresser to make ends meet.

Deb finally resurfaced on the recording scene in 1995 with the album She's Back. Now living near Philadelphia, she continues to work as a hair stylist and also keeps busy performing frequent concerts around the United States, especially "freestyle revival" shows with artists like Lisa Lisa, The Cover Girls, and Shannon. Gwen Stefani has cited Deb as an influence, and in the summer of 2006, Janet Jackson featured a cover version of "Lookout Weekend" on her Web site.

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LISA LISA and CULT JAM

Lisa Lisa (born Lisa Velez, January 15, 1967) and her band Cult Jam were a Puerto Rican-American band and one of the original freestyle music groups of the 1980s. Cult Jam consisted of guitarist/bassist Alex "Spanador" Moseley, and drummer/keyboardist Mike Hughes. They were assembled and produced by Full Force.

The group released their debut album Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force in 1985. She grew up in New York City , she was raised by her step mother and her late father Will Garcia. She then was signed by Columbia Records and The Personal Records label had leased their single "I Wonder If I Take You Home" to the European division of CBS Records for the compilation album Breakdancing. Stateside club DJs began playing the single from the import LP, and thus the U.S. division of CBS, Columbia Records, released the record. It quickly became a chart-topper on Billboard's Hot Dance/Disco chart. It then crossed over to the R&B chart where it peaked at #6, and then to the pop chart, peaking at #34 in summer 1985. The single eventually went gold.

"I Wonder If I Take You Home" was followed by another club hit, "Can You Feel the Beat", which also went to #40 on the R&B chart in late 1985. A sampling of the lyrics of this song would later be used by Nina Sky for their hit single "Move Ya Body" in 2004. Their third single, the ballad "All Cried Out", also went gold, going to number #3 R&B and #8 pop in summer 1986. "All Cried Out" was later covered by Allure in 1997 and was a hit in 1998. Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force went platinum.

Their second album, Spanish Fly, was a huge success in 1987. It spawned two #1 pop hits, "Head to Toe" and "Lost in Emotion", both of which went gold and both of which sported a retro Motown flavor mixed with the Freestyle sound they were known for. "Head to Toe" also parked at #1 R&B for two weeks, and with its strong Mary Wells influence, "Lost in Emotion" did as well. Spanish Fly went platinum, peaking at #7 on the album chart. Other singles from the album were the ballad "Someone to Love Me for Me" b/w "Spanish Fly" (#7 R&B), "Everything Will B-Fine" (#9 R&B).

In between albums they released "Go For Yours" which was featured in the movie Caddyshack II and is found on its soundtrack exclusively.

1989's Straight to the Sky was a moderate hit that included the Top 30 pop/#3 R&B single, "Little Jackie Wants to Be a Star", as well as the club hit "Just Git It Together". Two decades later, their hit song would inspire the name of the group Little Jackie.

Their fourth and final album, Straight Outta Hell's Kitchen, was less of a commercial success, though it did include a hit with "Let the Beat Hit 'Em", which reached the pop Top 40 and was a #1 hit on both the R&B and club charts. The group disbanded in 1991. Velez pursued both solo and acting careers, and Moseley and Hughes went on to do other projects.

Lisa Lisa released a solo album called LL77 in 1994, which included the moderate club hit "When I Fell In Love" and the notable single "Skip To My Lu", which hit #38 on the R&B chart. She resurfaced circa 2001 on the Nickelodeon series Taina, in which she played the title character's mother.

Lisa Lisa is set to release her second solo album on Mass Appeal Entertainment, just before the summer of 2009. On June 24, Lisa Lisa was at the 2008 BET Awards presenting an award for the show.

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FREEEZ

Freeez were a UK dance music group from London, initially known for its emergence as one of the UK's leading jazz-funk bands of the early 1980s. Founded by John Rocca, Freeez consisted of various musicians, originally with Rocca and other members such as Andy Stennet (keyboards, Peter Maas (bass) and Paul Morgan or Everton Mcalla (drums).

Freeez's first single, "Keep in Touch" (1980), included guitarist Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick, the founder of Incognito. Freeez is perhaps best remembered for its UK Top 10 hit "Southern Freeez", which included guest vocals by Ingrid Mansfield Allman. Much of the band's early work, including "Southern Freeez" became part of the jazz-funk scene in the UK, in the early 1980s In the UK, the band was signed to the record label Beggars Banquet Records.

The song "I.O.U.", written, produced and mixed by Arthur Baker (then known for his work with Afrika Bambaataa), was also used on the 1980s breakdance movie, Beat Street. It spent two weeks at number one in the Billboard Dance chart sandwiched between the likes of Madonna, Michael Jackson and David Bowie, and was number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in the summer of 1983. It was followed by other releases from the album such as "Pop Goes My Love" / "Scratch Goes My Dub", which hit the U.S. Top 5. In 1987 a remix of "I.O.U." climbed back up to number 18 on the U.S. dance chart, plus number 23 in the UK Singles Chart.

Freeez reformed in 1984 without Rocca, or any of the other original members, apart fom Peter Maas. With a new sound and almost a new group altogether, Maas worked with Louis Smith who took over the duties of keyboard player, co-writer and programmer with Billy Crichton as songwriter and guitarist. The new Freeez then went on to record an album, Idle Vice (1985) at Studio number 2 at Abbey Road Studios in the same room where the Beatles made their recordings. "That Beats My Patience" was the first single from the album. Smith went on to be a session keyboard player and toured with the rock band The Escape Club who had U.S. number one hit "Wild, Wild West" and several other U.S. Top 10 successes. He also recorded as one half of Bass Kruncher with lead guitarist John Holliday from The Escape Club.

Rocca and Stennet also recorded under other pseudo names such Pictures and Pink Rhythm in 1985.

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SA-FIRE

Wilma Cosme better known by her stage name Sa-Fire (also displayed as Safire), born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1967, is an American singer. She grew up mostly in East Harlem, New York and began her singing career as a session vocalist.

Sa-Fire was discovered at an audition for Cutting Records. While she did not have massive pop chart success, she is nevertheless considered an important part of the success of Latin freestyle and remains one of the most recognizable names in that genre. Her debut single, "Don't Break My Heart" (1986), remains well regarded by freestyle music and Club/Dance fans. "Let Me be the One" (1987), her follow-up single, proved to be a bigger hit than her debut. "Boy, I've Been Told" the first single of her self-titled debut album crossed over to pop radio and became her first pop hit reaching #48 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was the #1 selling single in New York for twelve straight weeks and the #1 song on the old Hot 97 radio station in 1988. The song topped the charts in all of the major radio stations throughout the United States.

Sa-Fire scored her most commercially successful hit with the ballad "Thinking of You" in 1989, when hit peaked at #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart and at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was translated into Spanish (as "El Recuerdo de Ti") by the singer/actor, Ruben Blades.

In 1989, Sa-Fire and "Thinking of You" were featured in a public service announcement commercial for AIDS awareness. The commercial was seen on Spanish language television networks across the United States and Latin America. She also sang the song on an episode of the 1989 revival of The Mickey Mouse Club.

Those hits and others helped her debut album remain a strong seller for years, although it is currently out-of-print. The album peaked at #84 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at #79 on the Billboard Hot 200. Many agree Sa-Fire's debut album entitled "Sa-Fire" is the best freestyle album of its genre.Other singles of hers that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 include "Gonna Make It" and "Made Up My Mind." She was fortunate to have a major record label, Mercury/PolyGram, behind her to push her career forward.

She has been featured in various magazines, such as Us Magazine, Billboard, Vogue, Elle and was the first Latina to grace the cover of Spin Magazine. She has also appeared on television programs such as American Bandstand, Pat Sajak Show, Joan Rivers Show, Latin Connection, MTV International, Party Machine, PM Magazine, and Entertainment Tonight. Sa-Fire has performed throughout the United States, Japan, Europe, the Caribbean and South America. She has won numerous awards, including six New York Music Awards, three Desi Awards, and an ASCAP award for writing "Thinking of You," which was cited as one of the most-played songs on radio.

Sa-Fire was given a lifetime achievement award at radio station WKTU's "Freestyle free 4 all" concert in Atlantic City in 2007.

In October 2009, Michael Jackson posthumously released the single "This Is It," which he cowrote with Paul Anka. Sa-Fire recorded the same song back in 1991 with different lyrics, under the title "I Never Heard."

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SWEET SENSATION

Sweet Sensation was a female freestyle-dance music trio from the Bronx, New York.

Formed in 1986, the original group members were Betty LeBron (lead) and sisters Margie and Mari Fernandez. Originally on Next Plateau Records, in 1988 they were picked up by Atco and their debut album, Take It While It's Hot was released. Take It While It's Hot went to #63 on the Billboard pop albums chart and spawned five hit singles: "Hooked on You", "Victim of Love", "Take It While It's Hot", "Never Let You Go" (which hit number one), and "Sincerely Yours". In 1989, Mari was replaced by Sheila Vega (the artwork of the group's debut album was also altered when the personnel replacement was made). In 1990 their second album Love Child was released, and the group earned its biggest hit with the ballad "If Wishes Came True", which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1991 a final album featuring remixes was released, Not long after Margie & Sheila were replaced by 3 new members, Belle, Maya, & Jenae, making them a quartet. They did a few shows together, and then Betty Dee was said to go solo. By 1992 Sweet Sensation seemed to just disappear and was never heard of again.

In 2005, the dance single "My Body Tu Cuerpo," credited as Dynamix Presents Sweet Sensation, was released on Kult Records (with LeBron on lead vocals, now under the moniker of Betty Dee) and produced by Eddie Cumana and Beppe Savoni of Dynamix.

In 2004 Sweet Sensation ranked #391 on Top 500 Pop Artists of the Past 25 Years.

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LISETTE MELENDEZ

Lisette Melendez is a freestyle/latin pop/dance-pop singer born in 1967 in Spanish Harlem, NYC. She is best known for her 1991 hits "Together Forever" and "A Day In My Life (Without You)". With powerful and sultry vocals, these songs propelled her debut album Together Forever to gold status with over 700,000 copies sold. Both songs were such big dance music hits that they are credited as helping renew interest in Freestyle music in the early 90s, which had been fading in popularity due to the rise of mainstream pop music and grunge at the time.

Melendez was born in 1967 and raised in East Harlem. Melendez' childhood inspirations include her mother and aunt, who sang in a church choir and community theater. As a teenager she honed her singing voice by emulating Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler. In high school she became a fan of Puerto Rican freestyle music singer Lisa Lisa who had many dance hits. Melendez, also of Puerto Rican descent, was inspired by Lisa Lisa's success.

In 1988 she got her break and sang backing vocals for a track by dance music record producer Carlos Berrios, who had also worked with Sweet Sensation and Samantha Fox. A few years of dance club touring eventually led to the recording of the single "Together Forever" with Berrios, and soon after a full album with Fever/Columbia Records.

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George LaMond

George Lamond (born George Garcia on February 25, 1967) is an American Freestyle music singer. Born in Washington, DC, he is of Puerto Rican descent.

Lamond began singing backup for various artists before landing a solo deal with Columbia Records. His first album, released in 1990, Bad of the Heart had many underground dance hits like Bad of the Heart (#25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990), Look Into My Eyes (#4 Hot Dance Club Play, 1990) and Without You (#4 Hot Dance, 1989), all co-produced by New York producer Chris Barbosa who had produced Shannon's string of hits a few years earlier. In 1990, Lamond scored a hit with Brenda K. Starr on the duet "No Matter What" (#49 Billboard Hot 100).

His follow-up releases received press and were successful, but less successful than on his previous releases. His second album, 1992's In My Life, included a remake of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", in addition to the single "Where Does That Leave Love?" (#59 Hot 100, 1992), which made an impact on sales and radio but less of an impact in the clubs or charts as previous releases. Lamond has also released a couple of salsa albums and scored a number of hits on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks. 2001 saw the release of his highly acclaimed salsa album GL on Sony Records.

In September 2006 Lamond returned with the release of his album Oye Mi Canto, bringing a new sound to his music career. The album was a combination of reggaeton, bachata, and salsa, with seven songs produced by G1E Productions. This album was also released on Sony International. In 2008 Lamond released a new single titled "What is Love" on an album titled Don't Look Back, and a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" Session 2, produced by famed freestyle producer, Carlos "After Dark" Berrios. Lamond is featured on the Lucas Prata cover of Level 42's 'Something About You' found on Prata's Never Stop Dreamin' album.

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