Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Based in Brooklyn, vocalist Lisa Lisa (born Lisa Velez) and her supporting band, Cult Jam (Mike Hughes and Alex Spanador Moseley), were one of the most consistent dance-pop/R&B groups of the mid-80s. Hughes and Mosley were also members of Full Force, the funk group that performed and produced the majority of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jams albums. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam recorded their debut single, I Wonder if I Take You Home, soon after forming in 1985, releasing it as an independent single. The group quickly signed to Columbia Records, which re-released the single; it climbed into the R&B Top Ten and the U.K. Top 20. The group amassed a number of hit songs throughout the 80s, yet by the end of the decade their success had begun to dry up; they disbanded after 1991s Straight Outta Hells Kitchen. Lisa Lisa embarked on a solo career, releasing the commercially unsuccessful LL 77 in 1993.