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1 hits, Head to Toe and Lost in Emotion.
Its nice to see you being valorized in your own biopic.
Of course, I had to research her, and she absolutely was right.
But I still wasnt ready to make the film.
How did it work in terms of telling the story?
Did you sit down with Rebecca Murga, who wrote the screenplay?Yes, we did.
Toni and I both.
Rebecca just wanted to know everything about me and how my career started.
It seemed like a conscious choice to put that up front in this film.Absolutely.
Where I am today, I owe 100 percent to Toni Menage.
She needed to be in this to let people know that its not easy.
Its still not easy.
And its always good to have people that got your back.
Per the movie, there were times when she was the only other woman in the room with you.Absolutely.
From the beginning, it was a room full of nothing buthungrymen.
They touch you suggestively.
And it was the 80s, and, again, the music industry was 100 percent nothing but male.
I was the only female in that group.
Its something that I went through and something that I overcame.
Went to therapy and everything.
What was it like to endure that?
I was a kid, right?
I knew nothing about that.
I came from the church with my family, my mom, especially.
Hells Kitchen, you learn from the streets, but you learn as you go.
And I thank Toni again for opening my eyes to a lot of that.
Did you have creative control of this movie?Mostly, yeah.
Toni and I, we sat in during every day of filming.
We sat in while it was being written.
Im gonna say like 95 percent.
Full Force arent mentioned in the movie by name.
Why is that?It was always an issue with people understanding who Cult Jam was.
Thats what the audience needed to know.
Thats who I chose to represent.
I wish them nothing but the best.
I had to go back into the record label and talk and discuss, and we had several meetings.
That threw me off too.
Did fame ever weigh on you?
I am a true believer that God is the one that puts you where you belong.
I was very well taken care of, though.
My mom was very grounding, rest her soul.
If she wasnt, I wouldnt be here today.
I was able to be me when I got home.
She made sure of that.
Your albumSpanish Flyhad two Billboard Hot 100 No.
But it comes and goes, and I kept myself busy.
Youre never going to be on top all the time.
Its a come and go kind of business.
I was raised on live music.
My parents were in a band when they were in Puerto Rico.
They didparrandasall the time.
When we first started as Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Full Force was our live band.
We were always onstage.
I love to be on stage live.
So when we perform, youre always going to get live vocals.
You play your mother in this movie.
What was that like?
It seems surreal.Surreal, yeah, perfect word.
We were all good kids, though, and she raised all ten of us by herself.
It was therapeutic to remember, to have to go into all of that past.
You know, I did it for her.
Were you ever screwed out of money?Oh, yeah, still.
I was a kid, I didnt know what the hell I was signing when I first signed it.
I just wanted to sing, and they truly convinced me that everything was going to be okay.
And my mother, business-wise, she did everything freelance.
Coming to New York, she was only 17, 18 years old, and she had kids already.
She didnt know any of that.
She tried to learn how to speak English.
So I just went ahead and signed.
So thats how you were making money, basically?
It wasnt through the recordings?Yeah.
Im in the process of writing my memoirs, so all of that will be told.
Have you lived comfortably as a result of your career?Yeah, Im a working woman.
I love to work, and Im okay.
I should be better, but Ill get there.
You know, it was fun.
It says inSpinthat you bid a million dollars.I did.
