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вЂњWe were very close,вЂќ Lisa Lisa said years later. Although her father left shortly after Lisa was born, the family was tight. Yet, amongst the rampant violence, salsa music wholesalers, cutthroat bars and spiritual Botanicas, there were also decent folks striving to survive against those mean streets. Raised by a strict, religious mother back in the day when her hood was no joke, Lisa LisaвЂ™s HellвЂ™s Kitchen was a strange melting pot thatВ a wild Irish gang known as the Westies called home, where a bugged-out Puerto Rican crew sporting the moniker the Vampires once ruled the night, and the relations between the two groups inspired the classic musical West Side Story. Born in 1966, she grew-up in HellвЂ™s Kitchen, which spanned from 34thВ Street to 59thВ Street between 8thВ Avenue and the Hudson River.

The youngest of ten children with six sisters and three brothers, she was a buxom girl with a less-than-perfect voice, but enough attitude, vision, and sass to blossom intoВ a star. Lisa Lisa was a Puerto Rican cutie from the streets of New York whose real name was Lisa Velez. CatherineвЂ™s of Genoa, every salsa dancing women I encountered at Broadway 96, and the red lipstick wearing chicks in-line at the Funhouse. Without a doubt, I was a huge fan of their hit first singleВ and danced too it at the Ritz and Danceteria (where the group performed their first show the year before), but I was also crushing hard on the cutie-pie lead singer who reminded me of every girl IвЂ™d ever lusted after during the Puerto Rican Parade, every girl IвЂ™d knelt beside at mass inside St. For a moment, I was stunned silent and then, I smiled like a fool on the hill. вЂњSo whoвЂ™s coming?вЂќ I asked with a hint of fan boy excitement.

Noticing my puzzled expression, he explained that an in-store referred toВ recording artists comingВ to the store to autograph their albums and meet the fans. Two weeks into the gig, my supervisor asked me and few others to help move the record shelves upstairs for an in-store. At 22 years-old, clerking at the busy store was my third full-time job in three years. With its three floors and extensive selections, Tower was where young folks chilled with their friends, older folks lingered in the jazz department, and one could sample new music through old headphones. During the cocaine-riddled вЂ80s, when albums and cassettes still sold briskly, the massive Tower Records in the East Village was one of New YorkвЂ™s most popular meeting and hang-out spots.

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Three months after the single was released, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam visitedВ Tower Records on 4th Street and Broadway, where I worked at the time, to promote their recently released debut disc Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force.

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With Ronald Reagan serving his second term in the White House, crack cocaine hitting the streets hard, Hollywood royalty Rock Hudson dying from AIDS (at a time when the press and government barely mentioned the disease), Jean-Michel BasquiatВ creating life on canvas, the introduction of new Coke and Back to the Future in theaters, 1985 was a pivotal twelve months that changed the world, and вЂњI WonderвЂ¦вЂќ was an essential part of the yearвЂ™s soundtrack. One heard it booming from zooming taxi cabs, screaming from behind the counter of uptown bodegas blasting WKTU, and shrieking from the massive boom-box speakers of Times Square breakdancers. With its heavy synths, Linn drums and irresistible bassline, the defiant groove and teenage romanticism of the soulful single became an anthem. Living in New York City during the summer of 1985, my favorite jam was вЂњI Wonder If I Take You HomeвЂќ by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. Summer SOULstice вЂ“ 1985: Lisa Lisa and Cult JamвЂ™s вЂњI Wonder If I Take You HomeвЂќ