Lissette Melendez

Lisette Melendez is a freestyle/latin pop/dance-pop singer born in 1976 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 1976 and raised in East Harlem, Melendez' childhood inspirations include her mother and aunt, who sung 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 Puerto Rican, 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. Four more albums followed, including her second album True To Life in 1994 which spawned the Billboard Hot 100 hit "Goody Goody" (#53) and "Will You Ever Save Me" which charted on the Rhythmic Top 40 at #38. The album did extremely well in Japan, both commercially and critically, where she won a "Best New Artist" Grammy Award. In 1998, she released her third album, Un Poco De Mi in 1998, a salsa album sung in Spanish. It scored a hit with "Algo de Mi" which peaked at #8 on the Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay chart and #23 on the Hot Latin Tracks chart. Her fourth album released later in 1998 is titled, "Imagination." The lead single from "Imagination" was "Time Passes By." It did not gain mass radio airplay and success like her previous singles, but it became a moderate hit nonetheless. In 2005 Melendez teamed up with fellow Freestyle artist Cynthia and released the single "I Can't Change Your Mind" as the duo, Liscyn. She continues to tour as of 2006.