Forever Freestyle at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in association with SAL ABBATIELLO of Fever Records presents for the eleventh year in a row the Latin-flavored Dance Music Sensation, with FOREVER FREESTYLE 11 on Saturday, March 4th, 2017 at 8pm. To Latino teenagers in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Freestyle, a hybrid of Hip Hop and disco, was known simply as “Our Music.” Returning to Lehman Center for the tenth year in a row, the concert will feature performances by 15 groups: TKA/K7 “Maria”, JUDY TORRES “No Reason To Cry”, CYNTHIA “Change On Me”, GEORGE LAMOND “Bad Of The Heart”, NOEL “Silent Morning”, CORO “Where Are You Tonight”, ROB BASE “It Takes Two”, SA-FIRE “Boy I’ve Been Told”, CORINA “Temptation”, LYDIA LEE LOVE “Don’t Take Your Love Away” and SOAVE “Crying Over You”. Hosted by SAL ABBATIELLO and SPEEDY. Music by DJ LUCHO, DJ 1st CLASS and WHITEBOY DJ KYS. Produced by Lehman Center and Sal Abbatiello....

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Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in association with SAL ABBATIELLO of Fever Records presents for the eleventh year in a row the Latin-flavored Dance Music Sensation, with FOREVER FREESTYLE 11 on Saturday, March 4th, 2017 at 8pm. To Latino teenagers in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Freestyle, a hybrid of Hip Hop and disco, was known simply as “Our Music.” Returning to Lehman Center for the tenth year in a row, the concert will feature performances by 15 groups: TKA/K7 “Maria”, JUDY TORRES “No Reason To Cry”, CYNTHIA “Change On Me”, GEORGE LAMOND “Bad Of The Heart”, NOEL “Silent Morning”, CORO “Where Are You Tonight”, ROB BASE “It Takes Two”, SA-FIRE “Boy I’ve Been Told”, CORINA “Temptation”, LYDIA LEE LOVE “Don’t Take Your Love Away” and SOAVE “Crying Over You”. Hosted by SAL ABBATIELLO and SPEEDY. Music by DJ LUCHO, DJ 1st CLASS and WHITEBOY DJ KYS. Produced by Lehman Center and Sal Abbatiello.

SAL ABBATIELLO, one of the pioneers of Hip Hop, discovered many rappers and DJs such as Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C. at the legendary night club Disco Fever. Abbatiello’s Bronx Latin dance club, The Devils Nest, is where Latin Hip Hop was born and is now called Freestyle. There he discovered Little Louie Vega, TKA, The Cover Girls, Lisette Melendez and many more. Abbatiello’s record label Fever Records is credited with releasing the first Freestyle recording in 1984, Nayobe’s “Please Don’t Go”. He is now known as the “Godfather of Freestyle” and has been promoting Freestyle concerts for over 30 years.

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets for FOREVER FREESTYLE 11 on Saturday, March 4th, 2017 at 8pm are $100*VIP, $65, $60, and $55 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718-960-8833 (Monday through Thursday, 10am–5pm, and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through online access at www.LehmanCenter.org. *New This Season: HAVANA CAFÉ and Lehman Center special VIP pre-concert wine & hors d’oeuvres reception starting at 6:30pm. VIP tickets include the reception and the best seats in the house. At the reception meet other patrons and the staff of Lehman Center. Sponsored by Havana Café Restaurant and Havana Club Puerto Rican Rum. Lehman Center is accessible by #4 or D train to Bedford Park Blvd. and is off the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway. Low-cost on-site parking available for $5.

TKA/K7 is a Latin-influenced Spanish Harlem hip-hop group that garnered success in the early ‘90s with their hit “Come Baby Come.” Other hits include “Maria” (1982), “One Way Love” and “Tears May Fall” (1987), “You Are The One” (1989) and “Louder Than Love.” Led by K7 (Louis “Kayel” Sharpe), the former lead vocalist of the Freestyle super-group TKA, TKA/K7 also features Tre Duece and LOS.

JUDY TORRES, known as the “Queen of Freestyle,” was discovered at age 18 in her hometown of the Bronx and quickly became a star with such hits as “No Reason to Cry” (1986) and “Come Into My Arms” (1987). Her second album produced the hit single “I Love You for All Seasons.” In late 2005, she released popular hit cover of a song by the band Journey titled “Faithfully.” Her most recent release is 2010’s MP3 album Stay.

CYNTHIA hails from New York City’s Spanish Harlem and started singing at age sixteen in a group with Safire. Her first album Cynthia (1989) featured the hit singles “Change On Me,” “Endless Nights” and “Thief of Hearts.” A year later Cynthia II was released which included the hit songs “Break Up To Make Up,” “Love Me Tonight” and the hit duet with Johnny O, “Dream Boy/Dream Girl” that reached #53 on the Billboard Hot 100.

GEORGE LAMOND began singing back-up for his cousin Joey Kid in the Bronx, teaming up later as Loose Touch. His solo debut was “Bad of the Heart” (1990) which earned him a deal with Columbia. The LP Bad of the Heart yielded two more freestyle hits, “Without You” and “Look into My Eyes.” In 1992, he released his second album, In My Life which included the high-charting single “Where Does That Leave Love.” Lamond also became a Latin superstar when his first Latin single “Si Tu Te Vas” quickly reached the top of the charts. And in 2008, his remix of the classic Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin’” became a big pop hit. Lamond is currently working on a new album slated

NOEL was born in the Bronx of Puerto Rican descent and hit the dance singles charts in 1987 with “Silent Morning” his first Top-10 hit. 1988’s “Like a Child (at play)” became his first #1 single. He topped the dance charts again later that year with “Out of Time” and released the hit song “The Question” in 1990.

CORO got his start in the entertainment business playing numerous roles in TV shows such as Miami Vice. He went on to work with pop artist, Stevie B. In 1998, Coro got his big break with the song “Where Are You Tonight,” a huge hit in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., reaching Top-25 on Billboard's Club Chart, and #1 on DMA's Dance Chart. He is also known for his hit dance songs “Can’t Let You Go” (1990) and “My Fallen Angel” (1991).

ROB BASE is a hip-hop rapper from Harlem in New York City that was born in 1967. His 1988 multi-platinum breakout single “It Takes Two” was recorded with DJ E-Z Rock and uses multiple samples from the James Brown/Lyn Collins song “Think (About It).” As a duo, their second hit song “Joy and Pain” also proved to be a smash the following year. Going solo in 1989, Base released “Turn It Out (Go Base)” which went Gold on the hit dance charts. In 2008, “It Takes Two” was ranked number 37 on VH1’s 100 greatest songs of hip-hop.

SA-FIRE released her debut single “Don’t Break My Heart” in 1986, followed by the even bigger hit “Let Me Be The One.” “Boy, I’ve Been Told” crossed over to pop radio and became the #1-selling single in New York for twelve straight weeks. On 1988 she released “Love Is On Her Mind” and the following year she wrote her biggest hit, “Thinking of You”, which peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming one of the most played records of 1989. In 2000 she released the Michael Jackson/Paul Anka tune “I Never Heard.” After Jackson’s death, a demo tape was made of that song with the same lyrics, and was remixed and released in 2009 as his first posthumous single with the title “This Is It.”

CORINA released a self-titled album on Atco Records in 1991 and charted a string of dance hits such as “Out of Control” and “Whispers”. The album also included the summer of 1991 Top-10 hit “Temptation”. In 1999 she portrayed Frida Kahlo in the film Cradle Will Rock.

LYDIA LEE LOVE Is best known for her song “Don’t Take You Away From Me.”

SOAVE, who was born Jeffery Martinez in 1968 in Jersey City, NJ of Puerto Rican descent, is best known for his smash Freestyle classic “Crying Over You.” His follow-up hits included “If You Want Me,” “Don't Look Back” and “Where Did We Go Wrong?”

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. The 2016-2017 Season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Additional funding is provided by Con Edison, the New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, the Rudin Foundation, the Hyde and Watson Foundation, and the friends of Lehman Center.

For high resolution photos, click these links:

TKA - http://lehmancenter.org/th_gallery/tkak7/

Judy Torres - http://lehmancenter.org/th_gallery/judy-torres-2017/

Cynthia - http://lehmancenter.org/th_gallery/cynthia2017/

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