Freestyle, or Latin freestyle is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the New York metropolitan area, Philadelphia, and Miami, primarily among Hispanic Americans and Italian Americans in the 1980s. It experienced its greatest popularity from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. A common theme of freestyle lyricism originated as heartbreak in an urban environment typified by New York City.
You Can Dance is the first remix album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on November 17, 1987, by Sire Records. The album contains remixes of tracks from her first three studio albums—Madonna (1983), Like a Virgin (1984) and True Blue (1986)—and a new track, "Spotlight". In the 1980s, remixing was still a new concept. The mixes on You Can Dance exhibited a number of typical mixing techniques. Instrumental passages were lengthened to increase the time for dancing and vocal phrases were repeated and subjected to multiple echoes. The album cover denoted Madonna's continuous fascination with Hispanic culture.
Whitney is the second studio album by American singer Whitney Houston, released on June 2, 1987, by Arista Records as the follow-up to her debut album. Whitney is one of the best-selling albums of all time, with sales of over 20 million copies worldwide. The album features five top-10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100, which also became international hits. The album's first four singles—"I Wanna Dance with Somebody ", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"—all peaked at number one on the US Hot 100, making her the first female act to achieve four number-one hits from one album.
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam were an urban contemporary band and one of the first freestyle music groups to emerge from New York City in the 1980s. Cult Jam consisted of vocalist Lisa Lisa, born Lisa Velez, guitarist/bassist Alex "Spanador" Moseley, and drummer/keyboardist Mike Hughes. They were assembled and initially produced by Full Force.
Alisha Ann Itkin is an American freestyle and dance-pop singer who had several club hits in the 1980s and 1990s.
Nu Shooz is an American R&B group fronted by husband-and-wife team of John Smith and Valerie Day, based in Portland, Oregon. Nu Shooz released four albums in the U.S. during the 1980s. Poolside, their third album, brought the group's sound to a wider audience.
Will to Power is an American dance-pop group that originated in South Florida in the mid-1980s, founded by Miami producer Bob Rosenberg. The group recorded a number of hit singles on the Billboard dance and pop charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, most notably "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley", a medley of 1970s hits by Peter Frampton and Lynyrd Skynyrd that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1988. A second hit was "I'm Not in Love", a cover of 10cc's 1975 hit: number 7 on Billboard Hot 100 in 1990.
"The Way You Make Me Feel" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 9, 1987, as the third single from his seventh studio album, Bad. It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones and Jackson.
Judith "Judy" Torres is an American freestyle music artist and dance-pop singer.
Rachel Alexandra Mercaldo, known professionally as Rockell, is an American freestyle, hi-NRG and pop singer-songwriter, best known for her 1997 hit single, "In a Dream".
Antonio "Tony" Terry is an American soul/new jack swing singer and actor from Washington, D.C., who had several R&B hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is best known for his 1991 single "With You" which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 that same year.
"When You Walk in the Room" is a song written and recorded by Jackie DeShannon. It was initially released as a single on November 23, 1963, as the B-side to "Till You Say You'll Be Mine". It was re-released as an A-side in September 1964, and later included on the album Breakin' It Up on the Beatles Tour. The single charted on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 99.
Robert S. Nevil is an American pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and guitarist who had five Billboard top 40 hits including his songs "C'est la Vie", "Dominoes", and "Wot's It to Ya".
Kathleen Emperatriz DeLuna is an American-born Dominican singer. DeLuna began pursuing a career as a singer when she was a teenager and later signed with Epic Records. Her debut single, "Whine Up", released in 2007, went on to become a commercial success, entering the Top 40 in numerous countries and topping the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. Her debut studio album, 9 Lives (2007), failed to see the success of its lead single. The album's third single, "Run the Show", became a hit in various territories, and reached number two on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Noel is the debut album by Latin freestyle artist Noel, released in 1988 on both LP and CD formats. The album contains four singles, and reached No. 126 on the Billboard 200.
Prince released several hundred songs both under his own name and under pseudonyms and/or pen names, as well as writing songs which have been recorded by other artists. Estimates of the actual number of songs written by Prince range anywhere from 500 to well over 1,000. He has released 117 singles, 41 promotional singles, 24 internet singles, and eight internet downloads.
"Silent Morning" is the debut single by American singer Noel, released as the lead single from his 1987 self-titled debut studio album. It is the most successful single by Noel to date, where on November 14, 1987, it reached number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. "Silent Morning" was present on the Hot 100 for 22 weeks, one of the longest chart runs of any single that failed to reach the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Denise Lopez is an American Dance/freestyle singer, born in Queens, New York, mainly active in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Show Me is the debut album by the R&B–dance trio the Cover Girls released on independent label Fever Records. The album would produce the hit title track, "Show Me", as well as the Top 40 singles "Because of You" and "Promise Me". This would be the only album to feature original member Sunshine Wright, who would depart the group after the unsuccessful release of second single "Spring Love" and would be replaced by Margo Urban for the remainder of the album's singles. The other two members of the original lineup for this album were Angel Mercado and Caroline Jackson. The album peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 200 on 26 February 1988 and No. 74 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart on 4 March 1988.
American singer Whitney Houston, known as "The Voice", released 57 singles as a leading artist and 4 as a featured artist. Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. In the United States, Houston amassed 11 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, all of whom have been certified either gold, platinum, multi-platinum or diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and was one of a selected group of artists to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in four different decades. She is currently ranked in seventh place of the artists with the most number one singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Prior to the introduction of digital singles, Houston sold 16.5 million physical singles in the country, the most ever by a female recording artist. In October 2012, the Official Charts Company claimed Houston was the fourth biggest-selling female singles artist of all time with a sales total of 8.5 million singles in that country.
