Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s Lisa Velez To Produce and Star In Lifetime Biopic With Angie Martinez

Source: Slaven Vlasic / Getty

In the 80s, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam made memorable hits like “Can You Feel The Beat,” “I Wonder If If I Take You Home,” and “All Cried Out.”

The group’s frontwoman, Lisa Velez, is now the subject of a biopic for Lifetime that she’s both starring in and producing. In Can You Feel The Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story Velez will play her own mother with Jearnest Corchado playing her younger self.

Bre Z will portray Velez’ backup singer and good friend Toni Ménage, and iconic New York City radio personality Angie Martinez will be Nurse Rodriguez.

Velez was just a teenager in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood when she hooked up with musicians Alex “Spanador” Moseley, and Mike Hughes to audition for the ’80s group Full Force. That led to a record deal with Columbia Records and the release of “I Wonder If I Take You Home” in 1983.

The song hit right away as did their next two singles, “Can You Feel The Beat” and “All Cried Out,” making Velez the first Latina artist to appear on multiple music charts – the Hot 100, Dance and R&B. Though the group only released four albums and broke up in 1991, their hits are part of the ’80s zeitgeist, becoming popular again when ’80s nostalgia was in full swing. Lisa Lisa continues to tour to this day with dates through the end of November.

The biopic will cover Velez’s years in the industry contending with rampant sexism and racism at a young age as well as her breast cancer battle. It will also detail her friendship with Mènage, who is said in a synopsis of the movie to be the person that Velez counted on to navigate the challenges she faced in the industry and her personal life.

Can You Feel The Beat will air on Lifetime in 2025, as part of the Voices of a Lifetime series which includes the Mary J. Blige’s Family Affair movies.

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