FOREVER FREESTYLE 13, with TKA, Judy Torres, Rob Base + More @ Lehman Center, 3/16 8PM! at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts and Goya Foods in association with SAL ABBATIELLO of Fever Records presents for the thirteenth year in a row the Latin-flavored Dance Music Sensation, with FOREVER FREESTYLE 13 on Saturday, March 16th, 2019 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 thirteenth year in a row, the concert will feature performances by 14 groups: TKA Maria, JUDY TORRES No Reason To Cry, GEORGE LAMOND "Bad of the Heart", ROB BASE It Takes Two, JOHNNY O Memories, CYNTHIA Change On Me, NOEL Silent Morning, CORO Where Are You Tonight, NAYOBE Please Dont Go, STRAFE Set It Off, ALY-US Follow Me, FASCINATION Do You Think Its Time, TONASIA Wondering, and SAMMY ZONE Running. Hosted by SAL ABBATIELLO & SPEEDY. Music by Dj LUCHO & 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. Abbatiellos 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. Abbatiellos record label Fever Records is credited with releasing the first Freestyle recording in 1984, Nayobes Please Dont Go. He is now known as the Godfather of Freestyle and has been promoting Freestyle concerts for over 30 years.This concert continues the completion of the first phase of renovations at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts. Concert goers will find that the lobbies have been upgraded for ADA compliance with new ramps and carpeting, and the interior of the theater will have new seating, carpeted aisles, and finished flooring as well. The $15.4 million dollar refurbishment of the Center, which is expected to be completed by mid-2019, will also include 5,400 square feet of enlarged space, with a new main entrance and a redesigned box office, plus new administration offices and restroom facilities on the first and mezzanine floors, and an elevator. The Center seats 2,278 people in the concert hall and is the largest of its kind in the borough. Funding for the project is being provided by the Office of the Governor, the New York State Legislature, the Bronx delegation of the New York City Council, and the Office of the Bronx Borough President. Additional funding is being raised with a seat naming initiative, which allows community members to make a personal connection with one of New York Citys most important not-for-profit entertainment venuesLehman 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 13 on Saturday, March 16th, 2019 at 8pm are $100, $65, $60, and $55 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718-960-8833 (Monday through Thursday, 10am5pm, and beginning at 4pm on the day of the concert), or through online access at www.LehmanCenter.org. 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 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),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. Her most recent release is 2010s MP3 album Stay.CYNTHIA hails from New York Citys Spanish Harlem and started singing at age 16 in a group with Safire. Her first album Cynthia (1989) featured hit singles Change On Me, and Thief of Hearts. A year later Cynthia II was released which included the hit duet with Johnny O, Dream Boy/Dream Girl that reached #53 on the Billboard Hot 100.JOHNNY O (Juan Ortiz) was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and is of Cuban/Puerto Rican Descent. His debut 1988 album, the self-titled Johnny O, featured the famous Freestyle song Fantasy Girl as well as the hits Memories and Highways of Love. In 1993 his single Runaway Love made it to #4 on the Billboard Dance chart and to #87 on the Hot 100.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). 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 VH1s 100 greatest songs of hip-hop.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. 1988s 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.NAYOBE (Gomez), discovered at age 16 by Sal Abbatiello, recorded Please Dont Go in 1984, arguably the first Latin Freestyle song ever recorded, which quickly gained airplay in nightclubs. Second Chance For Love, Good Things Come To Those Who Wait and Its Too Late solidified her standing as a Freestyle innovator.FASCINATION, born in the Bronx, had a huge success with her first release, Why Ya Wanna Go, followed by another huge hit, Dont You Think its Time. Remember hit Billboards Dance charts and led to a major endorsement deal with Coca Cola.SAMMY ZONE is a freestyle singer and break dancer that grew up on the Lower East Side of New York City. He first performed and recorded with the group Release. In 1988 he joined N.V. (Noel Valei) to form the group One on One, recording the single Parting in Tears. Zone is best known for his freestyle song Running (2010).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. In 1992, he released his 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.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 2018-2019 Season is also made possible through the sponsorships by Goya Foods, New York State Council on the Arts, Con Edison, the Hyde and Watson Foundation, Havana Caf, 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/