Lisa Matassa

Lisa Matassa was born and initially raised on Long Island, New York.[1] She comes from a musical family; her mother[5] used to sing in a doo-wop group, and her grandmother was an opera singer.[6] As a child she often listened to artists such as Loretta Lynn and Elvis Presley.[6] When Matassa was seven years old her family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they remained for eight years.[6] Matassa began studying opera with an alumna of the Metropolitan Opera[2] when she was about nine, continuing until age 14, when she branched into pop and rock.[6] Her family moved back to Franklin Square, New York when she was in tenth grade.[6]

In 1987, recently out of high school,[1] Matassa was overheard by a dance producer while she was performing with a local Long Island band named Recovery.[2] She promptly signed a recording contract with the independent label Emergency Records under the stage name Lysa Lynn.[7] The label specialized in producing dance-pop, such as recording artist Shannon's dance anthem "Let the Music Play."[3]

Matassa recorded two hit singles,[8] 1987's "I've Got the Hots for You" and 1988's "Rock Me Baby," both of which gained national and international airplay and reached the Top 10 on the Dance Music Charts.[1][2] She performed numerous shows alongside artists such as Taylor Dayne, Brenda K. Starr, Judy Torres, and TKA among others.[3] Her song "Stay With Me Tonight" was in the 1988 Carrie Fisher movie She's Back.[9]

Matassa soon gained an inclination to record songs she had written herself, with a more rock edge, but Emergency Records dissolved several months after the release of her last single.[2]

In 1992 Matassa married and settled down to raise a family in Plainview, Long Island.[2] She continued to perform in Long Island and Manhattan clubs,[7] and also did commercial voice-over work. During this time of focusing on her family life, Matassa also was the band leader of a successful club band for 20 years.[2]

Matassa has dubbed her style of music "Long Island Country,"[13] which she describes as a combination of New York rock and roll mixed with new country. On March 31, 2011, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano awarded Matassa a citation as Long Island's first country music recording artist, and the pioneer of the genre Long Island Country genre.[14] Beyond traditional country influences she has stated she is influenced by musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Elvis, The Beatles, Heart, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.[1]

Matassa continues to live in Plainview, Long Island with her husband. In addition to volunteering at her local church, she volunteers and supports the Last Hope Animal Shelter, the Breath Believe Foundation for cystic fibrosis, and the Sidewalk Angels Foundation, a non-profit that helps fund research for autism.[7][15]

• Official website