- Jennifer Lopez Biography -
"If you're going to make it in this business, you need the kind of
personality that, you have to do or die, there's no alternative." So said
Jennifer Lopez once, about the rollercoaster ride that is the entertainment
business.
The multi talented superstar, who hails from New York City's Castle Hill
section of the Bronx, has had a bead on that little secret of survival long
before she ever stepped in front of a movie camera. It is only now, with the
release of her much anticipated debut album for The WORK Group, On The 6, can
she take a breath, and dare to look back.
"I call the album On The 6 because I think about traveling on the 6 train."
she says. "That's how I used to go into the city to audition, dance in clubs,
dance classes. It was how I used to come home."
A lot has happened since. It's the perfect metaphor for a girl whose gutsy
blend of fearlessness and raw beauty conquered worlds far beyond a rickety
subway line. "It's how I started my journey." she says proudly.
One that began around age four, when she first dared to dream she was going
to be "somebody". By the time she was a teenager, she had years of dancing
classes under her belt, as well as rock solid values instilled by her hard
working Puerto Rican parents. But Jennifer also recognized there were other
mountains to climb. If you follow her trail back to the days before she was one
of Hollywood's hottest stars, you'll find traces of her trademark bravado and
sensuality in every move.
An eye opening stint with Fox's groundbreaking comedy Living Color as one of
the acclaimed Flygirls; a streetwise role on the ill fated TV series Sout
Central; and eventually her first film appearence, landing a crucial part in
Director Gregory Nava's Latino epic Mi Familia. She landed another plum role
along side Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes in Money Train. Cut to
career-defining roles in 1996's Selena, and 1998's Out Of Sight, where Lopez's
mesmeriz-ing performance as a street savvy cop opposite George Clooney created
the ultimate screen chemistry, and you could sense the buzz surrounding Lopez
was beginning to bubble over.
The sum of such electrifying moments, however, still didn't add up to the
total Jennifer. Even though the national media began painting her in Madonna and
Monroe-esque strokes ("Watching her is like seeing molten rock churn an epic,
yet personal work, like On The 6, to fully flesh out what lies behind those
smoldering brown eyes: A captivating voice - and more importantly - an untamed
soul - yearning to musically express to the joyful, somestimes painful,
unpredictable ride of life.
"This is a dream come true for me," she says. "Music has always been an
important part of my life. It's funny, but when I look back, there is always a
song that will take me there. Christmas was always salsa and merengue.
Thanksgiving - the songs from West Side Story, which for some reason always come
to then. Barbara Streisand - she always reminds me of my mother because she's a
huge fan. I remember being in the school playground at lunchtime and hearing
'Rappers Delight'. I was so open when I heard it my face lit up. And I remember
Lisa and the Cult Jam's 'All I Cried Out', when I was 13 or 14, because I was
going through my first little heartbreak."
No doubt a new generation of fans will be reacting to Jennifer's powerful
debut effort, pumped and primed for the Latino tinged anthem "Let's Get Loud,"
produced by Emilio Estefan, or swooning to the album's poignant opener, "If You
Had My Love." That track was helmed by Grammy award winning producer Rodney
Jerkins (Michael Jackson, Brandy), with Jennifer's magnetic voice pulling the
listener all the way into the story. Like many of the album tracks, it was
co-written by the album's executive producer Corey Rooney.
"I looked to Corey for most of the leadership on this album," Jennifer says.
"We did a lot of listenling to different kinds of music. For me lyrics are very
important. Every song on the album was something that touched me very deeply.
They ring very true. Words move me, but more than that it's the image you
create. You close your eyes and you can feel what that person is going through
and you connect with it. To me, that's what music ia all about."
Coming from the cradle of the hip hop and Latin hip hop movements, (the
Boogie down Bronx), it's no surprise that great beats also motivate Jennifer.
Webo, salsa, disco, rap, R&B, are all part of her music vocabulary. She was
determined from the start to enlist the best producers, forging a signature
sound that resonates long after you identified the styles. "I call it Latin
soul" she says. And it is indeed a diverse mix of Latin-tinged, and hip hop
driven rhytms that steers On The 6. Superstar producers such as the
aforementioned Estefan, and Jerkins as well as Sean "Puffy" Combs (Faith Evans,
The Notorious BIG), Rich Wake (Celine Dion) and Track Masters (Will Smith, Nas,
LL Cool J) among others, all stepper up for some of their best work.
"I was fortunate to work with all the great people that I did." Jennifer
Lopez says. "It was great to work with Puffy, for example. He's the consummate
professional. He always knows what he's doing in the studio. You can hear it in
the track we did." The song, "Feelin' So Good," which includes blistering rap
cameos by fellow Bronx alumni Fat Joe and Big Pun, captures that street corner
feel that Jennifer remembers from her clubbing days. "I had an idea for the
video already for that one." se laughts. "I wanted to get off the train and have
Pun and Joe meet me in front of my actual apartment in the Bronx. I have my
parka on and we head downtown to club. We emerge at 6:00 AM and it's daylight.
Bach in the day, if you came out of the Tunnel and it was daytime, you knew you
were in trouble."
It's those authentic movements, foundly recalled by Jennifer, that anchor On
The 6. Having to collaborate with a myriad of producers - and facing a whole new
set of pressures as she high drives head-first into the music industry - she is
able to keep it real by never forgetting the importance of her journey. It's
that compass, musically and spiritually, that guides this ambitious debut.
"There's a reason I call it Latino soul." Lopez says. "It's a mixture of the
things that I was when I was growing up. I was coming up when hip and R&B was
something we all loved. Latino freestyle was big then. I always wanted to bring
that all together, in a pop format. My mother always had a big appreciation for
music. Musical, operas, pop. We listened to everything. I remember when I first
sat down with the record company about what I wanted to do, they weren't quite
sure of all the styles I wanted to incorporate. But they were great, very
supportive. After they had heard the first couple of tracks they realized what I
was trying to accomplish."
Ironically, The WORK Group's Co-President Jeff Ayeroff came close to
originally signing Jennifer when he was with Virgin records, and Lopez was still
a Flygirl. It was after Selena came out that the executive approached her again.
Now, the same audience who flocked to her critically acclaimed performance
will love the stirring duet with Latin superstar Marc Anthony, on the
heartwrenching "No Me Ames". "I'm Marc's biggest fan." says enifer. "He's
incredibly talented, and knows how to interpret a song." Another album highlight
is the haunting ballad "Shouldd Have Never," produced by Poke and Tone of the
Trackmasters. Jennifer shares the willing credits with Corey Rooney on the
latter, and recalls that it was this particular track that taught the most about
songwriting.
"The Trackmasters brought us this guitar loop for that, and it sounded like
the Gypsy Kings, and I was like yeah, that's just what I#m looking for. Corey
said go home and listen to it and get some ideas for a song. And I came back and
described this whole scenario for it, like a movie. So we went into the next
room and I just started describing this story about a girl who says "I should
have never touched you, looked at you, etc." And he was like: "Great, that will
be the chorus. And we just put it into words."
The result is a song, and an album, as seductive as any one of her movie
roles, but rooted in those raw, vital truths she learned a long time ago.
Encouraged by family and friends, she nurtured those rootss, extending her grasp
to achieve goals that most girls her age only dreamed about. Dreams that too
often end with the closing of subway doors.
It's more than fitting that an album filled with such aspirations should be
crafted by a dancer who wanted to be a singer, who evolved into actress, who
finally got the opportunity to sing. On The 6, in many ways, is about coming
full circle.
"This album completes the journey. Doing television, the movies, and now
this, I'm actually accomplishing what I set out to do." she says. "There's
something to be said about patience. Because you could be running toward
something, when what you want is right behind you trying to catch up with you."
Just like a downtown train...
Biography taken from the
official site
