Suzanne Casale Melone (' Casale; born March 1, 1979), better known by her stage name Lil Suzy, is an Italian-Puerto Rican American

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

/ pop singer who was mainly active in the 1990's. Lil Suzy is best known for the singles " Take Me in Your Arms", " Promise Me", and "

Can't Get You Out of My Mind "Can't Get You Out of My Mind" is the first single released by Lil Suzy from her fourth album, ''Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and m ...

Early life

Melone was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, a

borough of New York City New York City is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City the largest U.S. municipality situated in mult ...

. While singing cover songs in

Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast south of El Segundo, California, El Segundo, west of Hawthorne, California, Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, California, Red ...

at age 5, she was discovered by an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

. She then began performing as an

opening act A opening act, also known as a warm-up act, support act, or supporting act, is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or "headliner". Rarely, an opening act may perform again a ...

for

Thelma Houston Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1946) Retrieved . is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit record in 1977 with her recording of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy ...

and

Village People Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the release ...

Music career

1987–1994: Career beginnings and "Take Me in Your Arms"

At 8 years old, Melone got her first contract with

Fever Records Fever Records was a New York City record label of the 1980s, founded by promoter Sal Abbatiello. The label was marketed and distributed by Sutra Records until the latter went under, which precipitated a distribution deal with Russell Simmons's RA ...

, and in 1988 released her first single, "Randy". At age 12 she joined the label Warlock Records. In November 1991, Melone released her first studio album, '' Love Can't Wait,'' which was produced by Tony Garcia. It was preceded by the single " Take Me in Your Arms" which peaked at No. 67 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Another single, "Falling in Love", was released in 1992. She was named ''Billboard'' magazine's Best New Dance Artist that year, making her the youngest artist ever to receive the honor. In early 1994, her second album ''

Back to Dance ''Back to Dance'' is Lil Suzy's second studio album. It was released on 11 January 1994 by Warlock Records and sees a closer collaboration with hit producer Tony "Dr. Freestyle" Garcia. It contains a new remix of "Take Me in Your Arms" from her p ...

'' was released. This album was again produced by Tony Garcia. "

Turn the Beat Around "Turn the Beat Around" is a disco song written by Gerald Jackson and Peter Jackson, and performed by American actress and singer Vicki Sue Robinson in 1976 (see 1976 in music), originally appearing on her debut album, '' Never Gonna Let You Go'' ...

" was released in late 1993 as the sole single from the album but was not successful. Due to the limited success of the album, Lil Suzy left Warlock Records and went on to become president of her own record label, Empress Records.

1995–1997: "Promise Me" and later releases

In April 1995, Melone released her third album, '' Life Goes On'', a

eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

release. The album spawned four singles, the first being " Promise Me", which peaked at No. 62 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 1997, Melone released her fourth studio album, ''

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

.'' The album spawned four singles;

was the most successful of these releases. The album contains a collaboration with singer

Crystal Waters Crystal Waters (born November 19, 1961) is an American house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits " Gypsy Woman", " 100% Pure Love", and 2007's " Destination Calabria" with Alex Gaudino. All three of her s ...

on the track "Lost Love Letter". This album also contains a cover of the Netzwerk song, "

Memories Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

1999–present: Compilation albums, singles, and performances

In 1999, Melone released ''

The MegaMix ''The MegaMix'' is Lil Suzy's first compilation album launched on 30 November 1999 by the Metropolitan Recording Corporation. Includes several mixes of her hits as well as re-recorded songs in a non-stop mix. The song "You're the Only One" was re ...

'', a compilation of old hits and new remixes. In 2002, Melone released '' The Greatest Hits'', a compilation of her greatest hits re-recorded. In the same year, together with

Collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

, she released the single "Don't You Want Me", exclusively for the German market. The single is a cover of the song by

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

. In 2009, Melone released the single "Dance Tonight". In 2015 and 2022 she toured in Freestyle Explosion shows.

Personal life

Melone is married to Marc Melone. They have a daughter and two sons. In her 20s, between recording and performing music, Melone attended school to become a registered

medical assistant A medical assistant, also known as a "clinical assistant" or healthcare assistant in the USA is an allied health professional who supports the work of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other health professionals, usually ...

. She worked

part-time Part-time can refer to: * Part-time job, a job that has fewer hours a week than a full-time job * Part-time student, a student, usually in higher education, who takes fewer course credits than a full-time student * Part Time Part Time (styliz ...

for a

OB/GYN Obstetrics and Gynaecology (also spelled as Obstetrics and Gynecology; abbreviated as Obs and Gynae, O&G, OB-GYN and OB/GYN) is the medical specialty that encompasses the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and t ...

for three years. On 2 October 2000, she opened a beauty salon in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, which has since closed.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Video clips

Other songs

* 1996 - "Suzanna", with

, released on the compilation ''Metropolitan Freestyle Extravaganza Volume 7''. * 1997 - "Runaway", released on the compilation ''Dance Trip 2000''. * 1999 - "He's All I Want for Christmas / Letter to Santa", released on the compilation ''Freestyle X-Mas''. * 1999 - "All I Want ", with

, released on the album ''Chapter II: 1999''. * 2002 - "Treat Me Right", originally recorded in 2001, released on the compilation ''Euro Freestyle Invasion''. * 2003 - "I Still Cry", originally recorded in 2002, released on the compilation ''Euro Freestyle Invasion II''.

References

External links

Lil' Suzy's Official Web Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lil Suzy 1979 births Living people People from Brooklyn 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers American child singers American women pop singers American women singer-songwriters American freestyle musicians American musicians of Puerto Rican descent American people of Italian descent Child pop musicians Musicians from Brooklyn Singer-songwriters from New York (state)