Jocelyn Enriquez

Jocelyn Enriquez (born December 28, 1974) is a Philippine-American dance-pop singer born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her most popular songs are "Do You Miss Me", "A Little Bit of Ecstasy", and the Stars on 54 (Ultra Nate, Amber, and Jocelyn Enriquez) cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind". Her success helped inspire and pave the way for many Asian American, particularly Filipino Americans from the San Francisco Bay Area, artists during the mid to late 1990s such as Buffy, Kai, One Vo1ce, Pinay, Sharyn Maceren, and others.

Jocelyn Enriquez
Enriquez at Serramonte Mall for the Jocelyn album signing at Sam Goody, May 1997
Background information
Birth nameJocelyn Enriquez
Born (1974-12-28) December 28, 1974
OriginSan Francisco, California, United States
GenresDance-Pop, Freestyle, Hi-NRG, EDM
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Years active1990–present
LabelsClassified Records, Tommy Boy Records
Websitewww.jocelynenriquez.com

Career

Enriquez was first heard singing at the age of 3 along to Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell." During her childhood she received formal voice training with the San Francisco Girl Chorus and San Francisco Opera Company. During high school she briefly joined girl group, Pinay Divas (later known as Pinay), a reference to girl group En Vogue who were known as the Funky Divas. She continued to perform around the Bay Area and eventually a demo of her singing "If You Leave Me Now" by Jaya catch the attention of Classified Records.

In late 1993 she recorded "I've Been Thinking About You" and in early 1994 the single was a success. "I've Been Thinking About You" would garner a huge Freestyle fanbase with the East Mix which included a popular Freestyle sample at the time of the Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force's "Planet Rock". The single gained heavy rotation in California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New York. As an homage to Victor Zaragoza, the DJ who in part broke the record on Enriquez's hometown radio station Wild 107.7, she recorded the song in Spanish too. Ironically, Enriquez was inappropriately labeled as a "sell-out" by some members of the Philippine-American community because of her Spanish rendition of "I've Been Thinking About You", it is ironic and inappropriate considering that the Philippines is a Hispanic nation having been part of the Spanish Empire for over three centuries.

Her debut album, Lovely was released in the summer of 1994, which was produced by Glenn Gutierrez and Mario L. Augustin Jr (who also worked with Stevie B. and Jaya), and Elvin Reyes. The album Lovely spawned several more singles "Make This Last Forever", "You Are The One", "Big Love", "Big Love (Energy Box Mixes)", and "Only". The second single "Make This Last Forever" was well received in the markets that supported the first single. Lovely, was released the summer of 1994. The third single released in the fall of 1994 "You Are The One" led her to perform in San Diego where she would be introduced to her future husband. The fourth single "Big Love" was heavily inspired by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" would also be re-recorded, remixed and released as "Big Love (Energy Box Mixes)" as the albums fifth single. The last single "Only" was released on 12" and notably a fan favorite from the album.

"Do You Miss Me?" became a Top 40 hit on dance and pop radio (#17 and #38 peaks, respectively), and peaked at #49 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was also successful outside of the U.S. where it reached #7 in Singapore and was a Top 20 Pop hit in Canada. The music video was shot over a year later as the single maintained a popularity into 1997. Pop punk band Lucky Boys Confusion later covered "Do You Miss Me" on their 2001 album Throwing the Game. In 1996, Classified Records formed a joint venture with Tommy Boy Records and its imprint Timber! Records, this catapulted "Do You Miss Me?" as an international hit. Her second album, Jocelyn was released in 1997 and peaked at #182 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and at #11 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.

"A Little Bit of Ecstasy" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart and #55 on the Billboard Hot 100. The video was directed by Francis Lawrence who went on to direct Jennifer Lopez's "Waiting For Tonight" music video and the box office hits "I Am Legend" and "Hunger Games". "A Little Bit of Ecstasy" was licensed to the DDRMAX2 PlayStation 2 game. The success of the single also led her perform on MTV's "The Grind" and included in the box office hit "A Night At The Roxbury". The single was originally intended to be released in the fall of 1996 however Jocelyn's high school knee injury caught up to her and was not able to walk. However, due to scheduling she still recorded the video with an injured knee. As a compromise Jocelyn was lifted around set and stayed stationary for her shots. After filming she had surgery and returned to the stage for the San Francisco Bammie Awards in early 1997. She won for "Artist of the Year" and performed "A Little Bit of Ecstasy" for the first time.

The "Jocelyn" album, saw three US commercially released singles "Do You Miss Me", "A Little Bit Of Ecstasy", and "Get Into The Rhythm". "Even If" was opted as a single, Soul Solution provided a remix, however the single never happened. "Stay With Me" was exclusively released as a single in Brazil. This album would lead Jocelyn to return to the Philippines, she'd not travelled to since childhood at this point, for the "Jocelyn" album tour. She made several appearances on TV and radio along with performances in various venues.

Unfortunately, the joint venture between her labels Classified Records and Tommy Boy Music (along with Timber! Records) ended and Enriquez stayed with Tommy Boy. She began working on material for her then third album which was intended to venture Jocelyn in a more Pop/R&B sound incorporating her Dance audience as well.

In 1998 Stars on 54, which consisted of Enriquez, Amber, Ultra Nate, joined for a cover the Gordon Lightfoot 1971 hit "If You Could Read My Mind" produced by The Berman Brothers. The Stars On 54 rendition of “If You Could Read My Mind” wound up impacting various charts worldwide, while in the U.S. it landed at No. 3 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs and No. 52 on the Hot 100. After 54's film initial cut was chopped significantly, followed by reshoots, the Stars on 54 performed at the end of the film in the theatrical released edit. Enriquez's response to appearing in the film "My hair was so huge, oh my goodness. It was crazy! To be able film it at the actual venue, that was pretty cool."

The birth of her first child lead to a brief hiatus and a halt in her third album. In 2000, she returned with the Thunderpuss 2000 produced "When I Get Close to You" and hit #1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. This marked a more mature sound for Jocelyn and eventually lead her to being the vocalist for the Thunderpuss track "So Fabulous, So Fierce (Freak Out)", an interpolation of the disco anthem Chic's "Le Freak". The song appeared on the Disney "102 Dalmatians" film/soundtrack, and also appears in the Dance Dance Revolution video game series.

After landing a distribution deal in 2002 she launched her own label JEM Entertainment. In 2003, Enriquez released her third album, All My Life. The first single of the album "No Way No How", produced by Al B Rich, peaked at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The second and last single from the album was "Why". She then decided to focus on her family and take a brake from the industry.

In 2018, she returned to recording music and released the single "To Love Again" and followed up with a remix package. The 20 year anniversary of "If You Could Read My Mind" was also celebrated by Billboard Ultra Naté, Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez on Their 1998 Stars on 54 Collaboration 'If You Could Read My Mind'. Jocelyn noted with the recording process "They said, “This is a good opportunity, but you have to go now!” I want to say I was in New York within three days so that I could record the song. We would all sing different harmonies and ad-libs, but never really saw the big picture until the end. So it was kind of mysterious how we recorded it."

Jocelyn embarked on a Philippines tour in 2019 to promote "To Be In Love Again." In 2020, she released a re-recorded version of "You Are The One". Production duo Black Caviar released a cover of "A Little Bit of Ecstasy" in January 2020. Her latest single is "Beauty Comes Through Pain" and also complimented by a remix single.

Personal life

She graduated from Pinole Valley High School in 1993. Enriquez is married to Pastor Alain Macasadia. They formerly served at Calvary Chapel of San Diego doing worship and children's ministry. They moved to San Antonio in 2005. In 2006, Macasadia became the worship leader of Calvary Chapel San Antonio. They have four children, Matthew, Ashley, Jonathan, and Timothy.[1]

Discography
Main article: Jocelyn Enriquez discography

See also

References
  1. "CCSA STAFF". spark.adobe.com.
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