Larisa has always known she wanted to be in the spotlight. Her mom can attest that as a baby, she wouldn’t cry…she’d sing, “laah, laah!” She’s been singing, dancing and acting ever since.
Larisa–nicknamed “L-Boogie” for her boundless energy and inability to stop dancing–grew up in Maryland, where she and her brother would charge neighbors 10 cents to watch them dance and sing along to songs on the Casio keyboard. Soon, she was starring in school plays and performing at Wolf Trap and dinner theatres as part of the Young Columbians, an elite children’s theater group.
She went on to the University of Maryland and chose to find the spotlight in the Broadcast Journalism program. Still, she couldn’t get away from her passion for music. She sang in the Faux Paz, a collegiate a cappella group that, under her direction, competed in the finals of the National Competition of Collegiate A Cappella in Lincoln Center. She landed at job at WPGC 95.5, the #1 rated urban station in Washington, where she was immersed in music and exposed to the record industry. Larisa knew she wouldn’t be happy doing anything but performing.
During college, Larisa started to work with a producer putting together a girl group. For four years, she and the girls of Syren worked to make their dream happen: recording, rehearsing, and performing at clubs and radio-sponsored events. They opened for such acts as Lumidee, 3LW and Biz Markee, and even got some spins on the D.C. airwaves. Unfortunately, the band broke up.
Shortly afterward, a talent scout for a wedding and Bar Mitzvah band saw her sing — he signed her to the band immediately. Eventually, she decided she had to follow her dream to see where it took her, so she quit her job, left the wedding band, packed her stuff and moved to New York.
Since her arrival in the New York area, she’s formed relationships with musicians and producers to write and record her own songs. Currently, her single “Wait 4 U,” co-written with DJs Lenny Fontana and Ridney, has hit international status by being picked up by Ministry of Sound (Germany). She and Ridney partnered again on “Stand Up,” which is being released independently in the UK.
Larisa continues to write and perform with partners around New York City and New Jersey, and is planning on launching a New York-area club tour in 2009.