When you mix inspired passion, innate chops, and a childhood dream all together, it can make for one very powerful potion, and fledgling upstart and singer/songwriter Alisa Boniello poured it all into her debut four-song EP entitled, LOVESTRUCK. <br /><br />Within weeks after graduating with a BA degree from Hunter College (May 2011), the native New Yorker teamed up with Grammy Award winning songwriter/producer Barry Eastmond (Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Anita Baker, to name a few) and collaborated on co-writing four songs, “Lovestruck,” a haunting, retro-soul/pop ditty, “(When Will) Love Feel Real,” an upbeat saga about wanting to feel real love, and the whimsical and stirring ballad, “Why,” that reveals the pain of a broken-heart. Eastmond produced all three songs. <br /><br />Tackling the various phases of love and relationships, Boniello and Eastmond also enlisted songwriter/producer Wendell Hanes, ( Mya, Brand Nubian, Cheri Dennis) on the pulsating and edgy, “That Kind Of Girl,” which drips with the bite of a woman who has reached her breaking point. Eastmond shares co-producing credits with Hanes and Dan Kramer on the track. <br /><br />Boniello, who was raised in the town of Somers in Westchester County, NY, started taking classical piano lessons at age 5, and was singing in locally produced musicals by 12. In college she fused her years of training as a classical pianist with singing, and graduated with a BA degree in Classical Voice. <br /><br />Over the past two years, she began exploring her love for contemporary pop/soul music writing original songs, fusing her high soprano vocal prowess with <br />her skills as a pianist. She also started cutting her teeth as a live performer, appearing at open mic club nights around the city, such as the Waltz Astoria in Queens, as well as the Sidewalk Cafe, Desmond's Tavern, and 169 Bar in Manhattan.