Bio
LaForrest "Lala" Cope
Known professionally as LALA, she began her career as a musician and songwriter, co-founding a band with Mic Murphy (The System) and performing in New York City’s punk-funk scene. Both she and Murphy participated in the INCA program under the guidance of the late, distinguished actor Ossie Davis. LALA also sang harmony vocals on “Lover’s Holiday” and “Glow of Love,” featuring Luther Vandross for the studio act Change. She later played keyboards and sang alongside TM Stevens (bassist for James Brown), serving as musical director for Stacy Lattisaw—the opening act for Michael Jackson and The Jacksons on their legendary Victory Tour.
As her profile continued to rise, LALA was commissioned by Harry Belafonte to perform as the lead vocalist on “Into the Night,” featured on the Beat Street movie soundtrack released by Atlantic Records. She went on to sign with Arista Records under Clive Davis, recording a duet with Jermaine Jackson for the Summer Olympics album and releasing her self-titled debut solo project, co-produced by Full Force. LALA later joined Motown Records in Los Angeles to work on her sophomore album, LALA Means I Love You, featuring the single “Always,” co-produced by René Moore and mixed by legendary engineer Bruce Swedien (Quincy Jones).
LALA received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, which allowed her to study piano with Barry Harris (Jazz Mobile) and music composition at the Juilliard School. Her songwriting and production skills have contributed to numerous chart-topping records for artists such as Melba Moore, Kashif, Stephanie Mills, Terumasa Hino, Glenn Jones, Lenny White, Marcus Miller, Bernard Wright, the Harlem Boys Choir, Christina Aguilera, and Ice Cube. She has performed on stages around the world—including tours across Europe and Asia—and in her hometown of New York City at both Radio City Music Hall and the world-renowned Apollo Theater, where she opened for The Whispers.
Today, LALA is a professional vocal producer/coach, who continues to educate pre-professionals and collaborate with professional recording artists. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Literary Translation from Queens College of the City University of New York. In 2024, she was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Recently retired as a Professor of English at CUNY, she is enjoying spending time with close friends and caring for family.
LaForrest hopes to make her literary debut next year with SOUL SHAKER: Autobiography of a Song, a hybrid (print-audio-video) memoir based on true experiences in the recording industry. It chronicles the challenges facing women in music, and how the many misconceptions about musical talent diminish the industry's ability to address it effectively. Additionally, she is writing a non-fiction young adult book, Queens, New York: Home of Jamaica Funk. She also plans to publish a collection of her poetry. She is available for private consultation and instruction in essay and research writing for college-level writers. It marks a new beginning of the creative force LALA intends to bring to literary projects and digital music of the future.
