She was surrounded by music during her childhood. It was in the neighborhood streets and came from the jukebox in the Italian restaurant that her family owned and operated. No wonder she turned out to be a lady called a blues-rock diva by many.

Cisarano's creativity originally found an outlet through a few other kinds of art. She polished her skills by studying fine arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She trained in acting for a number of years. Along the way, she kept music close, performing when she could, working with a band sometimes. The first real gig she was supposed to do kind of fell through -- when the place burned to the ground the night before. But that didn't stop her from moving on to the next opportunity.

In between those early appearances, Cisarano paid the bills with a number of interesting day jobs, including street vendor, massage therapist, and cab driver. She finally finished her debut solo album, Pat Cisarano as Ticia, in 1994. It was recorded under the RaveOn Records label. After the success of her debut, a number of her tunes were used on different compilation albums with many well-known artists. In 1999, she completed another full-length effort of her own, AH, released under the Hapimusic label. Some of the tunes fans can sample on Cisarano's recordings are "Sweeter U Treet Her," "He'd Rather Be with Her Than Me," "Sugar Melts in the Rain," "Ways of Life," "Hold My Hand Forever," and "Real as Your Heart." Most of her music carries a pleasing blues-rock mix of jazz, acid soul, funk, and even gospel and Latin.

Cisarano ended the year 2000 with the start of the biggest challenge of her life, after learning she had a brain tumor that would have to be removed. Many artists in the New York community pulled together in December of 2000 to do a big benefit show for her just before the surgery. ~ Charlotte Dillon