JemCon 2016: “Up 'n Rockin' in Upstate New York” was held in Albany, New York, from September 16th to 18th 2016, at the Desmond Albany Hotel.

Special Guests

Patricia Alice Albrecht: The speaking voice of "Pizzazz"

Patricia Alice Albrecht was born in Detroit, Michigan. She received her BFA Summa Cum Laude in Theatre from Wayne State University in Nebraska and spent 18 years in Los Angeles doing theatre, t.v., film, radio and voice work for animation as well as visual art. Her t.v. appearances include "Eight is Enough", "Remington Steele", "Mama's Family", "Angie" and "The Young and the Restless" for 6 weeks as an unwed mother opposite David Hasselhoff.

Film credits include "Midnight Madness" as Stephen Furst's obnoxious and spoiled girlfriend Lucille, and to this day remains close friends with many members of the cast. Patricia is no stranger to slasher films playing opposite David Hasselhoff once again as the office assistant who shares a dalliance with him in a stagecoach only to be stabbed to death by an Indian ghost in a museum in "The Ghost Dance".

Patricia is best known for her voice work on "Jem and the Holograms" as the speaking voice of Phyllis "Pizzazz" Gabor. Patricia says this about the role: "The thing about hunger, it makes one irascible. I was so hungry, thirsty and tired at the audition…when I opened my mouth all I had left for poor Wally (Burr, Director) was venom." She was also lucky to work with and/or be directed by Sue Blu (the voice of Stormer and Lin-Z Pierce in Jem), Andrea Romano and Helen Hunt's father, Gordon, over at Hanna-Barberra Animation Studios on "The Snorks" and "The Yogi Bear Show". She also voiced characters on "Pac Man", "New Kids On the Block", "Tom and Jerry Kids Show", "Batman: The Animated Series" as Brenda in "Riddlers Reform", and "Droopy, Master Detective".

Patricia, an artist at heart, also enjoys watercolor painting and is an author of fiction and poetry, co-authoring "Wind Eyes - A Women's Reader and Writing Source", and taught the creative process for writers through her "Beyond Imagination" workshops. She has also been involved with "Tennessee Women's Theater Project" in Nashville, Tennessee, and "Poetry: The Seventh Annual Mother's Day Poetry Show".

She now shares a humble home in Tennessee with tolerant and talented singer-songwriter husband, Bruce Michael Miller, who has toured the world as lead guitarist for Laura Branigan and sung with Paul McCartney and Kenny Loggins, and her son Forest, a gifted musician, who has launched his "Country boy band" Chasin' Crazy in 2012.

Anne Bryant: Song-writer for the Jem™ animated series

Anne Bryant is a composer, arranger and producer of music for television, advertising and film. She composed the Transformers theme and the theme and songs for the Jem show. Along with her partner, Ellen Bernfield, Anne wrote the songs in their albums "Songs For Dogs" and "Songs For Cats".

Anne is a writer and multimedia artist working with film and video, music, art and design. She has created mathematical software for film composers and authored texts on the subject of finite timings.

Ellen Bernfeld: The singing voice of "Pizzazz"

Ellen Bernfeld, best known by the Jem community for her role as bad girl singing character, "Pizzazz" from the Jem animated series, now performs as "Norma Human", singing with satirical wit about world events and against political injustice for the masses. Ellen was also "Menage", the 80s disco artist, and the voice of ten different singing characters in "Songs For Dogs" and "Songs For Cats" - writing the songs with her partner, Anne Bryant (also of Jem song writer fame).

A longtime NYC studio singer, songwriter and actress, Ellen has sung popular commercial jingles and sung with major recording artists on their albums, while also releasing her own singles and albums around the world.

Keep track of Ellen's alter-ego, "Norma Human", at http://normahuman.com/ and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/normahuman

Marlene Aragon: The speaking voice of "Synergy"

As JemCon's first "virtual" guest Ms. Aragon will take part in a question and answer session by phone, but will not be appearing at JemCon in person.

Marlene Aragon has numerous professional credits in the entertainment industry as a singer, actress, spokeswoman, narrator and cartoon/commercial voice actress. She began her career as a professional model and worked in jazz clubs, theaters, film and TV before it was showtime for Synergy on Jem & The Holograms! In addition to voicing Jem's holographic supercomputer, fans know her as the voice of Countess DuVoisin and Jacqui Benton. Aragon's voice acting career also included stints as Wonder Woman's arch nemesis Cheetah in Superfriends, plus roles in Jana of the Jungle, Transformers and Smurfs. Aragon's love of music led her to stretch her musical endeavors to that of writer and producer of children's music with the the Piggelty-Woo series of books and cassettes for children and also the jazz-pop CD "Improv '99".

Ari Gold: The singing voice of "Ba Nee"

Ari's show-business career began when he was five; he was discovered singing at his brother's bar-mitzvah. He since went on to record many children's records, along with multiple stints on various television shows such as The Joe Franklin Show and Cabbage Patch Kids, in addition to his work on Jem & The Holograms™. Ari has gone on to become a prominent openly gay recording artist, as well as touring worldwide alongside such diverse musicians as Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, Debbie Harry, and Cyndi Lauper.

Voicing a Starlight girl, Ari learned early on the importance of a good education. Ari attended Yale University and graduated with honors from NYU. He gives talks across the country at community centers, synagogues and universities about growing up gay and orthodox. He is a contributing writer to the anthology YOUTH IN CRISIS, and has been developing an autobiographical musical that had a successful run at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. You can find out more about Ari Gold at his website.