Jem started out as a toy line developed by Bill Sanders which Hasbro released as fashion dolls that were different to Barbie in the way that they were a little bigger, had better pose-ability, brighter hair colors and were quite a unique doll.
Hasbro wanted the TV series to coincide with the doll line and hired Sunbow Productions to create their cartoon, as Sunbow had already worked on other cartoons for them such as Transformers. Christy Marx was appointed the head script writer for the series and developed the characters further beyond what Bill Sanders had created. She gave characters their sur-names, their personalities and added more characters into the show, three of which later became dolls that are purely Christy’s creation. Many other people made major contributions to the cartoon, such as Joe and Jay Bacal and Tom Griffin.
With the audio production of Jem, the voice over artists and the singing artists were done by different people. So the speaking voice of Jem and the singing voice of Jem are two different people. Hard to believe when they sound like the same person. The voice over studio and the music studio were on opposite sides on the USA. The magic of the songs throughout the Jem series, were written by Ford Kinder and Anne Bryant.
Speaking voices:
Jem and the Holograms:
Jem/Jerrica : Samantha Newark
Kimber: Cathianne Blore
Aja: Cathianne Blore
Shana: Cindy McGee
Raya: Linda Dangcil
The Misfits:
Pizzazz : Patricia Alice Albrecht
Roxy: Bobbie Block
Stormer: Susan Blu
Jetta: Louise Dorsey
The Stingers:
Riot: Townsend Coleman
Rapture: Ellen Gerstell
Minx: Kath Soucie
Additional Charaters:
Anne: Patricia Alice Albrecht
Anthony Julian: T.K. Carter
Ashley: Cathianne Blore
Emmett Benton: Jack Angel
Eric Raymond: Charlie Adler
Krissie: Cindy McGee
Lindsey Pierce: Susan Blu
Rio: Michael Sheehan
Synergy: Marlene Aragon
Video: Noelle North
Additional Voices:
Tammy Amerson
Allison Argo
Anne Bryant
Angela Capelli
Kim Carlson
Cathy Cavadini
Walker Edmiston
Diva Grey
Desiree Goyette
Lauri Groves
Michael Horton
Ford Kinder
Jeff Kinder
Ullanda McCullough
Cathie Marcuccio
Neil Ross
Jack Roth
Terri Textor
Florence Warner
Valerie Wilson
Singing Voices:
Jem : Britta Phillips
Pizzazz : Ellen Bernfeld
Back up vocals for the Misfits and the Holograms: Anne Bryant and Ellen Bernfeld
