Cisyk's original goal was a career as an opera singer, but her father's death left the family without a source of income. Needing to earn money immediately, Cisyk pursued a career as a session singer in popular music. She drew her professional name (Kacey) from her first and last initials. Cisyk began singing in clubs, while submitting audition tapes to producers and advertising agencies. She had a successful career as a background singer in popular music, working as a backup singer for
Carly Simon and
Michael Franks and for artists produced by
Quincy Jones.
Soundtrack and commercial jingle success Cisyk's work in commercials brought her to the attention of
Joe Brooks, who worked as a composer and arranger of jingles. Brooks, who wrote, directed and composed the score for the movie
You Light Up My Life chose Cisyk to dub the singing voice of actress
Didi Conn. Cisyk's performance of the song appears on the original soundtrack album, and was released as a single, although she was not listed as the performing artist in the final credits of the film (for which she successfully sued the producers). Her single release of the song reached No. 80 on the
Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song was also recorded by singer
Debby Boone, with Brooks producing and arranging. This recording of
"You Light Up My Life", became a No. 1 single on the
Billboard chart for ten consecutive weeks. People magazine ran a substantial article about "The real voice behind 'You Light Up My Life" inasmuch the similarity between her and Debby Boone's voice led many to assume the latter had sung the songs in the movie. In a 2013 biographical essay about Cisyk, her second husband,
Ed Rakowicz wrote that Brooks "withheld payment" and "tried to evade payment by false promises and by asking her to be an incidental actor in his film, implying huge rewards yet to come." Later, (according to Rakowicz's biographical essay He was indicted in May 2009 by the state Supreme Court for
Manhattan (a trial-level court) on 91 counts of rape, sexual abuse, criminal sexual act, assault, and other charges. While awaiting trial, Brooks killed himself in May, 2011. Cisyk also recorded lead vocals for the soundtracks of the movies
The One and Only and
Circle of Two. She also contributed backing vocals to the Carly Simon songs used on the soundtrack for the movie
Working Girl. Cisyk achieved her widest success as a singer of the musical
jingles used in TV and radio commercials. In addition to Ford, Cisyk sang for automakers
General Motors and
Toyota. She recorded spots for the three national television networks in the 1980s (
ABC,
NBC and
CBS), four major airlines (
American,
Delta,
Eastern and
TWA), two national retailers (
Sears and
JCPenney), and the two most popular soft drinks:
Coca-Cola and
Pepsi. According to her
New York Times obituary, "a typical day, she later recalled, would begin with a 9 am session for Trans World Airlines, followed by Coca-Cola at eleven, Hartz Mountain at 1 pm, Eastern Airlines at two, Datsun at three, L'Eggs at five, McDonald's at six, and, after all that, a recording session from 8:30 pm to 3 am". ==Ukrainian music==