Milly Quezada | |
---|---|
Birth name | Milagros Quezada Borbón |
Also known as | Milly Quezada, Reina del Merengue, Queen of Merengue Music |
Born |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
May 21, 1955
Origin | Dominican Republic |
Genres | Merengue |
Occupation(s) | Singer, Songwriter |
Website | Official Website |
Milagros Quezada Borbón, known simply as Milly Quezada, is a Latin Grammy-winning Dominican Merengue music singer. She is a singer in Latin America; especially in those Latin American countries bordered by the Caribbean Sea, and in the eastern seaboard region of the United States. She is also known as Merengue Queen. She has won four Latin Grammy Awards.
Milly Quezada was born in Santo Domingo, the daughter of two Cibao natives and sister of four musician brothers. Growing up in such a musical family, Quezada became interested in music as a toddler—she would sing along with her brothers for family, friends and small gatherings near her home.
She expressed an interest in developing her singing talents as a young girl, and, partly for this reason the Quezada family moved to New York City when she was still a child.
Milly spent her pre-teen and teen years in New York, a city that is well known as a school for Merengue and Salsa singers from its Latino barrios, e.g. Spanish Harlem. In New York, Quezada developed an in-depth knowledge of her favorite musical genre, the fastest of the Latin American popular dance music styles, sung in Spanish and native to the Dominican Republic (see also Son Cubano, Rumba, Salsa, Cha-Cha-Cha, and Punta for comparison, as well as Kompa, the style sung in Haitian Creole in neighboring Haiti). Merengue has been comically referred to as "the Latino weight-loss program" since it is an infectious rhythm, and the songs tend to inspire adherents to enthusiastic dancing. After graduating from high school in New York, she attended City College of New York, graduating with a university degree in communications.