Milagros Quezada Borbón (born May 21, 1955) is a Dominican singer specializing in Merengue. She is a four-time

Latin Grammy Award The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been ...

winner and has been referred to as the "Queen of Merengue" because of her impact on the world of merengue music.

Early life

Milagros Quezada Borbón was born in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

, the daughter of two

Cibao The Cibao, usually referred as "El Cibao", is a region of the Dominican Republic located at the northern part of the country. As of 2009 the Cibao has a population of 5,622,378 making it the most populous region in the country. The region constit ...

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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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 Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

singers from its Latino

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish word that means " quarter" or " neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), social, a ...

s, e.g.

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fi ...

. 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 The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

(see also

Son Cubano Son cubano is a genre of music and dance that originated in the highlands of eastern Cuba during the late 19th century. It is a syncretic genre that blends elements of Spanish and African origin. Among its fundamental Hispanic components are t ...

Rumba The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba. ...

, Cha-Cha-Cha, and

Punta Punta is an Afro-indigenous dance and cultural music originating in the Caribbean Island of Saint Vincent And The Grenadines by the Garifuna people before being exiled from the island. Which is also known as Yurumei. It has African and Arawak ...

for comparison, as well as Kompa, the style sung in

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; ht, kreyòl ayisyen, links=no, ; french: créole haïtien, links=no, ), commonly referred to as simply ''Creole'', or ''Kreyòl'' in the Creole language, is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12million people wor ...

in neighboring Haiti). She completed her primary and secondary school in New York City and graduated cum laude from

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

‘1981 in Communications and Mass Media. She also graduated with a Paralegal degree ‘1992 from Katherine Gibbs School, Montclair, NJ.

Career

Milly, Jocelyn y los Vecinos

Her musical inclinations developed as a pastime in the streets of Washington Heights where she formed with her brothers and sister, the group that would become known as Milly, Jocelyn & Los Vecinos. Their music would identify the growing Hispanic Community of Dominicans in Washington Heights and their distinctly feminist style of Merengue captured the hearts and imagination of the growing Hispanic Community. Hits that would rise in popularity during the ‘70s 80s and 90s include "Volvio Juanita," “La Guacherna," “Tengo," and many other songs that would go on to become Christmas hits on national and international music platforms. Led by her oldest brother and musical arranger, Rafael Quezada, the "Queen of Merengue" along with the group would travel worldwide and become pioneers in the female-led musical Orchestra modality. They were first to bring live Dominican Merengue to major cities in Japan: Tokyo,

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

and regularly tour countries such as Madrid, Spain,

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and South America and many states with the United States where the Dominican Diaspora thrived. The group was also first in entertaining a Presidential Inaugural Gala in 1990: President George H. W. Bush in Washington, D.C.

Solo career

Quezada later decided to embark on a solo career, moving to

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

where she also married and became a mother, enjoying even more success as a solo artist. Since the 1990s, Quezada has been either on tour or in recording studios almost constantly, earning several prestigious awards and public recognition such as keys to cities (see below). In January 1996, after the death of her husband and manager, Rafael Vázquez, Quezada took a break from her musical career which had reached twenty years and twenty long playing records at this tragic moment in her life and the lives of her family. In 1997 she was encouraged by her longtime friend and manager, Pedro Nuñez del Risco, to retake her musical recording career which marked a "before" and "after" in her musical accomplishments. Following Vázquez's death, Quezada went on to release and popularize songs like, "Lo Tengo Todo" “Entre tu Cuerpo y el Mío" “Porque me Amaste, "Para darte mi Vida" “Vive" “Toma mi Vida" amongst many other songs.

Later career

In more recent years, Quezada has released music that collaborated with various artists such as

Fefita la Grande Manuela Josefa Cabrera Taveras (born September 18, 1943), known as Fefita La Grande, is a Dominican accordionist and the most recognized female performer of typical merengue, a more rural variation of merengue, the main musical genre of the Do ...

, Maridalia Hernández,

Gilberto Santa Rosa Gilberto Santa Rosa Cortés, nicknamed "El Caballero de la Salsa" (The Gentleman of Salsa) (born August 21, 1962), is a Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero. He is a six time Grammy Award winner and has sold over three million ...

, Pavel Núñez, Héctor Acosta, the Ilegales,

Romeo Santos Anthony "Romeo" Santos (born July 21, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor who is best known as the frontman and lead vocalist of the bachata group Aventura. In 2002, the song " Obsesión" reached number one in It ...

, and

Olga Tañón Olga Teresa Tañón OrtizIn this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is ''Tañón'' and the second or maternal family name is ''Ortiz''. (born April 13, 1967) is a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter. Over the course of her career, she has ...

. Many of these collaborations were on her 2019 album, "Milly & Company". In 2020, Quezada released "Gracias A Ti", a song thanking frontline workers for their work during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

after the deadly

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Health professional, healthcare workers physically and psychologically. Healthcare workers are more vulnerable to Coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19 infection than the general population due to frequent contact w ...

. In 2022, Quezada published her thirty-fifth release, ''Resistirá'', with Chris Hierro, the son of singer Henry Hierro. On July 29, she released a remix of the song "Se Busca" with

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "p ...

, La Ross Maria, and Techy Fatule.

Personal life

Quezada married to Rafael Vázquez from 1976 until his death in 1996. He was also her manager. They had three kids, Miguel, Anthony and Rafael Jesús. Quezada was a close friend and protégé of singer, band leader and politician

Johnny Ventura Juan de Dios Ventura Soriano (8 March 1940 – 28 July 2021), better known as Johnny Ventura nicknamed , was a Dominican singer and band leader of merengue and salsa. The merengue legend was a legislator of the Lower House between 1982 and 198 ...

. After his death in 2021, Quezada frequently performed tributes to him in her concerts.

Awards and recognition

The "Queen of Merengue" went on to be nominated and received multiple national and international awards in the Tropical Music genre such as, four

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been ...

Awards to date; Premios Cassandra Awards in the Dominican Republic including the highest honor in her genre "Premio Soberano" in 1997.

Billboard awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of t ...

and Univision's

Premio Lo Nuestro The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro (Spanish for "Our Thing") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music, presented by Univision, a Spanish-language television network based in the United States. The awards began in ...

in 1998, ACE Awards in New York, "Tu Musica" award as well as "Premios Globo in NYC and in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Co ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

various "Congo de Oro" awards during several annual Carnaval de Barranquilla tours performed. Her well known Carnaval Song "La Guacherna" written by Esther Forero, is recognized along with Barranquilla's Carnival by the coveted "Worldwide Cultural Heritage" issued by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

. Milly's been recognized by both the Senate of

and the Dominican Republic as well as the Mayor's Office of New York City for her cultural contribution to the music of the Americas. OTHER AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS *

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

, Washington, D.C. ~ Inducted in the musical archives along with Dominican artists Luis Kalaff and Joseito Mateo in 1998. *Decorated by President Hipolito Mejia with medal "Orden Cristobal Colon/Grado Oficial" 2001 *Boulevard of the Stars in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

City, Panama ~ Awarded Bronze Star in this walk of fame Blvd. *In 2007,

New York City Mayor The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a c ...

recognized her musical contribution during Hispanic Heritage Month. *Dominican Consul General Eduardo Selman presented in 2008 the medal "Orden al Merito Ciudadano" as the awards first recipient. *Named by Decree "Ambassador of Cultural Affairs" by President Dr. Leonel Fernandez in 2008 and attached to the Dominican Chancellorship, a title which remains to this day. *2008 Master of Ceremony to the Cassandra Awards televised Ceremony where she receives the "Best Actress" award for her role in the movie, "Yuniol 2" – The movie also receives "Best Picture Award" for the same year. *2010 Dominican American Nat'l Roundtable, Washington, D.C. "Lifetime Achievement Award” *2011

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

, Boston, MS awards special recognition in their event at Miami Dade County Auditorium. *2011

Hostos Community College Eugenio María de Hostos Community College of The City University of New York is a public community college in the South Bronx, New York City. It is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system and was created by an act of the Board o ...

’s Presidential Medal of honor for musical contribution ~ this award was only presented to one other woman, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Sotomayor. *2011 Atlantic Chamber of Representatives of Barranquilla, Colombia's "Orden de Barlovento" medal for promoting Colombian Music worldwide. *2012 Two

Awards for current musical production "Aqui Estoy Yo" for Best Contemporary Tropical Album and for best Tropical Song, feat. Juan Luis Guerra "Toma Mi Vida". *2015

’s Mayor's Office declares Milly "Adoptive Daughter" with the golden Medal "Categoria Oro Grado Comendador". *March 8, 2017 Providence, Rhode Island During "International Women's Day" is awarded 8 declarations of excellence during the "Extraordinary Woman Gala Ceremony of 2017" along with a special citation by the Office of the Senate of the state of Rhode Island. *2017 Governor's Atlantic Department of

awards the medal, "Puerta de Oro de Colombia" by the Colombian Embassy in the

; and declares artist as musical Ambassador, during special event in Teatro La Fiesta, Hotel Jaragua, D.R. for worldwide promotion of Colombian songs written by Barranquilla's author, Esther Forero. *2019 ASCAP Latin Heritage Award *In February 2021, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

, led by Representative

Adriano Espaillat Adriano de Jesús Espaillat Rodríguez (; born September 27, 1954) is a Dominican-American politician. He is the U.S. representative for and the first Dominican American and first formerly undocumented immigrant to ever serve in Congress. He pr ...

(a fellow Dominican), officially recognized Quezada and her contributions to music. *2021

Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award The Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is an honor presented annually by the Latin Recording Academy, the same organization that distributes the Latin Grammy Awards, to commend performers "who have made contributions of outstanding artistic ...

Keys to the city: *

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

West New York, New Jersey West New York is a town in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, situated upon the New Jersey Palisades. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 52,912. The Census Bureau's Population Estimat ...

Cinematography

In early 2009, Milly joined eleven other Dominican music legends on a national tour celebrating the merengue and

bachata Bachata may refer to: * Bachata (music), a genre of Latin American music **Traditional bachata, a subgenre of bachata music * Bachata (dance), a dance style from the Dominican Republic * Bachatón, a hybrid bachata/reggaeton music style * "Bachata ...

music traditions of the country. That tour was transformed into a Felix Limardo documentary entitled Sol Caribe. The movie features an original song, La Puerta del Nuevo Mundo that is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration of the twelve stars. The film was the closing feature at the III Dominican Republic Global Film Festival in November 2009 and was attended by the President of the Dominican Republic. In addition to the Cassandra Awarded movie, "Yuniol 2" Milly has played important roles in the movies: “Cal y Arena,” Puerto Rico; “Hermanos R.D.” in Dominican Republic and the movie “Juanita” written produced and directed by Leticia Tonos that was released in December 2018.

Discography

In over four decades in the music industry, Quezada has released 31 records sponsored by a variety of record labels including

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is oper ...

Milly y los Vecinos

*''1976 Esta es Milly con los Vecinos'' (''This is Milly with los Vecinos'') *''1977 La gente de hoy'' (''Today's People'') *''1978 Pa' Dominicana'' (To Dominican Republic'') *''1979 Milly en Boleros'' (''Milly into

Bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

s'') *''1980 Los Vecinos en su momento'' (''The Vecinos at Their Best Moment'') *''1981 Fiesta Con Los Vecinos'' (''Party with Los Vecinos'') *''1982 Acabando'' (''Kicking Some'') *''1983 Nostalgia'' (''Nostalgia'') *''1983 Milly en Salsa'' (''Milly into Salsa'', alongside

Luis "Perico" Ortiz Luis Ortiz a.k.a. "Perico" (born December 26, 1949) is a trumpet player, composer, musical arranger and producer. Early years Ortiz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the capital city of the island. He was raised in Santurce, a sector of San Ju ...

) *''1983 Avant Garde'' (

Avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

) *''1984 Esta Noche, Los Vecinos'' (''Tonight, Los Vecinos!'') *''1985 Dinastía'' *''1986 Special Delivery'' *''1987 Etiqueta Negra'' (''Black Tie Affair'') *''1988 Por Supuesto'' (''Of Course'') *''1989 Ahora Es'' (''Now's the Time'') *''1990 7+1= Vecinos'' *''1991 Flying Solo'' *''1993 Celebrando'' (''Celebrating'') *''1995 Lo Mejor de Milly y los Vecinos'' (''The Best of Milly y los Vecinos'', a remix) *''1995 En tus manos'' (''In Your Hands'')

As a solo singer

Quezada has recorded many solo albums, receiving a

for ''Pienso asi'', ''MQ'' and ''Aquí Estoy Yo''. *1997: ''Hasta siempre'' (''Forever'') *1998: ''Vive'' (''Live'') *2000: ''Tesoros de Mi Tierra (Treasures From My Land).'' Her first experience singing bachata. *2001: ''Milly, éxitos y más'' (''Hits and More...'') *2002: ''Pienso así...'' (''This Is How I Think'') *2005: ''MQ'' *2015: ''Solo Boleros La Milly una noche'' (''Just Boleros Milly, one Night'') *2016: ''Sólo Faltas Tú'' (''You're The Only One Missing'') *2016: ''Aquí Estoy Yo'' (''Here I Am'') *2019: ''Milly & Company'' *2022: ''Resistirá''

References

External links

Official Site in SpanishDiscography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quezada, Milly 1955 births Living people 20th-century Dominican Republic women singers Latin Grammy Award winners Merengue musicians Bachata musicians 21st-century Dominican Republic women singers Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent Latin music songwriters Dominican Republic performers of Christian music Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Women in Latin music