Adalgisa Inés Rooney, better known by her stage name Deevani, is a

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 ...

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American hip hop, ...

singer. She is best known for her

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

vocals on the songs "Mírame" with

Daddy Yankee Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, composer, and actor. Known as the " King of Reggaetón" by music critics and fans alike, he is the artist who coined ...

, and " Flow Natural" with

Tito El Bambino Efraín David Fines Nevares (born October 5, 1981) known professionally as Tito "El Bambino" is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who rose to fame as part of the duo Héctor & Tito. In 2010, his song, " El Amor", written with Joan Ortiz Es ...

and

Beenie Man Anthony Moses Davis (born 22 August 1973), better known by his stage name Beenie Man, is a Jamaican Dancehall deejay. Biography Davis was born in the Waterhouse district of Kingston in 1973.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Musi ...

Early life

Deevani was born in Catalina Island,

La Romana Province La Romana () is a province of the Dominican Republic. The capital is also named La Romana, and is the third-largest city in the country. La Romana was elevated to the category of province in 1944. File:Catalina Island, La Romana, Dominican Republ ...

. She grew up in

Carolina, Puerto Rico Carolina (; ) is a city and municipality located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico. It lies immediately east of the capital San Juan and Trujillo Alto; north of Gurabo and Juncos; and west of Canóvanas and Loíza. Carolina is spread over ...

and graduated from

Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities The Bayard Rustin Educational Complex – also known as the Humanities Educational Complex – at West 18th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is a "vertical campus" of the N ...

in New York City in 1994. After high school, Rooney returned to Puerto Rico to attend the Instituto de Banca y Comercio to study for an associate's degree, then transferred to Concordia College in New York, where she completed her undergraduate degree in business administration in 1998. Deevani is a poliglot with over 11 languages under her belt. She has three sons. Her last name "Rooney" is from her 2nd husband. As of 2015 Deevani is single.

Music career

Rooney became CEO of Mas Flow, the record label owned by her younger brother, Francisco Saldaña (Luny) of

Luny Tunes Luny Tunes are a reggaeton production duo consisting of Francisco Saldaña (Luny) and Víctor Cabrera (Tunes) who have been known for creating unique musical rhythms for some of the most popular reggaeton artists since the early 2000s. Biograph ...

, in 2002. But helped her little brother behind the scenes, since 1996. Her 1st husband is from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

, and through him she discovered the world of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

movies and music. She also studied

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

, and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

. She likes Bhangra music. Her stage name "Deevani" is Hindi for "crazy girl". In 2005, Deevani made her recording debut on the

song "Mírame" from the Luny Tunes compilation album ''Mas Flow 2''. In the U.S., "Flow Natural" peaked at no. 16 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, r ...

chart in September 2006. Later in her career, Deevani appeared on albums by

El Roockie Iván Vladimir Banista, better known as El Roockie or The Roockie (in English) is a Panamanian reggae recording artist, currently signed to Luny Tunes' Mas Flow Inc. He is widely praised for his powerful and delivering lyrics, earning him the nic ...

in 2007 and Fuego in 2010.

References

External links

Deevani's MySpace page
{{Authority control 1975 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Dominican Republic emigrants to Puerto Rico 21st-century Dominican Republic women singers Puerto Rican reggaeton musicians People from Dajabón People from Carolina, Puerto Rico Singers from New York City