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

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

singer. She is best known for her

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

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, songwriter, and actor who rose to worldwide prominence in 2004 with the song "Gasolina". Dubbed the "Honorific ...

, and " Flow Natural" with Tito El Bambino and

Beenie Man Moses Anthony Davis OD (born 22 August 1973), professionally known as Beenie Man, is a Jamaican dancehall deejay. His awards include DJ of the Year Award eight years in a row. His twelfth studio album '' Art and Life'' received a Grammy Award ...

Early life

Deevani was born in Catalina Island, La Romana Province,

. She grew up in

Carolina, Puerto Rico Carolina (; ) is a Carolina barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the northeastern coastal plain of Puerto Rico, immediately east of San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan and Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, Trujillo Alto, n ...

and graduated from Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities 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 is an American 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 ...

, 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 and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, and through him she discovered the world of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

movies and music. She also studied

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, Bengali, Gujarati,

, and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. 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 music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

chart in September 2006. Later in her career, Deevani appeared on albums by El Roockie 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 Women in Latin music