Maria D'Luz (born Dulce María González Aldaz; August 5, 1986) is a Mexican-American singer and songwriter.
Career
She was raised in
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...
, where she began playing piano before her fourth birthday. She performed with her sisters in a children's educational, bilingual, and musical TV show, "Cantos y Cuentos Con Ani", which ranked number one in its Saturday morning time slot.
Later, she continued classical piano studies that evolved into
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
, vocal performance, and
flamenco
Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...
dancing. At age 9 she participated in "Juguemos A Cantar" (a National Singing Contest in Mexico by Televisa) in the program "Siempre En Domingo" with Raul Velasco, representing the states of Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí in Mexico. At age 14, she performed with her band "Dulce y Sol Latino" at The Millennium Stage at
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...
in Washington, D.C., for being the winner of "Hollywood 2000" Texas Talent Showcase BSPA in Brownsville, TX., chosen by judges: Sam Riddle "Star Search", Helen Hernandez "The Imagen Foundation" and Yvonne Vega from
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
.
At the age of 15, D'Luz wrote her first song titled "What Is Wrong With The World" which later became part of her first album, "Just Notes", an 11 track CD, all written and composed by D'Luz herself, and was released on August 4, 2007. As a songwriter, she has written "Falsa Felicidad", recorded by Jimmy Gonzalez y el Grupo Mazz, in the album: La Leyenda Continua,
Billboard Charts
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...
- Latin Album #37, receiving a
Latin Grammy
The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented 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 any ...
for Best Tejano Album in 2008. Shortly after, she releases the
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
campaign song "We Need A Woman" and accepts an interview by Soledad O'Brien from
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
.
In 2008,
Objetivo Fama
''Objetivo Fama'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''OF'', Spanish for ''Target: Fame'') is a Puerto Rican singing talent contest that aired for over six years on WLII-DT, WLII, the Univision outlet in Puerto Rico; and on UniMás, Telefutura in the main ...
Univision
Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
Online announced D'Luz the winner of a 2009
Pontiac Vibe
The Pontiac Vibe is a compact car that was sold by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac from 2002 to 2010. It was jointly developed by General Motors along with Toyota, which manufactured the mechanically similar Toyota Matrix. Manufactured by the Toyot ...
for obtaining the highest number of online votes for her arrangement and video version of "Hasta Que Me Olvides".
The John Lennon Songwriting Contest, a prestigious international competition for songwriters, awarded D'Luz in the Latin category as a finalist for bossa-nova ballad "Lo Solucionare" and an Honorable Mention for Latin-pop tune "No Te Vi" in 2006., 1st finalist with "Podria Ser Un Angel" in 2012 and later that year, a finalist for pop tune, "Es".
D'Luz joined the Hermes Music Foundation early 2010, and was invited to join the "Proyecto De Amor - Claro Que Se Puede" CD to benefit Hermes Music Foundation. D'Luz performed in this CD with artists
Carlos Santana
Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...
,
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
,
Los Lonely Boys
Los Lonely Boys are an American musical group from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll", combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown-eyed soul, country music, country, and Tejano music.
The ...
Alberto Cortez
Alberto Cortez (born José Alberto García Gallo; 11 March 1940 – 4 April 2019) was an Argentine singer and songwriter. Cortez and his wife Renée Govaerts lived in Madrid.
Career
Cortez was born at 8:00 AM (11:00 GMT) on Monday, 11 March 194 ...
,
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra (; ; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American author, New Age, new age guru, and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthi ...
,
Reyli
Reyli Barba (born April 12, 1972), most commonly known as Reyli, is a Mexican singer-songwriter. He is also a composer and has written songs for artists such as Alejandro Fernández and Beyoncé Knowles.
Reyli is a former member of Elefante, a ...
, Jorge Guevara, Ramon Ayala, and many more. D'Luz's vocals can be heard on songs "La Vida Es Un Sueño" and "Amalos," two of 15-tracks on the album. All songs were written by Hermes Music Foundation president Alberto Kreimerman.
D'Luz performed with Elefante for Jugueton ("Toy Marathon") 2010 in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and has been an opening act for artists
Jose Jose
Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph.
Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods
*Jose ben Abin
*Jose ben Akabya
*Jose the Galilean
*Jose ben Halafta
*Jo ...
,
Leo Dan
Leopoldo Dante Tévez (known as Leo Dan; March 22, 1942 – January 1, 2025) was an Argentine composer and singer. He recorded more than 20 albums during his long career during the late 20th century between Argentina and Mexico.
Life and care ...
,
King Clave
Jorge Ayala (born February 14, 1944, in Formosa, Argentina), better known as King Clave, is an Argentine singer and songwriter with hits from the 1970s and 1980s.
Career
King Clave's career began on Argentina's Canal 13. He was later feature ...
, Yerbabuena &
Nick Vujicic
Nicholas James Vujicic ( ; born 4 December 1982) is an Australian-American Christian evangelist and motivational speaker of Serbian descent. Vujicic has tetra-amelia syndrome, a condition characterised by the absence of arms and legs.
Early li ...
. She performed for social activist
Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is an American labor leader and feminist activist. After working for several years with the Community Service Organization (CSO), she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with fellow activ ...
during the celebration of the naming of Dolores Huerta Avenue, the first street in her name.
In 2013 and 2014, D'Luz was invited to perform multiple times at Houston's
House of Blues
House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers (film), The Blues Brothers''. The ...
. She also performed with her band at the Springboard South music festival in Houston in June 2014 at
Warehouse Live
The Warehouse Live is a large club/small theater-sized live entertainment venue located in East Downtown (EADO), Houston, Texas.These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin' is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No.1 in the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart. ...
". The album was recorded and mixed at Gospa Studios in McAllen, TX and mastered at Lurssen Mastering, owned by
Gavin Lurssen
Gavin Lurssen is an American mastering engineer. He owns Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood, California.The Texas Bucket List show, airing in Texas, Colorado, Nevada and North Carolina. D'Luz participated on March 28, 2015, on
Sabado Gigante
In a vast number of languages, the names given to the seven days of the week are derived from the names of the classical planets in Hellenistic astronomy, which were in turn named after contemporary deities, a system introduced by the Sumeri ...
's "Competencia Internacional de Imitadores" where she impersonated
Gloria Estefan
Gloria María Milagrosa Estefan (; ; born September 1, 1957) is an American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is an eight-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of t ...
and won the public's vote.
D'Luz performs weekly at local venues and teaches music classes. D'Luz also does Spanish voice-overs for a Brazilian cartoon, Bob Zoom, now being streamed on
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
. D'Luz is currently working on a new Tejano/Tex-Mex CD album which will be released in the winter of 2015 that is being produced and arranged by Santiago Castilo and mixed/mastered by Gilbert Velasquez of Velasquez Music in
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
. She currently resides in McAllen, TX and is an online student at Berklee College of Music.