Bianca Leonor Quiñones, known professionally as Quiñ, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from

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, ...

. She is signed to

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

and Fantasy Soul.

Early life and education

Quiñ's passion for music and performing began as a child as she grew up around her musician father play the

conga drums The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

. Her mother was a dancer and school teacher and she sang in her church and high school choirs. According to her mother, she wrote her first song at a young age after the birth of her sister. She was born to a Puerto Rican father and Mexican mother. She attended school in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. After graduating from Pasadena High School, she moved on to college at

Cal State Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge, Los Angeles, Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as o ...

. After a year and a half of studying

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

, Quiñ moved to

West Oakland West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland, California, United States, situated west of Downtown Oakland, south of Emeryville, and north of Alameda. The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the ...

and began focusing on music full time at age 19.

Career

Quiñ released her debut EP, ''Galactica,'' in October 2016, which includes a feature from

G-Eazy Gerald Earl Gillum (born May 24, 1989), better known by his stage name G-Eazy, is an American rapper. Based in Oakland, California, he began his career in 2006 and released two independent studio albums before signing with RCA Records to releas ...

on the song "Over Again". She describes the EP as “the first chapter to my Fantasy Soul Universe.” Her song "Lightspeed" was involved in the Visions of Harmony project led by

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, which aimed to educate the public on the Juno spacecraft by combining science and art. A year later, in September 2017, Quiñ released her ''Dreamgirl'' EP, a sequel of her album ''Galactica.'' The EP featured collaborations with Syd on the song “Sticky Situation," and

Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) * Buddy Cage (1946–2020), American pedal steel guitarist, member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage *Buddy Holly (1936–1959), artistic ...

on the song “Happened to Happen.” A music video for “Sticky Situation” was released in August 2017. She describes her sound as "fantasy soul" and music that "has the power of versatility". In 2017, Quiñ introduced her label, Fantasy Soul, named after the genre. In August 2018, she released “Remind Me” as a single, described by ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'' as “daydream-inducing antidote for all life's worries.” Later that year, she collaborated with

Vans Vans (originally called the Van Doren Rubber Company) is an American apparel, accessories, and skateboarding shoes brand, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and ...

for a campaign highlighting the importance of creativity and personal style. In June 2019, she signed to

. She released her fourth EP ''Lucid'' in November, which featured

6lack Ricardo Valdez Valentine Jr. (born June 24, 1992), known professionally as 6lack (stylized as 6LACK, pronounced "black"), is an American R&B singer and songwriter. Born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he gained recognitio ...

. Quiñ has opened for

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer and songwriter. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

, Gnash,

JMSN Christian Berishaj, known professionally as JMSN ''(pronounced "Jameson")'', is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. Born in Dallas and raised in Detroit, JMSN has been an influential figure in the contempo ...

, and performed at The Fader Fort at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Afropunk Festival The Afropunk Festival began in 2005, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. By 2018, Afropunk Festivals had also been held in various major cities, including Atlanta, London, Salvador (Bahia), Salvador, Dakar, Dakar, and Johannesburg, Jo ...

and Galore’s Girl Cult Festival. On April 20, 2020, musician

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...

released a choreography video to Quiñ's "Mushroom Chocolate". She was featured on the

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal". It also appears as a surname.

song "Brand New" from his ''Scenic Drive'' mixtape which released in December 2021.

Discography

Albums

* ''Galactica'' (2016)

Extended plays

* ''Dreamgirl'' (2017) * ''Lucid'' (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Singers from Los Angeles Pasadena High School (California) alumni California State University, Northridge alumni 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Interscope Records artists American people of Puerto Rican descent American musicians of Mexican descent