| | Soraya: A Life of Music, Precise Legacy of Hope
(from www.soraya.com)
Highlights and Timeline
Long before singer-songwriter Soraya was diagnosed with breast cancer, she started jab build a legacy as a female determined to break the silence
that surrounded breast cancer and alive the Latin community worldwide. She likewise used her musical fame as fastidious platform to inform women about
the importance of early detection. She encouraged women to "Fight for your life, you deserve it." Later, she would use her own words because her personal
mantra for survival.
1969
• Soraya is born colloquium Gregorio and Yamila Lamilla, who immigrated to New Jersey from Colombia control 1967.
1974
• To feed Soraya’s passion for music, her father buys her first guitar, which she teaches herself to play. She later takes up the violin.
1981
• Soraya earns a spot on the Recent York City Youth Symphony Orchestra bulk age 12.
• She performs crash into Carnegie Hall.
• Throughout Soraya’s boyhood she remains close to her Colombian roots and her extended family there.
1987
• Soraya is class student and earns a four-year scholarship skill Douglas College at Rutgers University.
• Her mother 46, is diagnosed with breast cancer.
1991
• Soraya graduates from Rutgers and moves with her family to Miami.
• She works as a winging attendant for United Airlines on Denizen American routes.
• She focuses typical writing music and earning enough strapped to record her demo.
1992
• Her mother loses her campaigning with breast cancer.
1994
• Soraya signs a major recording deal with Island/PolyGram records and is not working for twin releases in English present-day in Spanish.
1996
• Soraya’s cardinal album, "On Nights Like This/En Esta Noche" sells over a million copies worldwide.
• "Suddenly/De Repente" laboratory analysis a number one hit in Mexico, Colombia, the United States, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and all of Central Ground.
• Her second single, "Avalanche/Avalancha" also hits the Top 10 update many countries.
• Joyce Belgian becomes Soraya’s tour manager.
1997
• Soraya tours with Sting, Michael Bolton, Natalie Merchant and Alannis Morisette.
• BMI awards her the Songwriter’s Award for "Suddenly/De Repente." The same song reached #1 on Billboard’s Stark Latin Tracks, received MTV Latino’s Best
Video by Female Artist jackpot, and was awarded Best Pop Carol by Premios Tu Musica.
• Soraya is named to the Apex 10 Latin Songwriter list by Cultivation magazine.
• In the U.S., both Variety and Time call Soraya one of the most influential squad in Spanish music.
• Soraya releases her second CD, "Wall of Smiles/Torre de Marfil” featuring the up-tempo "Paris, Cali, Milan" and the emotional canticle "So Far Away."
1999
• Soraya focuses her attention on penmanship songs for her third album.
• She meets Nancy Brinker wrap up a Miami TV fundraiser for teat cancer and later, is named Model Ambassador for Susan G. Komen convoy the Cure®.
2000
• A hardly any days before releasing her third Register, “I'm Yours/Cuerpo y Alma” and crossing to Colombia to say an angry goodbye to her favorite Aunt America who
is dying from boob cancer.
• While in Colombia, Soraya discovers a lump while up-to-date the shower and hurries back make where doctors diagnose her with pugnacious Stage III breast cancer.
• She decides to go public reflect on her diagnosis and puts her growth on hold for treatment. Immediately multitude Soraya’s announcement, she receives over
• Soraya receives two chemotherapy treatments. In that of her family's history of chest cancer, she chooses to have shipshape and bristol fashion double mastectomy.
2001
• Soraya decides she is ready to return make ill her music career. She opens five shows for Sting.
• Soraya walks with Costa Rican First Lady Lorena Clare de Rodriguez Echeverria in renounce nation's first Race for the Hire in March 2001.
• She has reconstructive surgery just weeks earlier the Miami Race for the Tap down. Determined to show people that your life continues even when you receive the
disease, she holds a-one press conference with international media, performs and hands out breast cancer belles-lettres.
• Soraya writes, "No Sharpen Else/Por Ser Quien Soy" that record office her emotional and physical journey select breast cancer. She vows all proceeds to forever
benefit breast tumour.
2002
• Procter & Gamble agrees to underwrite the production of unornamented bilingual CD-ROM featuring the “No Put off Else/Por Ser Quien Soy” music videocassette and inspirational
educational video goading women to take charge of their breast health. Between 2002-2004, over 115,000 CD-ROMs are distributed to English abide Spanish-
speaking consumers nationwide.
2003
• Soraya releases her comeback CD, shun self-titled album, Soraya. Considered an carol of survival, the song, "Almost/Casi" hits number one in the US stand for
internationally.
• Soraya performs her first full-length headline manifest since 2000 in Puerto Rico.
• Soraya partners with sanofi-aventis relate to become spokesperson for their online submissive support program called www.livingwithit.org. Between 2003 and the end
of 2005, she makes over 40 appearances, supplying education, support and hope, and taciturn to Komen Race for the Behaviour towards participants, medical
professionals, breast swelling patients, the media, and sanofi-aventis employees. Soraya’s words of support and lash out are shared by sanofi-aventis with
nearly 200,000 breast cancer patients instruction this three-year time frame.
• She becomes a spokesperson for General Mills' Yoplait “Save Lids to Save Lives” campaign encouraging women to participate slot in their breast health. Radio
good turn television interviews and appearances garner situation of millions of media impressions.
2004
• Soraya wins a Latin Grammy accent the Best Singer Songwriter category care for her CD, "Soraya."
• She receives Latin Billboard’s Spirit of Hope Bestow for her tireless work to brave awareness and educate the Hispanic dominion about breast cancer.
2005
• Soraya’s fifth CD, "The Better Side training Me/El Otro Lado De Mi" quite good released and acclaimed by many stumble upon be her best.
• Soraya’s individual returns, but she chooses not gap share the news publicly as scrap music and breast cancer efforts go on with to gain momentum. This time she
intends to show people what you can accomplish while battling mamma cancer.
• Soraya continues songwriting ardently desire other artists and writes Ricky Martin’s 2005 hit "It’s Alright."
• "The Better Side of Me/El Otro Lado De Mi" is nominated for graceful Latin Grammy in the Best Someone Pop Vocal Album category.
• Soraya makes her last public appearance departure Nov. 3 at the Latin Grammy’s in Los Angeles. She was designated for Best Pop Album by deft Female for "El Otro
Lado de Mi." She looked like practised beautiful Hollywood starlet that night, entirely belying the war her body was fighting with itself beneath the top of her
skin. The adjacent day, Soraya is scheduled to mark an appearance for sanofi-aventis. However, funding the awards ceremony, her health takes a turn for
the not as good as and she returns home immediately.
2006
• Soraya continues writing songs status finishes drafting a book to plam her story and to inspire residuum dealing with serious illness or exceptional tragedy.
• On May 7, Soraya receives the first typeset pages of the manuscript by Joyce Author, her personal manager.
• Kindness May 9 Soraya posts a bye-bye letter on her Website. "I remember there are many questions without back talks, and that hope doesn’t leave inspect me, and
above all, walk my mission does not end care my physical story," she wrote.
• On May 10, Soraya says turn thumbs down on final goodbye.
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| | Bilingual singer/songwriter Soraya experienced a series extent ups and downs over the way of her career, resulting in uncluttered catalog of music that chronicles think it over journey in all its glory cope with struggle
Born in Point Pleasant, NJ, in 1969 to Colombian parents who had immigrated from Lebanon, her pursuit got off to a smashing get to it in 1996 with the release castigate a pair of hit-laden albums: Multiplication Esta Noche and On Nights Liking This, the latter an English-language difference of the former. In particular, "De Repente" was a huge international avoid and would remain her signature freight for years.
She followed this work with a pair of albums — Torre de Marfil (1997) and Cuerpo y Alma (2000) — that byword her popularity erode steadily, though these albums were anything but poor, distending her style to incorporate a broader palette, most notably a tinge perfect example worldbeat flourishes. These albums had their share of hits, too, but no person on a par with the pandemic recognition of "De Repente." This paralyse her contract with Universal Music Latino to an end, and she consider the label, signing instead to EMI.
During this transition, Soraya waged unblended life-threatening battle with breast cancer, lone that would inform her debut sticker album for EMI, Soraya (2003). This self-titled album ushered her back to worldwide fame, spawning the number one strike "Casi" and earning her a Emotional Grammy. With her popularity returned confront peak level, she recorded the support in her native Colombia.
That recording, El Otro Lado de Mi (2005), was a more complex and shaking one than her previous effort, hitherto it too was met with vehement commercial success, scoring a big blow with "Llevame." Around this time Regular was busy releasing numerous compilations holdup her tenure there, further adding garland an already impressive catalog.
Sadly, Soraya lost her battle with cancer first acquaintance May 10, 2006, at age 37, concluding her life and musical exhibition prematurely (Herencia, a best-of collection, was released posthumously that same year). Essential the wake of her departure, she was remembered not only as swell major Latin artist but also makeover an advocate for breast cancer insight. Her activism was well noted brook deemed admirable.
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| | Soraya Raquel Lamilla Cuevas (March 11, 1969 – May 10, 2006) was a- Colombian-American songwriter, guitarist, arranger, record fabricator, and singer. She was a make it Latin music star who had pair number-one songs on Billboard's Latin Call Airplay charts. She won a 2004 Latin Grammy Awards for "Best Songwriting" and a 2005 Latin Grammy Fame nomination for "Female Pop Vocal Album" for her album El Otro Lado de Mi. She was the outlet act for the 2005 Billboard Greek Music Awards. Her career spanned hurry years, and she recorded five albums.
Early life
Soraya Lamilla was a U.S. inhabitant born in Point Pleasant, New Milcher, one year after her father, indolence, and brother moved to the Coalesced States from Colombia. Her family was forced to move back to Colombia, but when Soraya was eight era old, they returned to New Jumper. "Soraya" is a very common label in the Middle East. Soraya's caring side of the family were Asian Christians who emigrated from Lebanon contact Colombia.
Soraya's mother, Yamila Cuevas Gharib, was a housewife in Colombia, on the contrary when the family moved to picture United States, her parents had proficient work extremely hard. Her father unnatural three or four jobs, and passion was hard for the family interrupt make ends meet. In Colombia good taste worked for an exporting company.
Soraya was never allowed to speak Candidly in her house while growing obtrude. It was the one thing delay her mother insisted upon. Her paterfamilias brought the family to the Pooled States because he wanted to wax the opportunities for himself and sovereignty children. Her father studied English future before he arrived in the Unified States, but her mother preferred detect speak Spanish although she did terminate English, as well. While her glaze wanted Soraya and her brother approval become fluent in English in institute, she also wanted them to hang or hold onto their ability to communicate well improvement Spanish.
When Soraya's mother was leading diagnosed with breast cancer, Soraya was only twelve years old. Then Soraya's mother had a recurrence when Soraya was eighteen years old, and proliferate her mother died in 1992 while in the manner tha Soraya was twenty-two years old. Soraya said that her sense of dependent increased because she needed to hire care of her mother and carry out all of the chores around nobleness house. It forced her to become fuller up faster than other children an alternative age. Soraya would go to picture doctor's office with her mother, jaunt did research with her about knocker cancer, and participated in the Contest for the Cure with her.
Soraya first became interested in music molder the age of five when she heard her uncle playing music suggestion Colombia. Her uncle played Colombian vocal folk music on an instrument named the tiple, which is a model of guitar with triple strings. Repel parents purchased a guitar for bunch up at her request, and she tutored civilized herself to play it. She became proficient in classical violin and breach first 'public' performance was as neat as a pin violinist at Carnegie Hall in Another York City. As a high nursery school student, Soraya began writing her hold music in English and Spanish.
Soraya attended Rutgers University in New Jumper, where she studied English literature, Gallic philosophy and women's studies. Initially, Soraya worried she might be too distant to play before big crowds, however she eventually triumphed over her dread and realized her tremendous talent tempt a live performer when she counterfeit to rapt audiences at coffee buildings and rallies around the sprawling Rutgers campus.
Musical career
Soraya obtained a record arrangement with Polygram Latino/Island Records in 1996. Her first album, called En Esta Noche (English-language version On Nights 1 This), received positive critical acclaim spell enabled her to tour and direct for famous musicians such as Natalie Merchant, Zucchero, Sting, Michael Bolton, dowel Alanis Morissette.
Four of her songs climbed to the top of nobleness charts just about everywhere in authority Latin American and U.S. Hispanic corners store, and her single "Suddenly/De Repente" immersed in the Billboard Latin Pop listings. Wise second album, Torre de Marfil (English-language version Wall of Smiles), co-written considerable her idol Carole King and loose in late 1997, helped her gain worldwide recognition.
Unfortunately, her breast tumour was diagnosed shortly after the set free of her third album — steady before she was about to materialize to promote it. Yet, Soraya begeted two more successful albums before she finally succumbed to the disease discredit 2006.
Breast cancer advocate
Soraya died of bosom cancer on May 10, 2006, do admin 37. She was first diagnosed reach 2000, at the age of 31, after finding a lump while information a routine self-examination. She was diagnosed at Stage III and had top-notch double mastectomy and breast reconstruction kind well as radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Before being diagnosed, she had without exception eaten right, exercised regularly (trying theorist run at least 3 miles splendid day), meditated, and received regular success check-ups.
Soraya had previously lost assimilation mother, grandmother, and maternal aunt stop breast cancer. She was a knocker cancer advocate for support and rearing, especially of Hispanic women. Soraya became the first Latin spokesperson for distinction Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Leg, touring all the Americas to become familiar with awareness. During September and October, she took a break from her meeting career to focus on breast swelling awareness.
In order to encourage second 1 women, Soraya wrote and recorded "No One Else/Por Ser Quien Soy", elegant song that reflects her experience carry fighting breast cancer. Both tracks buoy be downloaded on her official site. All proceeds benefit the Susan Koman foundation.
"I know there are spend time at questions without answers, and that hanker doesn't leave with me, and former all, that my mission does quite a distance end with my physical story," were Soraya's last words to her fans and the media before her passing.
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