Soraya Biography
Soraya Raquel Lamilla, 11 March 1969, Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA, d. 10 May 2006, Miami, Florida, USA. Sources vary, but apparently Soraya's Lebanese parents emigrated first to Colombia and then to the USA. She sang and played guitar from early childhood. She also showed aptitude for songwriting and was soon determined upon a career in music. After studying classical violin, she turned to pop and from the mid-90s onwards she attracted attention through her appearances as opening act for leading artists such as Sting and Alanis Morissette. Meanwhile, she headlined her own shows, singing songs influenced by flamenco and cumbia, and also made successful records. Her 1996 debut, En Esta Noche was released in an English-language version titled On Nights Like This, which helped Soraya expand her audience. This album was a Billboard Top 10 in Germany and subsequent albums, usually in both Spanish and English, were often in Billboard's Latin and pop charts and the same magazine's charts also featured her as a leading Latin songwriter. In 2003 Soraya won a Latin Grammy award for Best Singer/Songwriter album, and 2005's El Otro Lado De Mi (The Other Side Of Me) was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Collaborators included US songwriter Carole King. Following the deaths of her grandmother, mother, to whose memory Soraya's debut album had been dedicated, and aunt from breast cancer, Soraya became active in the field and was official spokesperson for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. In mid-2000 she was herself diagnosed with a particularly virulent strain of the disease and she struggled thereafter to maintain her career and her high-profile role in cancer research. In 2004 she was recipient of the Spirit Of Hope Award from Billboard. Among her songs was one in which the lyrics set out her struggle against cancer: "Por Ser Quien Soy" (No One Else), written during a period of treatment. At first treatment for the disease was successful, but in early 2006 after some time in remission Soraya suffered a relapse. A few days before she died, she posted a farewell message on her website: "I know there are many questions without answers, and that hope doesn't leave with me, and above all, that my mission does not end with my physical story."
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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