Soraya

Soraya Raquel Lamilla Cuevas (March 11, 1969 – May 10, 2006) was a Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, arranger and record producer.

A successful Colombian music star, she had two number-one songs on Billboard's Latin Pop Airplay charts. She won a 2004 Latin Grammy Award for "Best Album by Songwriter" for the self-titled album Soraya, which she produced, and received a 2005 Latin Grammy Award nomination for "Female Pop Vocal Album" for her album El Otro Lado de Mi (literally "The Other Side of Me"). She was the opening act for the 2005 Billboard Latin Music Awards. Her career spanned ten years, and she recorded five albums.

Soraya died on May 10, 2006, following a long struggle against breast cancer.

Soraya Raquel Lamilla Cuevas was born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, a year after her father, mother, and brother moved to the United States from their native Colombia. The family moved back to Colombia when she was a baby, but when Soraya was eight years old, they returned to New Jersey. "Soraya" is a common name in the Middle East, and its meaning can be translated as "Pleiades". Soraya's maternal relatives were Lebanese Christians who emigrated from Lebanon to Colombia. Soraya's mother, Yamila Cuevas Gharib, had been a housewife in Colombia. Soraya's father, Gregorio Lamilla, worked for an exporting company in Colombia. In the U.S., life was hard for the family, so to make ends meet, he worked three or four jobs. Both parents are native of Cali.

Soraya first became interested in music at age 5 when she heard her uncle playing music in Colombia. He played "Pueblito Viejo", a Colombian traditional folk song using an instrument called the tiple, which is a kind of guitar with triple strings. Her parents bought her a guitar, which she taught herself how to play. She became proficient in classical violin, and her first public performance was at Carnegie Hall in New York City as a member of the N.Y.C. Youth Philharmonic. She was valedictorian of her class at Point Pleasant Borough High School, where she began writing her own music.