Milagros Quezada Borbón: Pseudonym “Milly ” known as The Queen of Merengue.
Milly was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on May 21. Family: parents are from the Cibao region and four brothers, all musicians, migrate to New York City where she does her secondary education and University, graduating with high honors in communications & media of City College of New York University.
From an early age Milly had an inclination for music. This, she manifested along with her brothers, Rafael, Martin and Jocelyn in various musical activities organized in her community of Washington Heights where she formed the group that became known as “Milly Jocelyn and Los Vecinos” in 1975.
Since the beginning of her artistic career and as a female interpreter of Merengue, Milly imposed a style that was free and defined, breaking the macho molds that had existed thus far. Between the Decade of the 70´s and 80´s ¨Milly Jocelyn & Los Vecinos made history with their hits ¨La Guacherna¨, “Volvio Juanita”, “Tengo¨ and many more. This translated into international tours including Japan, being the first Dominican group to appear in this Asian country; and also, at the inaugural Gala for President George Bush, Jr. 1990.
Winner of multiple awards including two Latin Grammy’s 2012, for her most recent album “Aquí Estoy Yo” best contemporary tropical album and best song “Toma mi Vida” a Duet with Juan Luis Guerra, best contemporary tropical song. Among others, there is the ultimate award, The “Premio Soberano” 97 by the Cassandra Awards in the Dominican Republic, including Billboard awards and Premios Lo Nuestro 1998, Premios Ace, Tu Musica and Premios Paoli of Puerto Rico; New York Globe Awards, among other awards and special recognitions at the international level, such as those granted by the Senate of Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic in 1997 as well as the Smithsonian Institute of Washington D.C. Also, the Mayor of New York, who recognized her in November of that same year, dedicating the 8th of that month as the day of Milly Quezada in the city of New York.
In 2002, she gets another nomination in Los Premios Lo Nuestro for Univision and another Cassandra Award for the show “Mas Milly¨, presented at the national theatre.
In 2003, Milly Quezada was crowned with several of the more important international music awards for his last album, “Pienso Asi”, including a Premio Lo Nuestro, Premios Billboard, and the Latin Grammys, where she received the coveted Grammy Award in the category Merengue Album of the year, becoming the first Dominican female artist that achieves this important award. That year, Milly also received another Paoli award of Puerto Rico and was honored with a plaque on the Boulevard of the stars of the capital city of Panama.
During the years 2004 and 2005, Milly continues her upward career, gaining other awards and nominations, in her country and in the USA, amongst which are another Paoli award as best Tropical female artist of 2004, this time held in Orlando, Florida.
The 2006 Milly Quezada reached her second Latin Grammy with the production “MQ” produced by Ramón Orlando Valoy, noted Dominican musician and arranger. Some of the songs highlighted from this production include ¨Mala Palabra”, a fusion of Merengue and Reggaeton, a Duet recorded with Héctor “El Father”, produced by Milly’s son Miguel Vásquez: and the MerenguE “Quiero Ser”, composed and superbly orchestrated by Ramón Orlando. Both songs have been well disseminated on Radio and TV from USA R.D., Central and South America, which have already earned Milly, a nomination, as Tropical Album at Premios Lo Nuestro. Two nominations at the Billboard Awards, 2006. Also in the year 2006, Milly receives El Congo de Oro, by earning first place with the genre Merengue, in the Carnival of Barranquilla, Colombia.
In October 2007 Milly stands out as an actress in the Dominican film “Yuniol II” for which she is nominated and wins a Casandra prize as best actress. She recently finish filming the movie “Cal y Arena” of famed actress and Puerto Rican writer, Elia Enid Cadilla, scheduled to debut soon on national television.