Milly Quezada

Milagros Quezada Borbón, known simply as Milly Quezada, (born April 30, 1957) is a multiple Latin Grammy-winning Dominican Merengue music singer. She is a singer in Latin America; especially in those Latin American countries bordered by the Caribbean Sea, and in the eastern seaboard region of the United States. She has also been referred to as the "Queen of Merengue" because of her impact on the world of merengue music. She has won four Latin Grammy Awards.
Biography.
Milly Quezada was born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the daughter of two Cibao natives and sister of four musician brothers. Growing up in such a musical family, Quezada became interested in music as a toddler—she would sing along with her brothers for family, friends, and small gatherings near her home.
She expressed an interest in developing her singing talents as a young girl, and, partly for this reason the Quezada family moved to New York City when she was still a child.
Milly spent her pre-teen and teen years in New York, a city that is well known as a school for Merengue and Salsa singers from its Latino barrios, e.g. Spanish Harlem. In New York, Quezada developed an in-depth knowledge of her favorite musical genre, the fastest of the Latin American popular dance music styles, sung in Spanish and native to the Dominican Republic (see also Son Cubano, Rumba, Salsa, Cha-Cha-Cha, and Punta for comparison, as well as Kompa, the style sung in Haitian Creole in neighboring Haiti).
She completed her primary and secondary school in New York City and graduated cum laude from City College of New York ‘1981 in Communications and Mass Media. She also graduated with a Paralegal degree ‘1992 from Katherine Gibbs School, Montclair, NJ.
Milly, Jocelyn y los Vecinos.
Her musical inclinations developed as a pastime in the streets of Washington Heights where she formed with her brothers and sister, the group that would become known as Milly Jocelyn & Los Vecinos. Their music would identify the growing Hispanic Community of Dominicans in Washington Heights and their distinctly feminist style of Merengue captured the hearts and imagination of the growing Hispanic Community. Hits that would rise in popularity during the ‘70s 80s and 90s include "Volvio Juanita," “La Guacherna," “Tengo," and many other songs that would go on to become Christmas hits on national and international music platforms. Led by her oldest brother and musical arranger, Rafael Quezada, the "Queen of Merengue" along with the group would travel worldwide and become pioneers in the female-led musical Orchestra modality. They were first to bring live Dominican Merengue to major cities in Japan: Tokyo, Nagasaki and Osaka and regularly tour countries such as Madrid, Spain, Central and South America and many states with the United States where the Dominican Diaspora thrived. The group was also first in entertaining a Presidential Inaugural Gala in 1990: President George H. W. Bush in Washington, D.C. 
Solo career.
Quezada later decided to embark on a solo career, moving to Puerto Rico where she also married and became a mother, enjoying even more success as a solo artist. Since the 1990s, Quezada has been either on tour or in recording studios almost constantly, earning several prestigious awards and public recognition such as keys to cities (see below).
In January 1996 Milly's life was turned upside down with the passing away of her husband, manager and father of three young sons ~Rafael Vasquez~ forcing her to take a break from her musical career which had reached twenty years and twenty long playing records at this tragic moment in her life and the lives of her family. In 1997 she was encouraged by her longtime friend and manager, Pedro Nuñez del Risco, to retake her musical recording career which marked a "before" and "after" in her musical accomplishments. Along with the aforementioned hits, Milly Quezada went on to popularize songs like, "Lo Tengo Todo" “Entre tu Cuerpo y el Mío" “Porque me Amaste, "Para darte mi Vida" “Vive" “Toma mi Vida" amongst many other songs.
Later career.
In more recent years, Quezada has released music that collaborated with various artists such as Fefita la Grande, Maridalia Hernández, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Pavel Núñez, Héctor Acosta, the Ilegales, Romeo Santos, and Olga Tañón. Many of these collaborations were on her 2019 album, "Milly & Company". In 2020, Quezada released "Gracias A Ti" which was thanking frontline worker for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic after the deadly impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers.
Awards and recognitions.
The "Queen of Merengue" went on to be nominated and received multiple national and international awards in the Tropical Music genre such as, four Latin Grammy Awards to date; Premios Cassandra Awards in the Dominican Republic including the highest honor in her genre "Premio Soberano" in 1997. Billboard awards and Univision's Premio Lo Nuestro in 1998, ACE Awards in New York, "Tu Musica" award as well as "Premios Globo in NYC and in Barranquilla, Colombia various "Congo de Oro" awards during several annual Carnaval de Barranquilla tours performed. Her well known Carnaval Song "La Guacherna" written by Esther Forero, is recognized along with Barranquilla's Carnival by the coveted "Worldwide Cultural Heritage" issued by UNESCO. Milly's been recognized by both the Senate of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic as well as the Mayor's Office of New York City for her cultural contribution to the music of the Americas.
OTHER AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Cinematography.
In early 2009, Milly joined eleven other Dominican music legends on a national tour celebrating the merengue and bachata music traditions of the country. That tour was transformed into a Felix Limardo documentary entitled Sol Caribe. The movie features an original song, La Puerta del Nuevo Mundo that is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration of the twelve stars. The film was the closing feature at the III Dominican Republic Global Film Festival in November 2009 and was attended by the President of the Dominican Republic.
In addition to the Cassandra Awarded movie, "Yuniol 2" Milly has played important roles in the movies: “Cal y Arena,” Puerto Rico; “Hermanos R.D.” in Dominican Republic and the soon to be released movie “Juanita” written produced and directed by Leticia Tonos and which will be released in December 2018.
Discography.
In over four decades in the music industricy, Quezada has released 31 records sponsored by a variety of record labels including Sony Music Entertainment Japan. 
As a solo singer.
Quezada has recorded many solo albums, receiving a Latin Grammy Award for "Pienso asi", "MQ" and "Aquí Estoy Yo".
City Keys.
Quezada has received many awards during her career, such as the aforementioned Grammy. Arguably, one of the highest honors a person or celebrity can receive is the "key to a city," usually presented by that city's mayor. Here is a list of cities that have given Quezada that symbolic award: