Kat DeLuna
(Born Kathleen Emperatriz de Luna on Bronx, New York, November 17, 1987) is
a bilingual American musician, of Dominican descent, who is signed to Epic
Records. At the age of 12, she was invited by the 'Queen of Merengue', Milly Quezada, to sing with her on stage in front of a
big crowd of over thousand people. In April 2004, she opened for J Records
musician Cassidy as part of the all Latino girl group Coquette.
Kat and her family moved from The Bronx, US to the Dominican Republic early,
where she was raised in poverty. Kat spent her time listening to Aretha
Franklin and Billie Holiday records. At the age of 9, they moved back to the
US, where Kat realized her potential as a singer. Kat was accepted to the
Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey under the vocal instruction of Dr.
Jerry Forderhase. Kat is said to have a 5 octave vocal range, comparable to
Mariah Carey, Minnie Riperton. In her freshman year, the responded to an
audition in The Village Voice and was accepted into an a Latina, Hip Hop/R&B
group called Coquette. Kat continued to pursue her dream of becoming a solo
artist and at age of 15, she entered a Coca-Cola sponsored karaoke
competition. Her version of "I Will Always Love You" won the competition.
After the competition, Cuban salsa singer Rey Ruiz advised Kat to start
writing her own music.
Kat signed a contract with the production label, Get Money Brothers (GMB)
Music Group owned by Tyrone Edmond and Mike Jean-Baptiste. According to a
brief interview she granted on HaitiXchange.com, she stated that she first
met Tyrone when she was only 14 years old, who was then scouting for talent.
Kat was finally picked up by Epic Records and is currently under both
labels. She is managed by Cape Town Management.
Single cover for "Whine Up" (2007).Currently, Epic Records is in the process
of launching a promotional campaign for her worldwide first single "Whine
Up". The song features Elephant Man. On the official website, a video of
DeLuna doing a choreography to the song is shown on the front page. Also
Elephant Man is shown in the short rehearsing video. The music video
premiered on Myspace on June 20.The song was released to radios in the
United States on May 15, 2007. The song has debuted at number 24 on the
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, equal to a #124 position on the Billboard
Hot 100. It has since peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100.Her debut
album, 9 Lives, produced by hitmaker RedOne, is set to be released on August
7, 2007, as confirmed by Billboard. "Whine Up" is also now used as the theme
song for WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event, this year's SummerSlam, and WWE
SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 soundtrack. "Am I Dreaming" has been confirmed to be
her second single. |