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Soraya: A Life of Music, A Legacy of Hope
(from
www.soraya.com)
Highlights and Timeline
Long before singer-songwriter Soraya was diagnosed with breast cancer,
she started to build a legacy as a woman determined to break the silence
that surrounded breast cancer and pervaded the Latin community
worldwide. She also used her musical fame as a platform to inform women
about the importance of early detection. She encouraged women to "Fight
for your life, you deserve it." Later, she would use her own words as
her personal mantra for survival.
1969
• Soraya is born to Gregorio and Yamila Lamilla, who immigrated to New
Jersey from Colombia in 1967.
1974
• To feed Soraya’s passion for music, her father buys her first guitar,
which she teaches herself to play. She later takes up the violin.
1981
• Soraya earns a spot on the New York City Youth Symphony Orchestra at
age 12.
• She performs at Carnegie Hall.
• Throughout Soraya’s childhood she remains close to her Colombian roots
and her extended family there.
1987
• Soraya is class valedictorian and earns a four-year scholarship to
Douglas College at Rutgers University.
• Her mother 46, is diagnosed with breast cancer.
1991
• Soraya graduates from Rutgers and moves with her family to Miami.
• She works as a flight attendant for United Airlines on Latin American
routes.
• She focuses on writing music and earning enough money to record her
demo.
1992
• Her mother loses her battle with breast cancer.
1994
• Soraya signs a major recording contract with Island/PolyGram records
and is scheduled for twin releases in English and in Spanish.
1996
• Soraya’s first album, "On Nights Like This/En Esta Noche" sells over a
million copies worldwide.
• "Suddenly/De Repente" is a number one hit in Mexico, Colombia, the
United States, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and all of Central America.
• Her second single, "Avalanche/Avalancha" also hits the Top 10 in many
countries.
• Joyce Fleming becomes Soraya’s tour manager.
1997
• Soraya tours with Sting, Michael Bolton, Natalie Merchant and Alannis
Morisette.
• BMI awards her the Songwriter’s Award for "Suddenly/De Repente." The
same song reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks, received MTV
Latino’s Best
Video by Female Artist award, and was awarded Best Pop Ballad by Premios
Tu Musica.
• Soraya is named to the Top 10 Latin Songwriter list by Billboard
magazine.
• In the U.S., both Variety and Time call Soraya one of the most
influential women in Spanish music.
• Soraya releases her second CD, "Wall of Smiles/Torre de Marfil”
featuring the up-tempo "Paris, Cali, Milan" and the emotional ballad "So
Far Away."
1999
• Soraya focuses her attention on writing songs for her third album.
• She meets Nancy Brinker at a Miami TV fundraiser for breast cancer and
later, is named Latin Ambassador for Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.
2000
• A few days before releasing her third CD, “I'm Yours/Cuerpo y Alma”
and travels to Colombia to say an emotional goodbye to her favorite Aunt
America who
is dying from breast cancer.
• While in Colombia, Soraya discovers a lump while in the shower and
hurries back home where doctors diagnose her with aggressive Stage III
breast cancer.
• She decides to go public about her diagnosis and puts her career on
hold for treatment. Immediately following Soraya’s announcement, she
receives over
6,000 E-mails from fans, other patients and many members of the Hispanic
community looking for breast cancer information.
• Soraya receives two chemotherapy treatments. Because of her family's
history of breast cancer, she chooses to have a double mastectomy.
2001
• Soraya decides she is ready to return to her music career. She opens
five shows for Sting.
• Soraya walks with Costa Rican First Lady Lorena Clare de Rodriguez
Echeverria in that nation's first Race for the Cure in March 2001.
• She has reconstructive surgery just weeks before the Miami Race for
the Cure. Determined to show people that your life continues even when
you have the
disease, she holds a press conference with international media, performs
and hands out breast cancer literature.
• Soraya writes, "No One Else/Por Ser Quien Soy" that chronicles her
emotional and physical journey through breast cancer. She vows all
proceeds to forever
benefit breast cancer.
2002
• Procter & Gamble agrees to underwrite the production of a bilingual
CD-ROM featuring the “No One Else/Por Ser Quien Soy” music video and
inspirational
educational video urging women to take charge of their breast health.
Between 2002-2004, over 115,000 CD-ROMs are distributed to English and
Spanish-
speaking consumers nationwide.
2003
• Soraya releases her comeback CD, her self-titled album, Soraya.
Considered an anthem of survival, the song, "Almost/Casi" hits number
one in the US and
internationally.
• Soraya performs her first full-length headline show since 2000 in
Puerto Rico.
• Soraya partners with sanofi-aventis to become spokesperson for their
online patient support program called www.livingwithit.org. Between 2003
and the end
of 2005, she makes over 40 appearances, providing education, support and
hope, and speaking to Komen Race for the Cure participants, medical
professionals, breast cancer patients, the media, and sanofi-aventis
employees. Soraya’s words of support and hope are shared by
sanofi-aventis with
nearly 200,000 breast cancer patients in this three-year time frame.
• She becomes a spokesperson for General Mills' Yoplait “Save Lids to
Save Lives” campaign encouraging women to participate in their breast
health. Radio
and television interviews and appearances garner tens of millions of
media impressions.
2004
• Soraya wins a Latin Grammy in the Best Singer Songwriter category for
her CD, "Soraya."
• She receives Latin Billboard’s Spirit of Hope Award for her tireless
work to raise awareness and educate the Hispanic community about breast
cancer.
2005
• Soraya’s fifth CD, "The Better Side of Me/El Otro Lado De Mi" is
released and acclaimed by many to be her best.
• Soraya’s cancer returns, but she chooses not to share the news
publicly as her music and breast cancer efforts continue to gain
momentum. This time she
intends to show people what you can accomplish while battling breast
cancer.
• Soraya continues songwriting for other artists and writes Ricky
Martin’s 2005 hit "It’s Alright."
• "The Better Side of Me/El Otro Lado De Mi" is nominated for a Latin
Grammy in the Best Female Pop Vocal Album category.
• Soraya makes her last public appearance on Nov. 3 at the Latin
Grammy’s in Los Angeles. She was nominated for Best Pop Album by a
Female for "El Otro
Lado de Mi." She looked like a beautiful Hollywood starlet that
night, completely belying the war her body was fighting with itself
beneath the surface of her
skin. The following day, Soraya is scheduled to make an appearance
for sanofi-aventis. However, after the awards ceremony, her health takes
a turn for
the worse and she returns home immediately.
2006
• Soraya continues writing songs and finishes drafting a book to share
her story and to inspire others dealing with serious illness or personal
tragedy.
• On May 7, Soraya receives the first typeset pages of the manuscript by
Joyce Fleming, her personal manager.
• On May 9 Soraya posts a goodbye letter 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," she
wrote.
• On May 10, Soraya says her final goodbye.
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Bilingual
singer/songwriter Soraya experienced a series of ups and downs over the
course of her career, resulting in a catalog of music that chronicles that
journey in all its glory and struggle
During
this transition, Soraya waged a life-threatening battle with breast cancer,
one that would inform her debut album for EMI, Soraya (2003). This
self-titled album ushered her back to international fame, spawning the
number one hit "Casi" and earning her a Latin Grammy. With her popularity
returned to peak level, she recorded the follow-up in her native
Colombia.
