Music of Puerto Rico - Artists: Queen Ivy

Ivy Queen - Reggaeton

Known as the "Queen of Reggaeton", Ivy Queen, née Martha Ivelisse Pesante, was born on 4 March, 1972 in Añasco, Puerto Rico but raised in New York City.

She began her music career writing songs for other artists and competing in various talent shows with great success. At age 18, she decided to pursue her musical career in earnest. She went to Puerto Rico where she met well known impresario, DJ Negro, who invited her to join a rap group known as "Noise". Ivy Queen wrote and performed her first hit song, "Somos Raperos Pero No Delincuentes", with that band, effectively launching the professional career she longed for.

Ivy Queen released her debut album, En Mi Imperio in 1997, with hit songs "Pon Atención" and "Como Mujer". The album clearly showed a style that was based on lyrics not dependent on the crude language so typical of the genre and enabled the artist to focus on her message. As a positive voice for her generation, her album was well received and was a solid start for her budding career.

Having firmly established herself in the world of reggaeton and rap, the debut album also afforded her opportunities to expand her musical horizons. Ivy Queen recorded with noted salsa star, Domingo Quiñones, with the band, DLG and a duo with singer and former Miss Universe and wife of Marc Anthony, Dayanara Torres on the hit song, "Jerigonza".

In 1998, the Queen released her second album, The Original Rude Girl, on Sony Records, with hit songs such Interlude in the Zone, and "Sabes Que Tu". The collaboration with rap star, Wyclef Jean figures prominently in this album. This collaboration was born of the chance meeting of the artists at a Wyclef concert where Ivy Queen joined him on stage for an improvised "rap". The encounter demonstrated her ample talent to Wyclef and the appreciative public. At a later event at Madison Square Garden, Ivy Queen invited Wyclef to join her on her upcoming Rude Girl project.

Her most recent album, Diva was released in 2003 on the Real Music label, winning a great reception among her growing fan base. The album included all original songs penned by the Queen herself but performed with the collaboration of several well-known reggaeton artists, including El Mexicano, K-7 and Gran Omar, who was also the producer.

As with previous efforts, Queen Ivy clearly speaks on behalf of her native Puerto Rico and particularly for women. This was particularly evident in the song "Tuya Soy" which takes the prespective of the wife in marital relationships that often juxtopose her life with a husband that does not or cannot understand or respect her her role.