IVY QUEEN

'Ivy Queen' (born 'Martha Ivelisse Pesante' on March 4, 1972 in Añasco, Puerto Rico) is a Latin Grammynominated composer and singer who is known as "La Diva", "La Gata", "La Caballota", and "La Reina del Reggaeton", "The Queen of Reggaeton". Ivy Queen has earned her name as "The Queen of Reggaeton" due to her success. She is among the few female artists in the reggaeton genre. Despite being in genre of music dominated by men, she has been able to have 2 Top 10 albums, and 3 Top 10 singles, along with over 900,000 records sold worldwide.

Contents

Early years

Singing career

Personal life

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

Early years

When she was young, Ivy's parents moved to New York City where she was raised. Her parents returned to their hometown, Añasco, Puerto Rico, when Ivy was in her teens, for about 2 years. When she was 18, Ivy moved to San Juan and there she met rapper and producer, DJ Negro; who introduced her to a group called "The Noise", with whom she wrote and performed her first song "Somos Rapperos Pero No Delincuentes" (We're Rappers, But Not Delinquents).

Singing career

Soon, DJ Negro convinced Ivy to go solo and in 1997, she made her debut with the recording of the album ''En Mi Imperio'' (''In My Empire'') for the Sony International Records label which sold over 100,000 copies. In the same year she traveled to Panama where she presented as ''The Queen of Reggaeton'' in "The Battle of Rap". She also did some presentations in the Dominican Republic, which were all sold out and later that year, she participated in "The First National Festival of Rap and Reggae". There, Ivy was proclaimed the "Rap Singer of the Year". Also, in 1997, Ivy was awarded the "Artista '97" award, naming her "The Peoples Favorite Rap Singer", by Artista magazine.
In 1998, Ivy recorded her second album, for the Sony Label, titled ''Original Rude Girl'' which carried the following hit songs "Interlude in the Zone", "Que Sabes Tu" ("What Do You Know?") and "The King and the Queen". It sold more than her first album and was highly acclaimed.
Ivy's third album ''Diva'', was released in 2003. The songs were originally written by her and performed with the participation of various artists. ''Diva'' was so successful that an enhanced edition entitles ''Diva (Platinum Edition)'' was released in 2004. The update to the CD added several remixes of her most popular songs from the ''Diva'' album.
Ivy's fourth album ''Real'' followed quickly and was also released in 2004. The album had guest artists such as Hector "El Father", Mikey Perfecto, Fat Joe, and La India.
Ivy launched a fifth album which was a compilation of her best work and added 4 previously unreleased songs. The album, called ''Flashback'', was released in 2005. ''The Best of Ivy Queen'' was released in 2005 which also was a compilation of her best work. It still not know if ''The Best of Ivy Queen'' was an official release.
In March of 2007, Ivy Queen released a new album titled ''Sentimiento''. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Latin charts, making it her highest debut ever on the chart. The lead single of the album "Que Lloren" has become a Top 10 hit.
Ivy helps to Beatriz Luengo with "Hit Lerele"(in CD of Beatriz Luengo).
In 2007 she makes a duet with Beatriz Luengo,famous spanish singer that has triumphed with her 1°CD called "Mi Genración" published in 2005 in Spain,in 2006 a versión of "Mi Generación" was published in France called "BL" with this,Beatriz won the EBBA2007 and won a Gold CD,she had sold more of 115.000 cds in France and more of 100.000 singles of "Hit Lerele" , Ivy had realised the duo with Bea in the song "Hit Lerele".Soon Bea will publish her cd in Italy and in Amerique,here,will be the duo with Ivy Queen.

Personal life

Ivy Queen lived for many years with rap producer and vocalist Omar Navarro (Gran Omar), who she met in 1995, when she was part of The Noise. They have an adopted daughter together (who is actually her niece).

Discography

Albums

★ En Mi Imperio (1997)

★ The Original Rude Girl (1998)

★ Diva (2003) (Certified Gold '100,000')

★ Real (2004)

★ Flashback (2005) (Certified Gold '100,000')

★ The Best of Ivy Queen (2005)

★ Sentimiento (2007) (Certified Gold '100,000')

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions
		Hot Latin Songs	Latin Tropical Airplay
1999	'''In The Zone'''	-	-
2003	'''Quiero Bailar'''	29	16
2005	'''Dile'''	-	8
2005	'''Cuentale'''	3	'1'
2005	'''Te He Querido, Te He Llorado'''	10	-
2006	'''Libertad'''	13	12
2006	'''No Hacen Na'''	-	30
2007	'''Que Lloren'''	10	4
2007	'''En Que Fallamos'''	44	15
2007	'''Hit Lerele(Beatriz Luengo and Ivy Queen)'''	-	-

★ The song "In The Zone" features Wyclef Jean

See also

★ List of famous Puerto Ricans