Kat DeLuna

Kathleen Emperatriz DeLuna (born November 17, 1987Johnson, Gregory. "Vixen: Sweet Thing" VIBE, October 2007 in The Bronx, New York) is an American Pop and R&B singer of Dominican heritage, better known by her stage name Kat DeLuna. She is currently signed to Universal Motown, after previously being signed to Epic. She is noted for her Soprano vocal rangetitle=Opera-trained Kat DeLuna claims her pop music crown and has won one Latin Billboard Music Award for her debut single "Whine Up".

Career

Early life

DeLuna was born in The Bronx, New York City. As a child, DeLuna spent her time listening to Aretha Franklin and became interested in becoming a singer. At the age of 12, DeLuna was invited by Milly Quezada to sing with her on stage. In her freshman year of high school at Arts High School in Newark, NJ (The Nations First Arts High School in the country for the Visual and Performing Arts), she responded to an audition in The Village Voice and was accepted into an all-Latina, Hip Hop/R&B group called Coquette. In April 2004, she opened for J Records musician Cassidy as part of Coquette. DeLuna continued to pursue her dream of becoming a solo artist and at 15, she entered a Coca-Cola sponsored karaoke competition and she won it. After the competition, Cuban salsa singer Rey Ruiz advised DeLuna to start writing her own music. DeLuna signed a contract with the production label, Global Music Brand (GMB) founded by Tyrone Edmond

. According to a brief interview she granted on HaitiXchange.com, she stated that she met Tyrone when she was 14, who was then scouting for talent.

2007-2008: 9 Lives

DeLuna performing in 2007

DeLuna was finally picked up by Epic Records and she was under both labels. She is managed by Capetown management. Capetown management is run by Damon Degraff and Greg Maurice. Her debut album, 9 Lives, produced by hitmaker RedOne, and written by songwriter Jane't Sewell-Ulepic and Kat DeLuna herself, was released on 7 August 2007. Its peak position on the Billboard Top 200 Albums was #58 on 25 August 2007. It was also the theme for WWE Summer Slam in the same year.
Kat became highly successful overseas, especially in Europe. In France, her hit single "Run The Show" was holding #1 position in the airwaves for a few consecutive weeks. At The Latin Billboard Music Awards 2008, DeLuna won the award in the 'Latin Dance Club Play Track Of The Year' category for her debut single "Whine Up"title=2008 Billboard Latin Music Awards Winners

In September 2008 Deluna performed the US National Anthem at the Texas Stadium during the Monday Night Football game between the Cowboys and the Eagles. The performance garnered media attention because the crowd booed her during the performance. "Time" later labeled the performance the 8th worst National Anthem rendition. DeLuna also appeared in rapper Young Berg's debut single Sexy Lady music video.

2009–present: Inside Out

DeLuna premiered a new song called "Calling You", specifying that it was only an exclusive single and not a single from her second album. She premiered the song on her MySpace page and her website. Dawn Richard, ex-Danity Kane member, has confirmed to be writing for Kat DeLuna's upcoming album. DeLuna filmed the video for her third worldwide single "In The End," which was only released in Europe. The video for the single premiered on YouTube in January 2009, along with the unreleased video for "Am I Dreaming?".

In 2009, her single "Unstoppable" featuring Lil' Wayne (featured on the soundtrack of the 2009 film Confessions of a Shopaholic starring Isla Fisher) was released. She released a video, and set out on a "Gay Club" tour in February 2009 in the United States. Currently she released a new single entitled "Dance Bailalo", labelled "the single of the summer of 2009" by the popular pop culture blogger Perez Hilton. She is currently recording tracks for her 2-disc English/Spanish album, Inside Out. In June 2009, Kat DeLuna performed at a New York City high school prom, as the star of My Prom Style's official website feature: "Ultimate Prom" fashion reality series. Three aspiring teen designers are competing to design the dress she wears to prom, and the pattern of the winning dress will be produced and sold nationwide by Simplicity Patterns.

It was confirmed in a video in a YouTube video with RedOne on 24th August that she is recording new material due for release later this year along with a worldwide phenonmenal first single to be released in November.

Discography

9 Lives (2007)
Inside Out (2010)

Awards

Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2007

MTV Tr3´s Viewer's Choice Award — Best New Artist

TMF Awards (Belgium)

Best Urban
Best New Artist

2008 Latin Billboard Music Awards

Latin Dance Club Play Track Of The Year

Casandra Award

New International Artist

DeLuna became the top R&B singer.

Nominations

ALMA Music Awards 2009

Female Rising Star

Signed Music Artists