Milly Quezada (1955-)

Milly Quezada is a merengue artist from the Dominican Republic. She was born in Santo Domingo in 1955 and moved with her family to New York City in 1965 (Dominican Music). In 1975, she and her siblings formed the band ‘Milly, Joycelyn, & Los Vecinos’ (Vargas). Their style mainly focused on merengue with some elements from salsa and bolero (Dominican Music). She is also the first woman of Dominican heritage to win a Latin Grammy (Dominican Music) and has won 3 more in her career (Vargas). She is widely considered ‘The Queen of Merengue’ (Dominican Music).

At the time that Milly, Jocelyn, & Los Vecinos became popular, merengue was a mostly male-dominated genre (Vargas). Los Vecinos brought awareness to women in merengue and imbued their lyrics with elements of feminism as well (Vargas). Los Vecinos also represented the growing community of Dominicans living in New York City and their views of merengue music (Vargas). Their music also represented the role of Dominican women in their communities (Dominican Music). They also toured internationally and brought merengue to countries like Japan, Spain, and the rest of Latin America (Vargas).

The success of Los Vecinos and later Milly Quezada’s solo career show her determination to become successful in a male-dominated field. She has won many awards in the Dominican Republic and abroad including performing at George H.W. Bush’s Inauguration Gala (Dominican Music). Her music also brings awareness to immigrants from the Dominican Republic and their experiences in America (Vargas). Quezada’s music shows that merengue music has room for women and immigrants to tell their stories and to be successful.

Works Cited

Vargas, Miss YaYa. “La Queen Del Merengue: Milly Quezada.” Urban Latino, August 13, 2020. http://urbanlatino.com/la-queen-del-merengue-milly-quezada/.

“Milly Quezada: The Queen of Merengue.” Dominican Music. Accessed February 24, 2022. http://dominicanmusicusa.com/educational_resources/milly-quezada-the-queen-of-merengue/222