Andre Veloz: The Biography
by Wallace Edgecombe
“In Spanish there is a saying: ‘De musicos, poetas y locos todos tenemos un poco.’ This translates into something like: ‘We are all part musician and poet and just a little bit crazy.’ In my case, I believe I was blessed with an extra tablespoon of those three ingredients.” Andre Veloz
She is a singer, songwriter, painter and actor. She pursues each of these art forms with equal command – one might say abandon. She is an extraordinary vocalist who takes to the stage as if she owns it and, from the very first note, connects with the audience as if to say: “Come with me; let’s let it all out together.” Her name is Andre Veloz, and her surname (English translation: “fast”) bespeaks the daring of a woman who has plunged headlong into the male-dominated world of Dominican bachata, making no excuses and begging no quarter. Her oh-so-soulful voice – pure, sonorous and effortless – is tailor-made for this genre, popularly known as the “Dominican Blues.” That voice is at once plaintiff and sure, the hallmark of bluesy music everywhere; it says: “Yes, it hurts, but I will survive.”
Andre Veloz was born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and raised in Santiago, the capital of the Dominican heartland known as El Cibao. As a preschooler, she performed for classmates atop a table that served as her first stage. At 14, she performed regularly with Horizontes Verticales, a garage rock band she founded with her best friend. By the age of 17, she sang regularly at jazz festivals and World Music venues throughout the Dominican Republic. Her repertoire, in short, was anything but Dominican.
But, as so often happens with immigrants like Ms. Veloz, she re-connected with her roots in New York City where she and her family settled in 2004. Always open to the song and dance of its newest residents, the Big Apple has served as an incubator for many musical genres, including jazz, Latin jazz, salsa and, since the 1990s, for bachata. It was to this world that Ms. Veloz came to live and soon her repertoire gravitated to old school boleros and bachatas.
While Andre Veloz is very much a part of that NYC bachata scene, she contributes her own saucy, fanciful and feminine sensibility. Says she: “We female bachata singers are like Unicorns. People think we are a myth, but WE DO EXIST!
She is a singer, songwriter, painter and actor. She pursues each of these art forms with equal command – one might say abandon. She is an extraordinary vocalist who takes to the stage as if she owns it and, from the very first note, connects with the audience as if to say: “Come with me; let’s let it all out together.” Her name is Andre Veloz, and her surname (English translation: “fast”) bespeaks the daring of a woman who has plunged headlong into the male-dominated world of Dominican bachata, making no excuses and begging no quarter. Her oh-so-soulful voice – pure, sonorous and effortless – is tailor-made for this genre, popularly known as the “Dominican Blues.” That voice is at once plaintiff and sure, the hallmark of bluesy music everywhere; it says: “Yes, it hurts, but I will survive.”
Andre Veloz was born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and raised in Santiago, the capital of the Dominican heartland known as El Cibao. As a preschooler, she performed for classmates atop a table that served as her first stage. At 14, she performed regularly with Horizontes Verticales, a garage rock band she founded with her best friend. By the age of 17, she sang regularly at jazz festivals and World Music venues throughout the Dominican Republic. Her repertoire, in short, was anything but Dominican.
But, as so often happens with immigrants like Ms. Veloz, she re-connected with her roots in New York City where she and her family settled in 2004. Always open to the song and dance of its newest residents, the Big Apple has served as an incubator for many musical genres, including jazz, Latin jazz, salsa and, since the 1990s, for bachata. It was to this world that Ms. Veloz came to live and soon her repertoire gravitated to old school boleros and bachatas.
While Andre Veloz is very much a part of that NYC bachata scene, she contributes her own saucy, fanciful and feminine sensibility. Says she: “We female bachata singers are like Unicorns. People think we are a myth, but WE DO EXIST!