Landa Henriquez

Aruba-born vocalist and songwriter Landa Henriquez had already established a life and career for herself before she felt the desire to pursue music as her occupation. With degrees in business and science and three boys to raise, choosing to pursue musical dreams on top of an already full life was considered crazy by some. However, with the writing of the song "Mi Vida, Mi Bolero," which would become the title cut of Henriquez's debut CD, the busy mother/entrepreneur set something into motion that would prove far greater than was at first apparent. With music as a long-term passion, Henriquez had always used song to express her deepest emotions, and she wrote consistently until there was an album's worth of material. Her lifelong dream of performing with a symphonic orchestra was realized in 2002 with the release of Mi Vida, Mi Bolero. Only a year later, Henriquez set forth to release another collection of her compositions, featuring primarily romantic ballads and boleros, entitled Sed de Ti. A demo of the material Henriquez intended to include on her third release then made its way in to the hands of Grammy-winning producer Chichi Peralta. Well versed in the Latin fusion sounds Henriquez hoped to incorporate, Peralta offered to produce the record. The upbeat album, driven by the rhythms of her native tropics, was entitled Mujer Cuarenta, encouraging its listeners to "enjoy life to its fullest, at any age." Henriquez's third record was well received and represented on tropical radio, and entered both regional and international Billboard charts. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez, All Music Guide