La India

Linda Viera Caballero (born March 9, 1969), better known as La India, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter of salsa, house music and Latin pop. La India has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, winning the Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album for the ''Intensamente La India Con Canciones De Juan Gabriel'' album.

Early life

Caballero was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. Both her parents moved to New York City soon after her birth, settling in the South Bronx area of the city. Initially, they lived with Caballero's grandmother, a woman who served as an important influence on Caballero's life. Caballero began singing as a young girl, even taking opera training for a brief time. Her stage name, La India, was given to her by her grandmother because of her dark features and long, straight, black hair. La India describes herself as a feminist, having watched her father abuse her mother while she hid under the bed.

Career

1985: Early career

In 1985, when Caballero was 16 years old, she joined the Latin freestyle group TKA, a fact not widely known. Credited as "Linda," she appeared in the group photo on the back cover of TKA's second single, " Come Get My Love." She left shortly thereafter.

Caballero signed a record contract with Reprise/Warner Bros. Records, who planned to market her as the Latin version of Madonna (who recorded for sister label Sire Records). India's debut album was titled
Breaking Night
'. Three singles were released (Dancing On The Fire, Right From The Start, Lover Who Rocks You All Night) and they all became big hits in the dance clubs. She also added her vocals to the Jellybean produced single, "Mirage". After recording the album ''Breaking Night'', Caballero decided that she didn't want to take that route in her career. She decided to switch to salsa because she believed that she needed to "cross over to erpeople."

1992–1994: First salsa album

An important event took place when she accompanied her husband "Little" Louie Vega to a studio session. Salsa bandleader Eddie Palmieri happened to visit the studio, and was impressed with Caballero when he heard her singing. In 1992, Palmieri produced Caballero's first Spanish-language salsa album ''Llego La India via Eddie Palmieri'' (The India has Arrived via Eddie Palmieri), which was acclaimed as one of the best salsa albums of the year. From then on, Caballero became known to all as La India. India received a Lo Nuestro Award nomination in 1993 for Best Female Performer, Tropical/Salsa.

In 1994 La India, together with Louie Vega, recorded the house-music single "Love and Happiness" (Yemaya y Ochún), which paid tribute to Santería (a syncretic religion based in the Caribbean). This up-beat track was played heavily in dance clubs internationally. La India's involvement with Santería drew much criticism. Sergio George produced La India's 1994 album ''Dicen Que Soy'', a 2× gold-certified '' Billboard'' hit that added to her legend in the Latin-American music realm. The album also included the song "Vivir Lo Nuestro," a duet with Marc Anthony. Later this same year, ''Combinación Perfecta'' was released.

1996–present: La India, the Princess of Salsa

In 1996, La India worked with Tito Puente on ''Jazzin'', an English-language album of swing classics with a Latin twist, on RMM Records. That same year she contributed the song "Banderas" to the album titled ''Voces Unidas'' (United Voices), a multi-artist tribute to the 1996 Summer Olympics. She also released ''India: Mega Mix'' that same year before divorcing Vega. La India sang a duet titled "La Voz de la Experiencia" (The Voice of Experience) with Celia Cruz, the late Queen of Salsa. It was then that Cruz gave Caballero her longer name: La India, the Princess of Salsa. In 1997, La India recorded "Sobre el Fuego" (Over the Fire) with Puerto Rican salsa singer Kevin Ceballo as backup vocalist. The song was nominated for Best Latin Tropical Performance Grammy Award. In 1998, she won an ACE Award.

On May 31, 1998, La India performed two sold-out concerts at the Luis A. Ferre Performing Arts Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She returned to the United States, and television network UPN aired one of her shows. With training provided by New York's famed choreographer Sara D'Arce India was also able to perform concerts in New York's Madison Square Garden and in El Festival de la Calle Ocho in Miami, Florida. In September 1999, La India released her album ''Sola'', which earned positive reviews for the single ''Sola'' and for covers of two hits by the late Cuban sensation La Lupe, ''Que Te Pedi'' and ''Si Vuelves Tu''.

On February 5, 2000, a full-page ad in Billboard Magazine congratulated La India for her second Grammy Award nomination. In March 2000, she was featured in Vibe Magazine. On November 26, 2003, La India released ''Latin Songbird: Mi Alma y Corazón''. The album's lead single "Sedúceme" became a hit on the Latin charts, and topped the U.S. Billboard Hot Latin Tracks for several weeks. This romantic salsa hit single was La India's first number-one song. It brought her a new fan base with many awards and nominations, including two Latin Grammy nominations for Best Salsa Album and Best Tropical Song in 2003, and her third Grammy Award nomination for Best Salsa Album in 2004.

In 2005, La India participated in the musical presentation '' Selena ¡VIVE!'', a tribute to the late Tejano sensation Selena Quintanilla-Perez. In 2006, La India released the album ''Soy Diferente'', which contained two songs that became award-winning hits. The 2007 Annual Latin '' Billboard'' Awards honored La India with Best Tropical Album of the Year Female for "Soy Diferente" (I Am Different), and Latin Dance Club Play Track of the Year for "Solamente Una Noche" (Just for One Night). In 2007, La India collaborated with Latin sensation Gloria Estefan in a duet titled " 90 Millas."

On June 11, 2006, La India was honored by Union City, New Jersey

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