Zayra Enid Alvarez Dones Nugent also known as just Zayra, is a Puerto Rican singer and musician, currently based in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Zayra has recorded in the genres of

rock en español Rock en español () is a term used widely in the English-speaking world to refer to any kind of rock music featuring Spanish vocals. Compared to English-speaking bands, very few acts reached worldwide success or between Spanish-speaking countrie ...

Latin pop Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...

and

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

Music career

Raised in

Arroyo, Puerto Rico Arroyo () is a town and municipality located along the southern coast of Puerto Rico and bordered by the Caribbean Sea, east of the municipality of Guayama and northwest of the municipality of Patillas. Arroyo is spread over 5 barrios and Ar ...

she attended the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

, majoring in

Industrial Engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...

. Subsequently, she moved to Texas, where she became active in the local club scene, and signed a record deal with Brando Records. She recorded her debut album, '' Ruleta,'' in Spanish. A few months later, Kevin Lawrie at

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Norte heard the tracks and signed her to the Miami-based label. Alvarez continued to work in the Latin music scene, getting airplay for her debut single "Hoy" on stations throughout Puerto Rico and the US. Picky Talarico directed the video for "Hoy", which was shot on location in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a program director for

Entravision Communications Entravision Communications Corporation is an American media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community and owns television and radio stations and outdoor media, in several of ...

happened upon her performing at the Grove in Los Angeles, "Hoy" enjoyed further airplay, which led Sony Norte to release a second single, "Cada Momento". While touring and performing in Texas, Alvarez became close friends with her Brando Records label mates

Blue October Blue October is an American rock band originally from Houston, Texas. The band was formed in 1995 and is currently composed of singer/guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye, bassist M ...

, who invited her to sing on two songs: "Come in Closer" off of their album

History for Sale ''History for Sale'' is the third album by Blue October. The title of the album comes from a lyric in the song "Amazing". It was recorded at Sound Arts Studios in Houston, Texas, and at Stomp Box Studios in Arlington, Texas, and released in the ...

and "

Into the Ocean "Into the Ocean" is the second single from Blue October's fifth album, ''Foiled''. The song peaked at #53 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, while the music video for the song, directed by Zach Merck, reached number one on the VH1 V-Spot countdown. ...

" from their platinum-selling album ''

Foiled ''Foiled'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Blue October, released on April 4, 2006, by Universal Records. The album debuted at number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, marking the band's first entry on the chart. The album was cer ...

''. Alvarez landed a spot on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

TV show Rockstar: Supernova in 2006. Her performances met with mixed reviews.

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

pop music critic

Ann Powers Ann K. Powers (born February 4, 1964) is an American writer and pop music critic. She is a music critic for NPR and a contributor at the ''Los Angeles Times'', where she was previously chief pop critic. She has also served as pop critic at ''The ...

stated that "Rockstar's most intriguing contestant, the Puerto Rican punk chanteuse Zayra Alvarez", while her hometown paper, the ''

Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...

'', referred to her as having a "serious, possibly fatal, pitch deficiency". Marc Hirsh declared that "Zayra quickly learned to own her weirdness and start driving it without fear... without changing her style or even necessarily improving, she revealed herself to be what allmusic.com's postseason roundtable referred to as 'the most exciting, original, and audacious' singer in the entire competition."

TMZ TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...

referred to her as the "breakout star" of the show. During her tenure, she covered many well-known songs, including " Call Me", "

867-5309/Jenny "867-5309/Jenny" is a 1981 song written by Alex Call and Jim Keller and performed by Tommy Tutone that was released on the album '' Tommy Tutone 2'', on the Columbia Records label. It peaked at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in May ...

", and "

Everybody Hurts "Everybody Hurts" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. from their eighth studio album, ''Automatic for the People'' (1992), and released as a single in April 1993. It peaked at number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached the top 10 ...

". On week 7, Alvarez performed her original song, "Lluvia de Mar". She was eliminated from the show on August 16. After the show, Alvarez dropped her last name and became known simply as Zayra. Her third album, Baby Likes To Bang, was released on September 14, 2010 by Brando Records. The album was a stylistic shift, more influenced by dance music. The album spawned two singles, "V.I.P." and "Baby Likes To Bang." "V.I.P." was a Top 5 ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Dance Club Hit, and "Baby Likes To Bang", released subsequently, was declared a #1 Dance Breakout by ''

. Her songs have been covered by singer Marcela Mendez. In 2019, Zayra prepared to launch a new album, under the name Nena Catalina." This album "50/50" was released on April 29, 2022.

Other ventures

Zayra acted in the independent film "Lycanthrope." The movie features one of her original songs, "This Is Love", which can be found on the re-release of her album "Ruleta". She has worked as a photographer for

and co-directed a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for Tori Velasquez with Merritt Fields. In 2014, Zayra started a line of prints she illustrated named The Sleepy Heads Collection by Pepper Love. She has also designed jewelry for the line Z+V for Vinca in addition to working as an

interior designer Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Breaking Up Gray Skies'' (2002) * '' Baby Likes to Bang'' (2010)

Appearances in other albums

- ''

'', guest vocals on "Come in Closer" *

- '' Argue With a Tree'', guest vocals on "Come in Closer" *

- ''

'', backing vocals on "Into the Ocean" * '' Stormaid: The Concert''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Zayra 1974 births Women guitarists Women rock singers Guitarists from Texas American indie rock musicians Latin music songwriters Living people People from Arroyo, Puerto Rico 21st-century Puerto Rican actresses 21st-century Puerto Rican women singers Puerto Rican rock musicians Puerto Rican rock singers Puerto Rican singer-songwriters Rock en Español musicians American rock songwriters Rockstar: Supernova contestants University of Puerto Rico alumni Women in Latin music 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Singer-songwriters from Texas