STAR POWER

Vicky Echeverri has loved to sing ever since she had the capability to reason. “I never saw singing as a talent but more as a part of my life,” she recalls. “Since I was little, I was always my grandmother’s favorite voice, and she always invited me to participate in her musical events.”
Born in Colombia, Echeverri says her grandmother, a very recognized singer and pianist in her hometown of Cali, instilled a love for music in her at a very young age. “She taught me how to read music, play the piano and gave me voice lessons,” she says. “She was the one who had the most faith that I could live from my talent, and I believed her.”
But before the dream could be pursued, there were major obligations to fulfill. “In Colombia, it’s a family tradition that every child earns a college degree, and I couldn’t be the exception in my family,” says Echeverri, who studied Industrial Engineering. Luckily, it wasn’t all work and no play. “When I was in college, I met a lot of people who loved music as much as I did, and that’s where I paradoxically developed my passion for music.”
As such, she was a member of the university’s chorus and rock and jazz bands, with whom she traveled all over Colombia as the lead singer. “As long as I did well in my classes, I could sing as much as I wanted,” she says.
What came next was no coincidence, just simply an act of fate. “I started working with Kike Santander,” she says. “He came to the U.S. to work with Emilio Estefan as a producer and composer, and when I was finishing up with my degree, he called me and told me he needed me. Six months later I came back to work with him.”
And the rest is history. Echeverri settled in Miami and started working with major producers such as Estefan and Rudy Perez in productions for Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Nelly Furtado — and the list goes on! You may think working with such big names could have been intimidating for a young Echeverri, but it seems the job was second nature to her.
“I grew up in a country that is heavily influenced by music as an important cultural element,” she says. “I grew up listening to salsa, merengue, cumbias and Spanish and English rock,” she says, referring to Alejandro Sanz, Luis Miguel and Cristian Castro as her musical influences.
Naturally, Echeverri merged her musical talents and experience to turn out her debut album, which was released in February of last year. “Ficha de Ajedrez comes from my personal quest for my own music. It’s an album that was done completely to my taste, with the songs I wanted all produced how I wanted,” she says. “I worked with producer and composer Rafa Vergara, who knew how to give life to my music.”
Echeverri spent a year writing the lyrics to most of the tracks and working with Vergara to produce the album. “It was made with a lot of love and attention to detail. I love to write not only about love, but also about life situations and stories of people, where love and life are portrayed in many different ways.”
Echeverri’s MySpace page includes a playlist of her most popular tracks, including her first released single, “Te Cambio,” which started playing in Miami radio stations in recently. Meanwhile, her music video appears on Terra.com, HTV, MTV3, Mun2, Ritmoson Latina and other music video channels. “It’s not easy to come out with your own album,” she says. “I think the real challenge is getting people to know who you are, and creating your own path toward reaching the public.”
While the release of her first single spells success, there is much more Echeverri hopes to accomplish through 2009, starting with the release of a second and third single by September, and her goal to be nominated for a Latin Grammy. “I’d also love to go on a small tour to perform live — as every singer dreams of doing — to win over more fans, country by country.”
Regardless of whom she reaches or where she goes, her message remains the same. “This album is very sincere and straight from the heart, because we can’t go through life without making sense of what we feel,” she says. “I hope to captivate people with my stories and I hope each person I reach can identify with my songs, no matter what stage of life they may find themselves in.”