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From a young age, I was encouraged to sing, dance and learn folk and popular songs in Spanish.

As a singer, it's basic to preserve what I like to do, which is music, and also to remember my cradlesongs in Spanish.

I grew up listening to popular music. My father was a Peruvian folk singer. He played the guitar at home. He sang songs with a waltzing rhythm, yet you can still hear the Spanish influences. I accompanied him to his performances.

The power of music in Spanish is so strong, that I couldn't stay away from it any longer.

I've always loved Spanish. I love my father's Spanish records.

When I was in Mexico and started to dream in Spanish, I knew that was a good sign that I was learning the language. It was cool.

My first memories of music are of my mother playing Dominican music in the house because my parents love to dance. They love to throw parties and dance, so there was a lot Latin music in the house.

I hold 'Mi Tierra,' my first Spanish-language album, very close to me because that was all done in my native tongue and won me my first Grammy.

The real reason we ended up getting into that type of music was our dad worked for an oil company so we spent a year overseas when we were young kids. Because of that, it was all Spanish TV and radio so we ended up having these '50s and '60s tapes, tapes of that music.

I grew up in The Bronx. I mean, I was born and raised in New York City. And I started singing in Spanish because I was always just connected to my Latin roots.