Leslie Grace

Bronx-born Florida-raised pop singer Leslie Grace is a charting Latin Grammy nominee who has been singing professionally since she was 16. Her bachata-infused hit singles and collaborations have earned her an indelible place on the Latin Pop and Tropical charts as well as several Latin Grammy nominations. Her 2012 bachata cover of the 1961 Shirelles' hit "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" topped both the Tropical Songs and Latin Airplay charts. Her self-titled 2013 album peaked at number two on the tropical chart and at three on the Top Latin Albums list. Grace is also a noted songwriter, video artist, and collaborator with artists ranging from Mya to Wisin, Noriel, and Joey Bada$$; her videos have racked up hundreds of millions of views. "Sola," her 2019 collaboration with Justin Quiles and Play-N-Skillz garnered 325 million views within a week of release and stormed the Top Five of the streaming charts.
Grace was born Leslie Grace Martínez in 1995 in the Bronx, but as a child moved with her mother -- a businesswoman who ran her own hair salon -- to Davie, Florida. Though she actually started singing at the age of two, it was in grade school that she began performing in musicals and competing in talent shows. She also sang in the church choir. While still in middle school in 2008, she recorded and released an independent Christian music album, Pasion, in partnership with CD Baby. Grace made her mainstream Latin pop/bachata debut at 16 with her bilingual reading of the 1961 Shirelles smash "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" for Top Stop Music, a boutique record label founded by Gregory Elias in 2008 based in Delray Beach, Florida. It topped both the Tropical Songs and Latin Airplay charts, making her the youngest female ever artist to do so. Her self-titled full-length debut, 2013's Leslie Grace, reached number four at Latin Albums and peaked at number three on the Tropical Albums chart, while its single "Day One" hit the top spot at Latin Pop, garnering her a Best Contemporary Tropical Album nomination at the 14th Annual Latin Grammy Awards and Female Tropical Artist of the Year and Tropical Album of the Year at the Premio Lo Nuestro awards. In 2014 she was also nominated for the Billboard Awards in the New Artist of the Year and Hot Latin Songs, Artist of the Year, Female categories.
Grace toured abroad for the first time playing the North Sea Jazz Festival, and also toured major cities in the U. S., and Chile. In 2014 she scored a Top Ten hit with the single "Odio No Odiarte" and another number one in 2015 with "Como Duele El Silencio."
The next year she particpated as a captain on the Univision reality show Va por Ti alongside Luis Coronel, Chiquis Rivera, and host Galilea Montijo. Her single "Aire," a collaboration with Maluma, peaked at ten at Tropical and inside the Top 40 at Latin Pop and Latin Rhythm Airplay. The pair toured Mexico in support. In January 2017 she collaborated with the duo Play-N-Skillz, Wisin, and Frankie J on a reggaeton cover of Selena's classic "Si Una Vez." A month later she was nominated for the Premios Lo Nuestro in the category Female Artist of the Year Pop/Rock.
Grace signed a distribution deal with Sony Music Latin and a worldwide contract with Sony/ATV the same year and that fall paired with Becky G on the single "Diganle."
Grace kicked off 2018 with the single "Duro y Suave" in collaboration with Noriel; it placed inside the Top 30 at Latin Pop. (Tainy remixed the track in September and it became a club dancefloor smash.) Other collaborations issued during the year included "Fuego" with Mya, "Lunes a Jueves" with Fuego, and "Still New York" with MAX and Joey Bada$$. Grace contributed the single "Call the Shots" to the soundtrack of the film Miss Bala in the first half of 2019, and followed in July with "Sola," featuring Justin Quiles and Play-N-Skillz. Grace was also recruited for a 2020 film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights. ~ Thom Jurek