Jaci Velasquez

American actress Jaci Velasquez is also famously known for being a Latin pop singer and songwriter. Velasquez has been performing in both English and Spanish throughout her career. She was born in Houston, Texas in 1979. Velasquez grew up in a family that sang in church. By the age of 9 she started to travel with her father, who was a full-time singing evangelist. It was then that her love for music began to grow, as she was a backup singer for her father. She later began to sing solo, releasing two independent records. Afterwards, Velasquez was discovered by a representative of Myrrh Records. She released her national debut album titled Heavenly Place in 1996. It was considered a huge success, since five of her songs became number 1 hits at the time. Her album was also certified Platinium. She was even distinguished as the fastest selling solo debut recording artist in her genre and the first solo artist in the Christian music history to reach gold status with a debut album. After that, Velasquez released seven more albums in English, two out of which were certified Gold. Overall, Velasquez sold almost three million albums in the US, with three Platinium and three Gold albums and recorded 16 singles that reached number 1, plus six others that entered top 10. Velasquez also received a Latin Billboard Music Award in 2002 for her her album Mi Corazon, eight Dove Awards, and Best New Artist and Female Vocalist of the Year. She also had three Grammy nominations and an American Music Award nomination for the category Favourite Latin Artist in 2002.