The illness that killed her mother, grandmother and aunt transformed pop star Soraya.
The chart-topping singer/songwriter became a voice of hope in the fight against cancer by delivering a message in the United States and Latin America about preventive screening, treatment and the need to remove the stigma associated with the illness.
But in 2000, Soraya's crusade turned personal when she was diagnosed with the disease. That year, as she embarked on an aggressive treatment plan, she made a short video about her illness and promptly received 6,000 e-mails, many from women writing of their own battles with cancer.
Soraya obituary: An obituary on the singer Soraya in the May 12 California section said she had died the previous Thursday, May 11. In fact, she died May 10, a Wednesday.
"I never intended to be so public with my disease, but when I started reading the letters and saw how people reacted in such a personal way, I knew I had to continue sharing my story," she said.
Soraya, a 2004 Latin Grammy award winner who used her fame and talents to promote awareness of breast cancer, died of the disease Thursday in Miami, where she lived, said her publicist, Rondine Alcala. She was 37.
Throughout her illness, the singer found release and comfort in music, just as she had throughout her life.
Soraya, who was born in New Jersey, spent part of her childhood in Colombia, the birthplace of her parents. She wrote her first song and became enthralled with the guitar when she was 5. Later she studied and mastered classical violin. Her music was influenced by artists such as Carole King and sometimes reflected her father's Lebanese roots.
In 1996, Soraya debuted with the album "On Nights Like This/En Esta Noche" on Polygram Latino U.S./Island Records. Like other works, the album was released in English and in Spanish. It was a hit in Latin America and spent 12 weeks on Billboard's Top 10 Album chart in Germany. She was named one of Billboard's Top 10 Latin writers. Several of the songs were aired widely on soap operas in Latin America.
From the beginning, Soraya won praise for lyrics that were honest, rooted in family experiences and, one writer said, "unfettered by overproduction." It was a characteristic that developed after an epiphany while listening to Stevie Nicks.
"When I heard 'Landslide,' it was a turning point for me," Soraya told the Miami Herald in 1996. " 'Landslide' helped me write from a more personal point of view; it sort of helped me knock down that wall."
