Martha Heredia

Martha Heredia Rivas (born February 1, 1991) is a Dominican singer and the winner of the fourth and last season of the television program Latin American Idol. Heredia wanted to be known artistically as La Baby (The Baby), notwithstanding this, she has rarely been referred in this way.

History

Martha Roseli Heredia Rivas was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic, on February 4, 1991. Heredia is the daughter of Felipe Heredia and Maritza Rivas. At the age of 13 Heredia discovered she had potential for singing and songwriting. At the age of 15, with her brother Luis Felipe, they created a group called Una Vía singing hip hop, reggaeton and other genres of urban music. Heredia later had the opportunity of working in the United States of America where she created and wrote her own songs. Since her rise to fame after Latin American Idol, Heredia has become a successful artist working in the USA and in the Dominican Republic.^[1]

Latin American Idol

At 18, Heredia traveled San José, Costa Rica to audition for the fourth season of Latin American Idol. She did well on her audition and later traveled to Argentina, where she was amongst the top performers of a Latin American Idol workshop. Her next test was to earn the most votes out of the 12 performers on the show. For two months, Heredia was very successful all the way up to the final between Heredia and Eduardo Aguirre of Costa Rica, where she performed with Franco de Vita. On December 10, 2009, after receiving more than 50% of the total number of votes, Martha Heredia became the new Latin American Idol.^[2]

Post Latin American Idol work

Heredia released her first single Música in January 2010,^[3] was supposed to record her first production with Sony BMG,^[4] however, as of 2013 it was not produced and/or released, prior to her arrest for drug trafficking.

December 2010 car accident and controversy

While driving from her home city Santiago, to the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo, and more specifically driving through Villa Altagracia town, Martha crashed her vehicle, causing the death of a 16-year-old Haitian student who was walking home. Martha herself suffered minor lesions, but after the incident became unavailable to both media outlets and also Dominican authorities.^[5]

Arrest and conviction for drug dealing

On 22 February 2013, Heredia was arrested while attempting to board a plane bound from the Dominican Republic to New York.^[6][7] About 3.9 pounds of heroin were found in the heels of three pairs of her shoes.^[6]

On 12 August 2014, Heredia pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and was sentenced of seven years’ imprisonmentt and the payment of a fine of RD$ 100,000 (about US$ 23,000).^[8]

References

1. ↑ Short biography of Martha Heredia on an online blog
2. ↑ Listin Diario. "País celebró triunfo de Martha anoche en Latin American Idol" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2010-09-24. 
3. ↑ Consaborapueblo. "Martha Heredia Lanza su primer CD" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2010-09-24. 
4. ↑ Alfombra Roja. "Regresa Martha Heredia y ya tiene listo su primer disco" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2010-09-24. 
5. ↑ Hoy. "¿Dónde está Martha Heredia?" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2010-12-19. 
6. 1 2 "Martha Heredia, "Latin American Idol" winner, arrested for allegedly smuggling heroin". Crimesider. CBS. February 22, 1013. Retrieved February 21, 2013. 
7. ↑ New York Daily News: "Fallen ‘Idol’: 'Latin American Idol' winner busted trying to smuggle heroin into New York" February 22, 2013
8. ↑ Laureano, Máximo (12 August 2014). "Martha Heredia es condenada a 7 años de prisión; Fiscalía había pedido 20 años" (in Spanish). Santiago: Acento. Retrieved 13 August 2014. 

External links

• Latin American's Idol Official website