Andre Veloz —born Andreina Martínez Hiraldo in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in the 1980s, and nicknamed “La Fosforera”— is a Dominican singer, songwriter, painter and actress raised in Santiago de los Caballeros and based in New York, one of the few women singing traditional bachata.

Roots

She was born in Christiansted, where her grandmother ran a business, and was brought to the Dominican Republic as a baby. From about the age of eight she lived in Santiago, with spells in Imbert and Las Canas, and at twenty-one she moved to the United States, where she worked and studied while singing in restaurants, clubs and Latin celebrations around New York.

Before bachata

Bachata was not where she started. According to her label’s biography, at fourteen she was already playing rock and jazz with a band, «Los Horizontes Verticales», and it lists Santiago musicians she worked with, among them Xiomara Fortuna, Sandy Gabriel, Patricia Pereyra, Fellé Vega and Rafael Mirabal. She has called bachata “the blues of us Dominicans”, with the same feeling and the same bitterness.

«Si la ves» and a first album

«IASO Records» signed her in 2013 after hearing her sing «Si la ves», and her first album, «Andre Veloz», followed in 2014, warmly received by Dominicans in the United States. In May 2015 NY1 featured her as one of the few women performing traditional bachata.

«Eta’ que ta’ aquí» and the Soberano nomination

Her 2018 single «Eta’ que ta’ aquí» went viral in the United States and the Dominican Republic; on 12 March 2018 El Nacional wrote that it was being repeated in streets, homes and offices despite its simple lyrics. She made a remix with Don Miguelo and in December 2018 released «La Pendeja», about a romantic disappointment. In the 2019 Premios Soberano she was nominated for Revelación del Año, together with «Lo Blanquito», El Deivy Jiménez, Rochy RD and Lírico en la Casa; «Lo Blanquito» took the award.

Legacy

She continues to release music, including «Juguito de Odio» in September 2025 and another release in May 2026, and has been announced for a free festival in Greensboro. The newspaper El Diario reported that she guided the Travel Channel host Andrew Zimmern through the food scene of the Bronx.