Denise Stefanie

Early life and career

Denise Stefanie was born on June 19, 1988 in Hemet, California to Mexican-born parents. Her father is an Architect and her mother a bronze sculptor. She is the middle of three children, with an older sister and a younger brother. Denise began singing in public at a very young age with her first performance in front of a large audience at the age of five, singing the national anthem at Lake Elsinore Storms Baseball stadium. She was the youngest student to have attended college at San Jacinto Community College where she studied music at the age of nine. At eleven, Denise was invited to a national open audition for a new musical based on the life of the late Tejano singer, Selena Quintanilla, Selena Forever. Out of the many hopefuls, Denise was picked as the lead "young Selena" and appeared on the Spanish Television show, Cristina, on Univision to make the official announcement. Shortly after Denise and her mother moved to San Antonio, Texas where the rehearsals for the national touring musical began. On March 21, 2000 the show premiered and started its 30-city tour across the United States. During the tour, Denise was invited to sing Schubert's Ave Maria a capella at the 2000 Tejano Music Awards in San Antonio in the famed Alamodome where she received national prasie for her performance which included the Los Angeles Times and Billboard Magazine.

Return to California

After a six-month run, Denise returned to her native California, where she continued her musical studies and was offered a scholarship to attend one of Latin America's most renowned music conservatories, Conservatorio de las rosas in Morelia, Michoacán. After completing her summer courses, she returned to California and began opening shows throughout California for well-known artists, which included The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Martha and the Vandellas, Chaka Kahn and Herb Jeffries. Herb soon became Denise's mentor and brought her into the world of Jazz, recording her solo album at the age of 12. She began singing in Jazz festivals which included Sweet and Hot and Idyllwild Jazz Festival. She was offered a full scholarship to Idyllwild Arts Academy as a full-time student. Shortly after she began her studies at the boarding arts school, she was offered the main character and singing role of Zoë, in Cirque du Soleil's production of Quidam. In January 2002, Denise and her mother traveled to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to begin her training for the show. In March 2002, Denise arrived to Miami and was integrated into the live show. Denise continued to perform and travel with the show throughout the United States and Japan up until July 2003. Denise returned home and decided to relocate to Los Angeles, California and she was put into a public high school where she finished her studies and applied to university, eventually being accepted to Pepperdine University as a music major. After completing her first year, Denise was offered the singing role in Cirque du Soleil's production of Corteo. Denise worked on the show up until December 2007. in 2009 Denise was chosen to be the face and voice of 7Up's national Hispanic campaign, Sevenisima. She recorded the commercial and 3 minute music video Denise also traveled throughout the United States doing promotional events and PR on Hispanic TV Telemundo and Hispanic radio stations. Denise worked on an album with famed Mexican producer, Gustavo Farias, although it was never released. In 2010 Denise was invited to participate in City of Hope's project, La Gota de la Vida, along with other Latin artists, which included Gloria Estefan, Plácido Domingo, Enrique Iglesias, Diego Verdaguer and many others. 2011 proved to be a successful year for Denise in Mexico, where she modeled for several campaigns and was on the cover of 3 national magazines. She also was put in contact with Neil Damy, founder of Mexican pop group MUHU, who was in search of a new vocalist. In October 2011 Denise joined MUHU as the opening act for Julieta Venegas in Guadalajara's Stadium Benito Juarez. In November 2011, Denise was contacted once again by Cirque du Soleil, this time for the role as the lead singer in their production, Alegria By December 2011, Denise was in Lisbon, Portugal integrating into the show as both the white and black singer alternating every show. The short contract came to an end in March 2012. Returning from Alegria, Denise began working with MUHU on their second studio album. She collaborated in the album by not only singing, but also by co-producing and co-writing. The album was released 2013.