Esmeralda Dimuzio

Esmeralda Dimuzio (allegedly born 1983, but others claim 1973 is more likely, 1976 is also possible; in Venezuela) is a Latin pop singer, whose English-language singing career which started in 2004 has given her seven #1 singles.

The beginning
Born on a small island off the coast of Venezuela in a year that has not been verified, Esmeralda Dimuzio came from a poor family. At the age of five, she had already exhibited a passion for singing by always bursting into song whenever something important happened in her family. They had noticed this in her, but did not have the power to do anything about it since they barely had enough money just for their basic needs.

Esmeralda had always earned the top grades throughout school, and was one of the most outgoing students in her class, participating in the music and drama programs. At age fourteen, the director of a local talent agency had watched her sing, and after her performance, came up to her and made an offer that would change her life forever. Before she knew it, she was signed to a Latin American record label that would distribute her music across the continent. She then recorded a few demo tracks, and on her free time away from school, would go into the studio to record some songs for the albums.

By age fifteen, Esmeralda was the best-selling pop singer in 14 countries in South and Central America. Even though her early efforts were successful, Esmeralda looks back at this early material with shame, saying it wasn't true to her heart, and was too manufactured in nature, as many of the songs were very cheesy pop! The style of her early sound of this era is evident in the song "Impressions", a rare English-language song she wrote around this time, which appeared as a B-side for her single War Within Our Hearts. Around this time, Esmeralda had seen several of her classmates sink deeper into drugs, depression, and even witnessed a close friend's suicide! After seeing the horrors following from this, she vowed that one day, she could make a difference and stop young adults from ever reaching such serious situations, and inspire them to keep reaching for their goals.

During high school, Esmeralda studied several languages, and in addition to her native Spanish, can also fluently speak English, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese, and Italian, and has also learned some Greek, Danish and Turkish. After graduating, Esmeralda set out to travel the world, and performed at various talent exhibitions. While at one show in the UK, she won first place in a singing contest, and was signed to then up and coming label Baa Inc. At the end of 2003, she was driven out of her home in Venezuela by troops fighting and taking the area hostage. She then set up home in New York City, where in addition to her singing career, would also look for acting gigs to take up more of her time.

2004: The self-titled English debut
2004 started off with the release of Esmeralda's debut English release, "Fractured Galaxy", which entered the top 40 singles at #13. The self-titled English language debut album was released the following week, and entered at #15. Esmeralda had also signed on to appear in the entire first season of the action soap opera, "Three Times Lucky", which got rave reviews. Following the moderate success of her debut single, her management had noticed much more potential in Esmeralda, and decided to promote her further with her second single, "Temporary Lover".

The additional promotion helped, and "Temporary Lover" surprised everyone by charting at #2, the highest new entry of the week, and going platinum! For the following single, she outdid anything else she'd done before, showing her adventurous side by flying across the Atlantic Ocean in a hot air balloon! In part due to her desire to inspire young people around the world, she decided on a ballad, "Fly Into The Sky", as the third single from the album. Thanks in part to collectable postcards showing various stages of her flight, "Fly Into The Sky" repeated the previous single's success by entering the singles chart at #2. Not only that, but it also helped make her album top the charts for a single week! It became clear from here that Esmeralda would be around for a while after this.

While planning a possible fourth single from her debut album, Esmeralda had been contacted by hitmaking girl group Blush for the possibility of recording a collaboration. She accepted, and the result was a remake of "Fame!", which gave her yet another #2 single. Around this time, she had already written a few songs for her second album, which she had planned for the end of the year, and thereby cancelling any plans for more releases off her debut.

2004-05: Growth Hormone
Writing on the second album had progressed faster than expected, and Esmeralda would have it ready by the beginning of October 2004. The first single from it, "City Lights", was a departure from the sound of her first album with its more electronic sound, and was only expected by many to scrape the top 10 due to tough competition in its week of release. The gamble paid off, and "City Lights" became a #3 hit, eventually going gold. The week after, the success of her latest single helped her second album, "Growth Hormone", repeat the success of her #1 debut and spend 2 weeks at #1 itself. Looking back at 2004 with pride, she released the pop/rock track "Behind You" as a reflection of the past year, showing how she didn't regret the things she did to get to where she was then. The track was another success, entering at #3 then climbing to #2 and giving her a second platinum single.

Esmeralda entered 2005 with a positive outlook at life, having being engaged to Scott Robertson from the band Vulpes; despite this, a marriage never happened. She released her third single from the album, "Unconditional", in February, and became another #2 hit in its debut week, against tough competition such as Androgyny and Innocent; the week after, she climbed to #1, claiming her first ever #1 single, eventually going platinum. The follow-up single, "Warning", had more of a rock edge to it, and also debuted at #2, before moving into the #1 spot the week after. This became her biggest selling single and remained so until her 2009 comeback, selling over 320,000 copies. In the end, "Growth Hormone" became her first diamond album, and was, at the time, one of the 10 best-selling albums of all time on Urapopstar.

2005-06: Imperfect Balance and duets era
Following an extensive world tour, Esmeralda Dimuzio returned in September 2005 with a new album, called "Imperfect Balance". This was the first released on her own label, Alias Records, which was a revamp of her old label, Visionary, following the departure of former co-owner Alesha. The label was co-owned by Esmeralda and Andrea Twain; later, Russ Hooch, Lisa Spears and Ben Johnston would all become co-owners successively.

The first single from the album, "Shooting Star", which was released against big names like Nikki and Russ Hooch, became another #1 single, and the album went silver in its first week. She wasted no time releasing another single, "What I'm Missing", which was released in November, which charted at #4. Around this time, the nominations for Record of the Year were announced, and Esmeralda's single "Warning" not only making the final ten, but beating out tough contenders such as Lucreacia and Claire Kitten, and won the title of Record of the Year for 2005! This put her in exclusive company with 2004's winner from Heaven. and was joined by 2006's winner, the four-week #1 from Emblaze, "Easy Target".

Around this time, Esmeralda's streak of duets started, interrupting her single plans from the "Imperfect Balance" album. First up was a duet with Trish, who had not had a single debuting in the top 10 since 2003 when her duet with Miss Drips, "Lover Or Friend", hit the top. The single was a gamble for both acts, but ended up charting at #8, beaten by Kandi's rush release #1 and Ben Johnston's breakthrough single. Despite its peak, "Supernatural" eventually managed to go silver. Esmeralda followed this up with a double A-side single with her old friends Blush, containing her own "Local Legend" from her album, and "Unbreakable" from Blush's album, "House Arrest". The combination was a success, and Esmeralda found herself debuting at #1 for the first time in her career, holding off acts such as AJ Hutton, and a duet between Alesha and her archrival Sarah Summers, whose singles would often find themselves released against Esmeralda, often coupled with smear campaigns. The single also helped boost sales of her album, although not quite to diamond levels.

The next single was a duet with Greek trio the3stars, who enlisted Esmeralda's help as the original collab partner for the song "Answer My Dreams", Electric Lapdance, was unable to commit to a release. The collaboration went on as planned, and charted at #9, climbing to #8 in its second week, becoming Esmeralda's second single to fail to reach a certification. It was, however, included on a DualDisc re-release of her "Imperfect Balance" album, helping it reach diamond status. The next single was also originally recorded with another artist; Tara J was originally going to release the track "Mess", which included Neyssa on the album version, but as she was unable to release it, Esmeralda helped out and recorded her parts for her own version. The single charted at #5, tied for Tara's highest charting to date, and was certified silver.

2006-2007: Riptide
Esmeralda started writing tracks for her fourth English-language album, "Riptide", in the summer of 2006, and the album was ready by November. The first single, "Standing Strong", was reminiscent of her "Growth Hormone" days, and despite weak sales overall in its first week, where it charted at #4, the single still managed to go gold, and tied "Behind You", the track it was often compared with, as her longest charting single at 10 weeks. This was also the time of a major tragedy in her life, as her sister, Olivia Dimuzio, who had previously won URAPS Idol, was killed in an automobile accident. This also helped set up her next single, as she was sent to prison for her murder! This was eventually revealed to be a hoax, as Esmeralda filmed the video for her next single, "Framed", in prison! The single charted at #4 on its release week. The next single was "Dangerous Girl", which is a more club-friendly track, and shows a different side to her music, but not too far off from previous single "Framed". It spent 2 weeks at #7 in the charts, eventually reaching silver status.

Esmeralda's 4th single from "Riptide" is a double A-side of album tracks "My Jeckyl & Hyde" and "Every Part Of My Soul", and was released on June 25th. It is Esmeralda's first solo double A-side single, and second overall; she recently announced that it was the last single off "Riptide" when it reached #8 in the singles chart, and has so far spent 14 weeks in the top 40, her longest running single to date.

2007-2008: Greatest Hits
Esmeralda recently announced that her fifth album is to be a greatest hits, covering her entire 4-year career to date. The first single is Close My Eyes Forever, a duet with Amy Marshall and remake of the song by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne. Promotion of the single has been marred by a huge fight between Essie and Amy; Essie was unhappy with Amy's recent wild behaviour, and Amy accused Essie of being overprotective of someone that she should have no control over. However, Esmeralda has said that she was just showing concern, but lately has not cared about Amy, publicly insulting her much like Amy did to her.

Despite the feud, Amy and Esmeralda managed to score a #3 hit, which has outsold all but one of Esmeralda's other singles, that being Warning, which remains her biggest hit; since then, False Hopes and Product Of The Past have outsold it as well.

A second single was announced for March 2008, entitled Nothing Left To Say. During the promotion for the single, Esmeralda hooked up with chart-topping popstar Ryan Dawson. Esmeralda has often said that he is the one, and makes her feel a lot younger... however, many tabloids have said that this is nothing but a publicity stunt to promote their singles, which are out on the same week! The relationship did not work out in the end, but Esmeralda did score a #6 position

The greatest hits was left open-ended, and is a way of celebrating her career so far; despite saying that she will likely record another album following the greatest hits, she had not been seen in public for about a year afterwards! Despite saying that she planned to branch out into television production, movie acting and possibly fashion designing, and maybe even raising a family, any attempts to reach Esmeralda have failed, leaving concern about what had happened to her.

2008: Personal troubles
Esmeralda revealed that, during her affair with Ryan Dawson, she had become pregnant. However, after her violent break-up with him, she became really concerned for her unborn child's sanity. As a result, she sunk into depression and alcoholism. The baby was stillborn, which worsened her condition. Finally, she decided that if she were to have any future at all, she'd need to fix it, so she voluntarily checked into rehab. The recovery was slow but steady, and by the end of 2008, she'd started writing tracks for a new album.

2009: Unfinished Business: A return to the music scene
Esmeralda re-appeared in 2009 once she'd written some tracks for a new album. Upon her return, she signed to Elite Records, where she will release a new single entitled False Hopes on March 2nd. The single will be on the forthcoming album, Unfinished Business on March 9th.

"False Hopes" proved to be a success, as it debuted at #2 behind Jack Stevens. During this time, she opened up for Romo on her Belle's Ball tour and participated in the SAVE URAPS project, along with its charity single, Play The Game.

The second single was announced to be Slave To The Music, and it was released on May 4th, against artists such as Emily Henning and Luke Ramada. It charted at #2 in its first week of release, finishing second only to Emily Henning's single Watch Me Shine.

The third single is Product Of The Past, and is released July 6th. This is her first release with Wired Records, where Esmeralda switched to after leaving Elite. Following a strenuous promotional campaign, including her most expensive video to date depicting URAPS stars past and present in the URAPS Museum, "Product Of The Past" became Esmeralda's 5th #1 single upon its release, following a gap of three years and four months after her last #1, and has since become her biggest selling single to date.

Esmeralda's fourth and final single from the "Unfinished Business" album, entitled War Within Our Hearts, ties in to the movie of the same name, and it's set for a September 28th release, when it charted at #3 upon its release. The film co-stars Paulo Araujo, who also appears in the song's music video. It's been reported that her first major tour in four years will start around this time as well; it has been announced as the Empress Tour, and will take her throughout North America and Europe initially.

2009: The Empress Tour Live
As Esmeralda's tour continues on, several recordings from the shows will be released as a live album. The album, The Empress Tour Live was released on December 14th, and its single, which is Think Ahead, was released on December 7th to promote the live album. The tour, along with its album, will include a mix of songs from "Unfinished Business", some old Esmeralda singles, and some new, yet to be released songs as a preview of what is to come on her next studio album.

Both the single and album charted at #5 upon release.

2010: Inside
Esmeralda has confirmed that a new album, entitled Inside is in the works for 2010. She has been writing songs for it, and is seeking out collaborators for duets, writing and production. The latest reports suggest that it will be a double album, with the fun songs on one disc and the more serious songs on the other.

The first single from the album is Fake (That's Just Not Me), and it is set for release on February 15th. It also sees Esmeralda's return to Elite, the label she released her first 2 singles from Unfinished Business on.

"Fake (That's Just Not Me)" reached #5 in its debut week before climbing to #3. Following this, she would release two more duets, "Now All That's Left (What's Going On?)" with Lindsay Belle, which charted at #3 and went platinum, and "I Didn't Mean It" with Violetta DiNozzo, which became her sixth number one single.

Following Elite's shutdown, Esmeralda revived her old label, Alias Records. She then released another single, Magnet, which reached a peak of #2 and helped the album "Inside" finally reach #1 and achieve diamond status.

2011: The Awakening
Esmeralda has barely been seen in public since her latest single charted... however, she did reveal she was working on a new album. She is set to perform at the URAPS Legends concert, and is rumoured to be performing a brand new song for the first time ever at the event. The song turned out to be Shot At Redemption, the first single from her album The Awakening. The single charted at #3, while the album became her 7th #1 album.

Esmeralda was a judge on URAPS Idol 12; she previously also served as a judge on URAPS Idol 6. A new single, In The Line Of Fire, has been announced for a July 21st release; it charted at #4 and went platinum.

Something Personal is the third single from the album, it is out on October 10th. The video features her daughter Estefania, now three years old; Esmeralda had believed her dead upon birth, but she had been rediscovered with adoptive parents in Mexico.

This was followed by the "Romeo Is Redeemed" tour, which saw Esmeralda co-headline with Morris David Cat, taking both artists around the world. In a break from the tour, Esmeralda is releasing the single Fallen Star, which is out on January 9th; it charted at #3.

Following the "Romeo Is Redeemed" tour, Esmeralda will be taking a long break from major world-scale tours like this and focusing on more one-off shows, as well as a run in Las Vegas over the summer. However, while on tour, she released the single Monster's Mask EP, with the lead track written by Romo, which surprisingly became her 7th #1 and her biggest seller to date, nearing 400,000 copies in 18+ weeks on the chart.

2012: The Platinum Collection
In 2012, Esmeralda announced the release of a second greatest hits album, The Platinum Collection: 2004-2012, which spans her entire career and includes all of her platinum certified singles so far, alongside several new tracks. The first single was revealed to be Raging In Emotion, and it's set for a July 23rd release. During the promo, Esmeralda headlined a set at the Rock In Rio festival in Madrid, Spain.

The album debuted at #2 upon its release, behind Anna Jones.

Rivalries
During her long career, Esmeralda has often found herself in various rivalries with other stars. The most heated, by far, was with Sarah Summers, whose promotion often found itself containing smear campaigns against Esmeralda, who often released on the same week. The feud was a major topic in Sarah's video for 13/Ladder In My Tights, which Esmeralda naturally refused to appear in.

Another, but short-lived rivalry, happened with Amy Marshall, as they did not get along during the promotion of their duet, Close My Eyes Forever. Amy felt that Esmeralda was trying to be too controlling of her own actions, which led to a feud; despite this, they have patched up their differences, and have a friendly rivalry with each other as Amy released her comeback single, Bang!, which mentioned the past feud in its lyrics, against Esmeralda's #1 hit Product Of The Past; Esmeralda will also appear in Amy's video for Why I Drink.

Recently, Esmeralda has found her singles often released against Emily Henning; the two have been compared as both are rumoured to have undergone botox treatments to conceal their true ages, and have similar styles in music.

Discography
See: Esmeralda Dimuzio discography

Trivia

 * Esmeralda is colour blind; she revealed this during the promotion for her single What I'm Missing.