Soraya's parents were originally from Columbia, but they moved to New Jersey a year before Soraya was born in 1969. She grew up in a mixed-language world, with her mother insisting upon the use of Spanish in the home, but her school work and social life primarily conducted in English. While her mother taught the young Soraya to become fluent in two languages, her father, who sometimes had to work three different jobs to support the family, taught her perseverance, which she would need throughout her life and career.

Soraya excelled at the guitar and violin, and after she got over some initial shyness by singing at various performances during her college years at Rutgers, she became a capable vocalist as well. She kicked off her recording career with a marvelous effort, the 1996 album En Esta Noche, under the Polydor label. En Esta Noche, which contained some of her most famous songs (such as "Quedate," "Amor en Tus Ojos" and "De Repente"), was such a sensation in Latin America that an English version (On Nights Like This) was released not long after the Spanish version. Not surprisingly the songs and the commercial success translated perfectly, as Soraya became a Latin pop/adult contemporary hero, especially remembered for the single "De Repente."

Soraya, whose mother had passed away after a bout with breast cancer in 1992, was diagnosed with the same fatal disease in 2000, less than a week after her third album, Cuerpo Y Alma, hit stores with little fanfare. While Soraya fought valiantly to ward off the affects of her illness, Universal dropped her from their label. She made a remarkable comeback with a self-titled album under EMI in 2003, and then continued to rise from the depths with El Otro Lado de Ti in 2005, the whole time stepping up her efforts to raise awareness about breast cancer through charities. Sadly, Soraya succumbed to cancer in 2006, but her songs, her story and her efforts towards finding a cure have made a lasting impression.