By Andrew Davis
Soraya, a pop star and 2004 Latin Grammy award winner who publically advocated awareness of breast cancer, died of the disease May 10 in Miami, according to the Los Angeles Times. She was 37.
The illness also felled her mother, grandmother and aunt.
In 2000, Soraya was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. That year, as she embarked on an aggressive treatment plan, she made a short video about her illness and promptly received 6,000 e-mails, many from women writing of their own battles with cancer.
She successfully underwent treatment, People magazine noted, but reportedly suffered a relapse at the beginning of the year.
In 2004, Soraya received a Latin Grammy for her album Soraya in the best singer-songwriter category. Last year, she released El Otro Lado de Mi (The Other Side of Me), which was nominated for a Latin Grammy.