Rosalia Ramona Gómez Rivera (born February 4, 1988) is a Swedish-born Chilean-American rapper and singer, best known for being a member of B.A.N.D.I.T.A.
Early life and career[]
Rosalia was born on February 4, 1988 at Karolinska Hospital in Solna, Sweden to Chilean parents Raul and Catalina Gómez. Both of her parents were from Santiago de Chile, and had been politically persecuted in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship, as a result they fled to Sweden. The family initially lived in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, where Raul was employed in Värtahamnen harbor in the Lilla Värtan strait. Around 1993, Raul was offered a position at Carnival Cruise Line which took the family to Miami. She was dubbed "Rosie" by an elementary school teacher to differentiate her from her classmates Rosalia Gómez Rahmer and Rosalia Gómez Novoa.
Rosie attended Miami Senior High School and New World School of the Arts in Miami.
Career[]
B.A.N.D.I.T.A.[]
Rosie and her friend Mariela Santa Cruz became friends when Rosie was 19, when they both sang Andrew W.K.'s "Party Hard" together at a block party in Little Havana. Mariela, an aspiring singer/songwriter, began to value Rosie's musical talent.
In 2010, Rosie and Mariela were notified of auditions for an all-female rap/pop group by a friend, and they went to a dance school in Aventura to audition. Upon being accepted into the group, B.A.N.D.I.T.A., they became acquainted with fellow recruits Antonietta Madrazo, a Hispanic rapper from Chicago, Illinois, and Fiorella Teixeira, a Brazilian-American from West Palm Beach.