Diana Danelys De Los Santos (born October 4, 1990), known professionally as Amara La Negra, is an American singer, actress, dancer, author, and television host.[3] De Los Santos is of Dominican descent,[5] and is most known for her role on the VH1 reality TV show Love & Hip Hop: Miami. La Negra was dubbed by Billboard as the show's "breakout star", landing a multi-album record deal with BMG hours after the show's premiere.[6]
De Los Santos grew up in Miami, Florida as the only child of a single mother, Ana Maria Oleaga, who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic.[7][8][9]
De Los Santos started her musical career at the age of 4 on the Spanish language television program Sabado Gigante as a regular cast member. According to an interview with DJ Vlad, De Los Santos was the only black girl on the cast[10] that the show has ever had in over 50 years.[2] After her 6-year run on Sabado Gigante, De Los Santos became a backup dancer for major Latin artists such as Celia Cruz and Tito Puente.[2]
During her teenage years, De Los Santos joined an all girl group named Amara. The group struggled to stay together and eventually split up. However, De Los Santos wanted to keep the name Amara and added the "La Negra", meaning "black girl" in Spanish, after the question was repeatedly asked "Who's the black girl of the group?"[11]
In 2013, she released the single "Ayy" which became a hit in the Latin market.[10] However, she has experienced difficulties being accepted in the industry of her home country due to her dark skin and afro, and was even parodied in blackface on the Dominican variety show Aquí Se Habla Español by former beauty queen Geisha Montes de Oca.[12][13]
By 2015, De Los Santos was broke and spent three months homeless, she noted that she was washing her "ass in a freaking 24-hour McDonalds and Walgreens because I was embarrassed. I was already famous. I didn't want people to judge me or look at me in a different light because I had no money at that moment."[10]
In 2018, De Los Santos became one of the main cast members on VH1's Love & Hip Hop Miami. Her story line explores with colorism[14] and eurocentrism within the Latin community, which has garnered significant media attention.[15][16][17] The series chronicles her attempts to crossover to the mainstream American market. In the first season, she comes into conflict with light skinned Latino producer Young Hollywood after he criticizes her afro during a business meeting.[18] In the same year, De Los Santos landed a multi-album deal with BMG and then went on to release two singles, "Insecure" and "What A Bam Bam", which was the song that went on to hit the number 8 spot on Billboard's Latin Pop Digital Song Sales chart in March 2018.[19]
In 2020, De Los Santos started a weekly Instagram show, where, together with her mother, she co-hosts a show called “Grind Pretty, My Mom is the Bomb” that highlights female entrepreneurs.[25] In describing the show, she noted that she defines "Grind Pretty as a great platform where women entrepreneurs, who have both small and big businesses, can come together and exchange ideas and help motivate each other and encourage collaboration.”[25] Also in 2020, De Los Santos teamed with tennis superstar Serena Williams in an online campaign to promote women.[26]
In October 2020, De Los Santos became the backstage correspondent on the Spanish-language competition show Tu cara me suena, airing on Univision.[27]
In April 2019, De Los Santos announced via Instagram that she is in a relationship with Bachata singer EmJay,[28][29] who is the brother of Love & Hip Hop Miami co-star, Shay Johnson. She broke up with him in March 2020. In 2021, she announced she is pregnant with twin girls with her ex-Allan Muses.[30]She is currently dating and later, engaged to Love & Hip Hop co-star Safaree Samuels.
