Debi was born August 6, 1980, in San José, Costa Rica and is of Polish Jewish descent. She started playing piano at age four, and played classical music for ten years. She became a singer-songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist at the age of 14. She moved to Los Angeles at 17 when she signed her first record deal. She is a graduate of LAMA College for Music Professionals.
Career
Nova started as a backing vocalist for Gandhi, with whom she had the chance to open for Deep Purple. She has also worked with Ricky Martin, with whom she recorded a Spanish version of the song "I Don't Care". Nova sang background vocals for Britney Spears in her song "Lace and Leather", from her album Circus. In 2004 she scored the number one track on the US Dance Club Songs chart with "One Rhythm". A remix of the song was featured on the soundtrack for the EA Sports video gameFIFA Football 2005. She was featured in projects by Illa J and Sa-Ra as well as Urban Legend's Tropical Techniques. On April 20, 2010, she made her US television debut on Dancing with the Stars. Nova also participated in the Colgate MaxWhite Charging Up The Music campaign. She released her first studio albumLuna Nueva in 2010, which featured her single "Drummer Boy". In 2011, MTV Latin America awarded her the prize MTV Chiuku for her work in the United Nations campaign "UNITE to end violence against women" organized by UN Women, and in April 2012 she was named ambassador of YUNGA. Nova was one-third of the group "LR1" for a while, along with Jean Shepherd and Velcro. Their single "Maña y Corazón" was produced by Andres Levin and released on September 13, 2011, to kick offLatino Heritage Month. Nova was selected as the official voice of the Central American Games, San José 2013, with the song "Arriba Arriba" and was also invited to participate in the TEDx Joven Pura Vida conference, where she shared her story, her music and encouraged young people to follow their dreams. On December 17, 2013, she released her EP Un Dia a la Vez. The project was entirely in Spanish and served as a preview for her next album, "SOY", which was released on June 24, 2014. The album was produced by Grammy-winning producer Cachorro López. The album released four singles, "Un Día A La Vez", "Amor", "Emergencia" and "Cupido". The latter was released in two versions, one featuring Puerto Rican singer Sie7e, and the other featured Jamaican Reggae/Dancehall singer Ce'Cile. SOY was nominated at the 2014 Latin Grammy Awards in the Best New Vocal Pop Album category. in 2016, Debi won the first season of Colombia's Version of Dancing with the Stars. She released her third album Gran Ciudad in 2017, on Sony Music Latin for which she was nominated at the Latin Grammys 2017 in the category "Best Singer-Songwriter Album". She performed her single "No Nos Sobran Los Domingos" at the 2017 pre-Grammy show.
