Marlene was born in Spanish Harlem and raised on the Upper West Side. Her parents are Puerto Ricans. Her ancestry is a combination of French, Spanish, African and Taino Indian. When she was about 2 to 4 years of old, she had to wear braces on her legs to straighten out a foot that had become a little twisted during birth. At the tender age of 3, she had already begun to demonstrate a gift for singing. She began taking ballet and flamenco for a very brief when she was 6. Therefore,her first e ...[Read Story]