Nov. 24: Multiple Latin Grammy winner Julieta Venegas is 40 today.

Born Julieta Venegas Percevault in 1970 in Long Beach, California, Julieta is a Mexican singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter, and plays instruments including acoustic guitar, accordion, and keyboard.

Julieta is best known for performing Spanish-language rock and pop music. Venegas grew up in Tijuana and began studying piano from the age of eight. In addition to piano, she also studied musical theory, singing, cello, and violoncello at La Escuela de Música del Noroeste, while she also crossed the U.S. border to study at South Western College in San Diego She went on to join several bands, including Tijuana No!, before starting a career on her own.

Julieta established herself initially as a cutting-edge Latin alternative artist during the late '90s, before her career shifted direction significantly with her third album, Sí released in 2003, a broadly appealing pop/rock effort including a couple chart-toppers.

Her next album, Limón y Sal (2006), was just as broadly appealing as its predecessor, and it was an even bigger hit, spawning several major hits and finding success in Western Europe as well as the Americas.

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Venegas has also made a name for herself as a collaborator, writing songs for and performing with a range of Latin artists, from Paulina Rubio and Mala Rodríguez to Miguel Bosé and Los Tigres del Norte.

She has won one Grammy and five Latin Grammys. She has sold more than 6.5 million albums. She speaks English and Spanish fluently. She has a twin sister, Yvonne, who is a photographer.

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