QN. EVERLENA

QN. EVERLENA, born Queen Brown de Thiam, is a country recording artist and media personality based in Atlanta, GA. Seven year old QN. EVERLENA fell in love with music after hearing her grandmother secretly playing “Quimbara Quimbara” by Celia Cruz. She became more active in the choir at church and performing original poetry in community events. By highschool her poems became songs, and served as therapy for the unjust treatment she experienced in college. Hungry and homeless after surviving domestic violence, Queen got what she believed to be a dream job with Akon’s charity in 2008. In an effort to impress her new boss, she gifted the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter a copy of the song.  It was named after him (Aliaune) for his birthday. ALI UN created buzz and eventually booked her a gig with Underground Atlanta-Daily Entertainment, Colony Square- Tuesday Tunes, opening slot for DJ Unk & Pastor Troy and more! Over the next few years QN. EVERLENA focused on hosting artist showcases and completing her education. In 2014, she worked at various local radio stations before catching the attention of Streetz 94.5FM. The internship started the process of QN. EVERLENA finding herself again. Through a series of events, the universe made it clear facing the music was necessary to overcome her insecurities and heal from past trauma. Upon hearing ALI UN for the first time, Mor Thiam (Akon’s father) predicted music was her true calling. In 2018, she dropped a new version of ALI UN on ITunes and released the official music video a year later. The popular single was her first example of a sound now called “Cross Country”. 

QN. EVERLENA returns to the stage after 15 years. A self- proclaimed “caballera”, her country aesthetic began with regional Mexican singer Lucero & punk rocker Gloria Trevi. Queen says “I’m from Miami, so growing up I wasn’t just influenced by urban music on BET & MTV. But univision and telemundo which had programs like Sabado Gigante and Super Sabado Sensational in addition to telenovelas. My mom’s favorite singer was Betty Wright, while mine was Gloria Estefan , Celia Cruz, and Jerry Rivera. Now that southern soul has gone mainstream, some folks think every BLACK cowgirl they see is following a trend. That’s not my story and I can’t wait to tell it with MY MUSIC!!”. The 2010s had no music genre for fusing country, soul, hip hop, and rock until Breland coined the phrase “Cross Country”. Queen witnessed the evolution of Black Americans in country music from the release of RAY, Ray Charles biopic, Patti LaBelle collab with Kenny Rogers, Nelly collab with Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker from Hootie and the Blowfish who was first BA to win Best New Country Artist… to the rise of Mickey Guyton and Kane Brown. Then Beyonce’s controversy with the CMAs gave birth to ‘Cowboy Carter’, Shaboozey turned J-Kwon club anthem into a bar anthem, and 803 Fresh brought southern soul and trailride culture mainstream with the explosion of ‘Boots on the Ground’. Watch Queen make her mark in country music with the single “Working Girl” dropping JUN 19!