Lucas Prata

Lucas Prata’s vocals have appeared in television advertisements for Coca Cola, McDonalds, JC Penny’s, and LA Gear. A New York City native, he captured the title of Mr. University of Miami during his college years, prevailing in the competition through a combination of striking appearance and vocal strength. Upon returning to New York he worked as a backup singer for George Lamond, took on freelance commercial voice-over assignments, and later launched a solo career. In 2000 he issued the single “Fly Away” and promoted it by serving as the opening act for Salt-N-Pepa’s national tour. After cutting several club tracks alongside C+C Music Factory associate Ricky Crespo, Prata scored his breakthrough with the duet “Ma Ya Hee,” performed with Dan Balan of the Latin dance group O-Zone. The track reached number one in 27 countries and moved more than eight million copies worldwide across multiple language versions. In 2005 the dance label Ultra signed Prata and issued an English-language edition aimed at introducing the hit to American audiences.