Olga Tañón

Olga Teresa Tañón Ortíz (born April 13, 1967 in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a two-time Grammy Award and three-time Latin Grammy-winning merengue and latin pop artist. Olga Tañón has earned 5 Latin Grammy Awards and 19 Premios Lo Nuestro awards during her career. Tañón is the youngest of four children born to José Tañón and Carmen Gloria Ortíz. Much of her life, her middle-class family lived in Levittown, Puerto Rico. Her childhood and teenage years were just like that of any other average child; the only difference was that Tañón wanted to be a singer. Tañón's singing career started when she joined a group called LAS NENAS DE RINGO Y JOSSIE (Ringo and Jossie's Girls) in the 1980s. A short time later a very popular group in Puerto Rico called Chantelle noticed her mezzo soprano voice and recruited her. They saw in her what they needed for their merengue style of music. When Tañón was a member of Chantelle, they scored their biggest hit, Aunque Tú no Quieras (Even If You Don't Want It), which was popular in Latin America. In 1992, Tañón signed a contract with the WEA Latina record label to record a solo album. Her first recorded album was titled, Sola (Alone). Among the songs in the album were, Me Cambio Por Ella (He Traded Me For Her), and Quiero Estar Contigo (I Want To Be With You). In 1993, she recorded her second album for WEA Latina, Mujer De Fuego (Woman of Fire). Tañón also debuted as a composer with the song, Presencié Tu Amor (I Witnessed Your Love). In 1994, Tañón earned her first double platinum record and in 1995, she earned three more platinum records with her album, Siente El Amor (Feel the Love). This album also included another of her compositions, Unicornio (Unicorn), which was written to the rhythm of Salsa and also included the unforgettable Merengue song, Es Mentiroso (He's a Liar). Tañón had gained fame and recognition throughout Latin America. Tañón recorded a Tex-Mex CD with Mexican singer Marco Antonio Solís called Nuevos Senderos. She was now being heard internationally, and with that recording she became the first Puerto Rican musician to be certified by the RIAA to sell over half a million records. The album lead single, the ballad, Basta Ya topped the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Tracks for several weeks, and became Tañón first #1. In 1997, Tañón debuted as an actress in the Puerto Rican version of the popular production of "Jesus Christ Superstar", produced by Rafo Muñiz. She played the part of Mary Magdalene. This version had a tropical feel to it and included some of Tañón's songs. In 1998, Tañón married Juan González a Puerto Rican major league baseball star. In 1999, after many scandals, the marriage ended in divorce. The couple had a daughter, Gabriella Marie. In 2000, Tañón, who was now known as the "Woman in Fire" by her fans, recorded her first concert, titled, Olga Viva...Viva Olga in the House of Blues in Orlando, Florida. This production was named by the National Foundation of Popular Culture as one the top 20 productions of the year. The record went platinum and Tañón earned her first Grammy Award. On August 2000, Tañón sold out 12 shows in the Antonio Paoli Hall at the Luis A. Ferre Center of the Fine Arts in San Juan. Later that same month, she debuted in the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. Her performances received rave reviews in the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. At the end of 2000, Tañón presented her musical spectacular at the Anayansi Theater in Panama, and toured the southeastern United States with Mexican singer Alejandro Fernandez. In 2001, Tañón recorded a CD titled, Yo Por Ti (Me for You), which won both American and Latin Grammys. The first single, Como olvidar, topped the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Tracks. The CD became a best-seller in Puerto Rico, Latin America, and among the Hispanic population in the United States. In 2002, Tañón toured many countries, including Venezuela, Panama and the United States. That year she became the first merengue artist to successfully score a chart topper in the Middle East when her partnership with Egyptian music singer Hakim yielded the highly successful Arabian hit, Ah Ya Albi. In 2003, Tañón toured Europe and made a total of ten recordings for WEA Latina. In 2003 she released Sobrevivir and won her fourth Grammy. She also married music producer Billy Denizard, with whom she had two sons, Indiana Noa and Ian Nahir. As part of a international tour called, "Evolution Tour 2008", Tañón traveled to Italy where she would make a presentation at the Festival Latinoamericano on July 5, 2008. In 2005, Olga Tañón made public that her daughter Gabriela is one of only 50 people in the world to have Sebastian syndrome, a rare disease. Her plans are to keep touring and donate some of the money that she earns to find her daughter a cure. She also released her hit album, Una Nueva Mujer, which won Best Contemporary Tropical Album at the 2006 Latin Grammys. In support of Latin American immigrants in the U.S., in 2006 Olga recorded, Nuestro Himno in collaboration with Pitbull, Carlos Ponce, and Wyclef Jean.