Gloria González (born April 6, 1944) is a Puerto Rican composer with an extensive repertoire of pop and salsa songs.

Early years and education

Gloria González Pérez was born on April 6 in

Santurce, Puerto Rico Santurce (, from the Basque ''Santurtzi'' which means Saint George) is a barrio or district in the municipality of San Juan. Its population in 2020 was 69,469. It is also the biggest and most populated of all the barrios in the capital city wit ...

. She is the only daughter of Jorge González and Blanca Pérez, both from the town of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. She attended elementary school at Manuel Padre Rufo School in

. Her secondary studies were done at República Del Perú Jr. High, also in Santurce. In 1958, she moved with her father to New York City, where she attended P.S. 71 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

.Biography, Photos, Lyrics (SalsaClasica.com)
/ref> Gloria later returned to Puerto Rico and got married. In 1967, she decided to continue her studies and graduated from Ramírez College as a paralegal secretary.

Career

In 1970, she started working with the Justice Department, but due to a back injury, she retired in 1983. During this period, González became interested in

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

and decided to study at the Music Conservatory; entirely dedicating herself to the composition of musical themes. She has written well over 300 songs, within the Salsa music genre. Among the artists who have interpreted of her romantic line of songs are

Marco Antonio Muñiz Marco Antonio Muñiz (born 3 March 1933) is a Mexican singer from Jalisco, Mexico. Known all over Latin America, he also acted in the 1965 film '' Sinful'' ( Spanish: El Pecador). He belongs to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Early life and car ...

Gilberto Santa Rosa Gilberto Santa Rosa Cortés, nicknamed "El Caballero de la Salsa" (The Gentleman of Salsa) (born August 21, 1962), is a Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero. He is a six time Grammy Award winner and has sold over three million ...

El Gran Combo El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, commonly known as El Gran Combo, is a Puerto Rican salsa orchestra based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2012, it was often considered Puerto Rico's most successful musical group. The ...

Tony Vega Tony Vega Cesar, known professionally as Tony Vega (born July 13, 1957) is a Puerto Rican salsa music, salsa singer. Early years Vega was born in the town of Salinas, Puerto Rico, where he received his primary education. He was born into a f ...

Frankie Ruiz José Antonio Torresola Ruiz better known as Frankie Ruiz (March 10, 1958 – August 9, 1998) was an American salsa singer and songwriter of Puerto Rican descent. He was a major figure in the ''salsa romántica'' subgenre that was popular in the ...

Bobby Valentín Roberto "Bobby" Valentín (born June 9, 1941), is a musician and salsa bandleader. He is known as "El Rey del Bajo" (King of the Bass). Early years Valentín was born in Orocovis, Puerto Rico. He was taught by his father to play the guitar at ...

Andy Montañez Andrés Montañez Rodríguez (born May 7, 1942), better known as Andy Montañez, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter. Early life Montañez is a native of the ''Tras Talleres'' area of Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is known by the nic ...

, Carmita Jiménez,

Nano Cabrera Nano Cabrera is a singer, guitarist, and composer born in Condado, Puerto Rico, who was a member of Haciendo Punto en Otro Son,

, Los Hispanos, and

Cheo Feliciano Cheo Feliciano (3 July 1935 – 17 April 2014) was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of salsa and bolero music. Feliciano was the owner of a recording company called "Coche Records". He was the first tropical singer to perform at the "Amira de ...

. One of her most famous songs, "Así Es Mi Tierra", was performed by the septet Sol y Canto and accompanied by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra on February 28, 2004.

Awards & recognition

Gloria González has received awards and recognitions from institutions such as the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture (11/28/1986).Gloria González
/ref> Broadway Awards (1988), Paoli Award, awards from the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Carolina and

Arecibo Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, th ...

(4/8/2002), as well as recognitions in theaters, TV shows in Puerto Rico,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In June 1991, she was honored with the dedication of the annually National Day of Salsa,Día Nacional del la Salsa - Photo
/ref> currently celebrated on the third Sunday in the month of March in Puerto Rico.

was also honored that day. In 2007, she was honored at the "Asociación Borinqueña" of Central Florida, in Orlando, Florida for her career as a composer.

Personal life

González has four children from two marriages; Catherine Ivonne and María de los Ángeles (adopted) from her first, and Carlos Javier with her second husband, Juan Rodríguez. In 2004, she moved to Central

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where she currently lives.

References

External links