Wilma Cosmé (born 16 January 1966, in San Juan,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

), better known by her stage name Sa-Fire, is a Puerto Rican

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

. Sa-Fire is one of the few freestyle singers to cross over into the pop world. She has been featured in various magazines, such as ''

Us Magazine ''Us Weekly'' is a weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. ''Us Weekly'' was founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, and sold to American Media Inc ...

'', '' Billboard'', ''

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'', ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'', and most recently in the December 2011 issue of ''Signature Hits Magazine''. She was the first

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...

to grace the cover of ''

Spin Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps) is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. Histor ...

''. Sa-Fire has also appeared on television programs such as '' American Bandstand'', '' The Pat Sajak Show'', ''

The Joan Rivers Show ''The Joan Rivers Show'' is an American talk show hosted by comedian Joan Rivers that premiered on September 5, 1989, in broadcast syndication. The show aired for five seasons, and ended in December 1993. The show was nominated for numerous Emmy A ...

'', ''Latin Connection'', '' MTV International'', '' The Party Machine with Nia Peeples'', ''

PM Magazine ''PM/Evening Magazine'' is a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States. In most areas, ''Evening/PM Magazine'' was broadcast from the late 1970s into the late 1980s. Origi ...

'', '' Entertainment Tonight'', ''

Access Hollywood ''Access Hollywood'', formerly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was create ...

'', ''

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'', '' The View'', MTV, and

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

. Sa-Fire has performed throughout the

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, Japan,

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, the Caribbean, and

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. She has won numerous awards for her work, including six New York Music Awards, three Desi Awards, an ASCAP Award for writing "Thinking of You," and the LGBT Lifetime Achievement Award. She has sold over 1.9 million records.

Biography

The 1980s

Safire was born as Wilma Cosmé in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She grew up in East Harlem,

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 ...

, in

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, and began her singing career as a session

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

. Her debut single, "Don't Break My Heart", was released in 1986. Following her second single "Let Me Be the One," her third, "Boy, I've Been Told," which was the first single from her self-titled debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, released by Mercury/

PolyGram Records PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

, crossed over to pop

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

and reached No. 48 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Sa-Fire scored her most commercially successful hit with the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

" Thinking of You" in 1989, which peaked at No. 4 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart and at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was translated into

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

(as "El Recuerdo de Ti") by the singer–

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Ruben Blades Reuben or Reuven is a Biblical male first name from Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (Re'uven), meaning "behold, a son". In the Bible, Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob. Variants include Rúben in European Portuguese; Rubens in Brazilian Portugue ...

. In 1989, Sa-Fire and "Thinking of You" were featured in a

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

for AIDS awareness. The commercial was seen on Spanish-language television networks across the United States and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. She also sang the song on an episode of the 1989 revival of ''

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.'' Sa-Fire's debut self-titled album peaked at #84 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

and at #39 on the

Billboard Hot 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artist ...

. Other singles of hers that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 include "Gonna Make It" and "Made Up My Mind." In 1989, she covered "

I Will Survive "I Will Survive" is a song by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978 as the second single from her sixth album, '' Love Tracks'' (1978). It was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. A top-selling song, it is a popular di ...

" for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

of the film '' She-Devil,'' which incorporated a house and hip-hop element into the 1970s disco hit.

The 1990s

In 1991, Sa-Fire was featured in ''A Christmas Message'' with Mercury/

labelmates Vanessa L. Williams and

Brian McKnight Brian Kelly McKnight (born June 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, radio host and multi-instrumentalist. He is most recognized for his strong head voice, high belting range and melisma. McKnight is known for h ...

, with her rendition of "

Joy to the World "Joy to the World" is an English Christmas carol. The carol was written in 1719 by the English minister and hymnwriter Isaac Watts, and its lyrics are an interpretation of Psalm 98 celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Today, the carol is usua ...

." Sa-Fire teamed up with

Tommy Page Thomas Alden Page (May 24, 1967 – March 3, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1990 hit single " I'll Be Your Everything" and was later a music industry executive. Page collaborated with many artists, including Malaysi ...

to form the dance group La Casa, fronted by Allan Edwards Tibbitt & Dacia Palmer. Together, she and Page wrote and produced three songs that appeared on the ''New Faces'' compilation album released by Sire/

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

in 1993. This was not the first time Sa-Fire and Page had collaborated on a project. In 1990, they both co-wrote, produced, and sang the duet "Don't Give up on Love." The song was featured on Page's 1990 album ''Paintings in my Mind.'' "Taste the Bass" was released as a single from her second album, ''I Wasn't Born Yesterday.'' The song peaked at No. 6 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The lead single, "Made up My Mind," peaked at No. 9 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play, but stalled at No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100. During the mid-1990s, Sa-Fire returned with a Spanish-language album, titled ''Atrevida.'' She then appeared on many shows like ''

'', '' The Pat Sajak Show'', '' Club MTV'', '' The Party Machine with Nia Peeples'', '' Entertainment Tonight'', and ''

''. She also appeared in ''

'', ''Us Magazine'', ''DJ Times'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

Elle Magazine ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'', '' El Diario'', ''

El Vocero ''El Vocero de Puerto Rico'' is a Puerto Rican free newspaper that is published in San Juan. Published since 1974, ''El Vocero'' was at first the third of the four largest Puerto Rico newspapers, trailing '' El Mundo'' and '' El Nuevo Día'' and ...

'', '' New York Daily News'', and other publications. She won six New York Music Awards, one pop ASCAP Award for "Thinking of You" for the most played song that year, and three Desi Awards as well.

The 2000s

After another hiatus, Sa-Fire announced the release of a new album, ''Bringing Back the Groove'', in 2001. The album featured a cover of the

New Edition New Edition is an American R&B/Pop group from the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1978 by Bobby Brown. Their name is taken to mean a 'new edition' of the Jackson 5. The group reached its height of popularity in the 19 ...

hit "Can You Stand the Rain," featuring Cynthia. The album's second single, "Don't Break My Heart 2002," peaked at No. 3 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Her most recent single, "Exotique," was released online on May 6, 2009. Also, during that year, Sa-Fire's self-titled debut album, originally released in 1988, was made available as a download on iTunes. Sa-Fire's second album, ''I Wasn't Born Yesterday,'' was re-released on November 3, 2009, as a download.

The 2010s

In 2010, Sa-Fire announced on Urbanlatinoradio.com that she had begun working on a new Spanish-language pop album. In a riff in his 2011 stage show ''Ghetto Klown'',

John Leguizamo John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...

said that “Madonna stole freestyle” from Puerto Rican singer Sa-Fire (“Thinking of You”) and Bronx trio Sweet Sensation (“If Wishes Came True”).

The 2020s

In 2021,

Paper Magazine ''Paper'' (also known as ''Paper Mag'') is a New York City-based independent magazine focusing on fashion, popular culture, nightlife, music, art, and film. Initially produced monthly, the magazine eventually became a quarterly publication, and a ...

listed Sa-Fire as one of three iconic names of the Freestyle sub-genre.

Discography

Albums

*1988: '' Sa-Fire'' (Cutting/Mercury/PolyGram Records) *1991: '' I Wasn't Born Yesterday'' (Mercury/PolyGram Records) *1996: '' Atrevida'' ( Sony Discos) *2001: ''Bringing Back the Groove'' (Globestar)

Singles

*1986 "Don't Break My Heart" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #31 *1987 "Let Me Be the One" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #26 *1988 " Boy, I've Been Told" - Hot Dance Music/Club Play #13 *1988 "Boy, I've Been Told" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #3 *1988 "Boy, I've Been Told" - The Billboard Hot 100 #48 *1989 " Love Is on Her Mind" - Hot Dance Music/Club Play #29 *1989 "Love Is on Her Mind" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #18 *1989 " Thinking of You" - Adult Contemporary #4 *1989 "Thinking of You" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #26 *1989 "Thinking of You" - The Billboard Hot 100 #12 *1989 " Gonna Make It" - Hot Dance Music/Club Play #31 *1989 "Gonna Make It" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #20 *1989 "Gonna Make It" - The Billboard Hot 100 #71 *1990 "I Will Survive" - The Billboard Hot 100 #53 *1989 "I Will Survive" - Hot Dance Music/Club Play #30 *1989 "I Will Survive" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #37 *1991 "Made up My Mind" - Hot Dance Music/Club Play #36 *1991 "Made up My Mind" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #7 *1991 "Made up My Mind" - The Billboard Hot 100 #82 *1991 "Made up My Mind" - Hot 100 Airplay #60 *1991 "Taste the Bass" - Hot Dance Music/Club Play #6 *1991 "Taste the Bass" - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #4 *2001 "Can You Stand the Rain" *2009 "Exotique" - Masterbeat.com Best Seller List #1

References

External links

Sa-Fire
at MySpace * {{Authority control 1966 births Living people 20th-century Puerto Rican women singers American freestyle musicians American people of Puerto Rican descent Mercury Records artists Singers from San Juan, Puerto Rico People from Harlem 21st-century Puerto Rican women singers

Biography

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

References

External links