Olga Teresa Tañón OrtizIn this

Spanish name Spanish names are the traditional way of identifying, and the official way of registering a person in Spain. They are composed of a given name (simple or composite) and two surnames (the first surname of each parent). Traditionally, the first ...

, the first or paternal

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

is ''Tañón'' and the second or maternal family name is ''Ortiz''. (born April 13, 1967) is a Puerto Rican singer. Over the course of her career, she has earned two

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, three

Latin Grammy Awards The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music, Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish language, S ...

, and 29 Premio Lo Nuestro Awards. She has sold over five million copies of her albums.

Early life

Tañón is the youngest of four children born to José Tañón and Carmen Gloria Ortiz in the Santurce district of

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

. She was raised in Levittown, located in the municipality of

Toa Baja, Puerto Rico Toa Baja () is a Toa Baja barrio-pueblo, town and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality of Puerto Rico located in the northern coast, north of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, Toa Alta and Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Bayamón; east of Dorado, Puerto Rico, ...

, where she received her primary and secondary education.

Career

Early career

At the early age of 16 years old, Olga Tañón participated in a television talent show called "Buscando Estrellas" singing one of her own compositions. Her singing career began in the 1980s with "Las Nenas de Ringo y Jossie", before joining the merengue group Chantelle, with which she achieved great success. When Tañón was a member of Chantelle, they scored their biggest hit, "Queriendo y No".

1990s

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) and included "Me cambio por ella" (I'll Change Places With 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), which included the original Tañón composition "Presencié tu Amor" (I Witnessed Your Love). That year, Tañón received three

Lo Nuestro Awards The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro (Spanish language, Spanish for "Ours") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music (genre), Latin music, presented by TelevisaUnivision, and is carried by its Univision network in ...

nominations in the Tropical/Salsa field: Album of the Year (''Sola''), Female Artist, and New Artist. In 1994, Tañón earned her first double

platinum record Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

and in 1995, she earned 3 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 hit "Es Mentiroso" (He's a Liar). Tañón recorded a

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (derived from the words ''Texas'' and ''Mexico'') is a regional American cuisine that originates from the culinary creations of Tejanos, Tejano people. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern ...

CD with Mexican singer

Marco Antonio Solís Marco Antonio Solís Sosa (born 29 December 1959) is a Mexican musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Ario de Rosales, Michoacán, Solís began his musical career at the age of six, performing with his cousin Joel ...

, ''Nuevos Senderos'', which opened her up to a new international market. With that recording, she became the first Puerto Rican musician to be certified by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

to sell over half a million records; the lead single, the ballad "Basta Ya!" topped the U.S. Billboard

Top Latin Tracks The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, ...

for several weeks and became Tañón's first No. 1 on that chart. For the album, Tañón earned 3 Lo Nuestro Awards nominations for Pop Album of the Year, Pop Song of the Year and Pop Singer of the Year. In 1997 Tañón debuted as an actress in the Puerto Rican version of the production of ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...

'', produced by Rafo Muñiz. She played the part of

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

. 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 Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

star. They had a daughter, Gabriella Marie, but divorced in 1999.

2000s

In 2000 Tañón, now known as the "Woman of Fire" or "Mujer de Fuego" by her fans, recorded her first concert, titled, "''Olga Viva...Viva Olga''" in the

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers (film), The Blues Brothers''. The ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. This production was named by the National Foundation of Popular Culture as one of the year's top 20 productions. The record went platinum and Tañón earned her first

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

. In 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 month she debuted in the Bass Performance Hall in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. 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

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

's Anayansi Theater and toured the southeastern United States with Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández. 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. "''Yo por Ti''" is Tañón's only album that is not available on any streaming services. In 2002, Tañón toured many countries, including

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

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 The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

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 Billy Denizard, with whom she had two sons, Indiana Noa and Ian Nahir. As part of an international tour called "Evolution Tour 2008", Tañón traveled to Italy where she made a presentation at the ''Festival Latinoamericano'' on July 5, 2008. In 2005, Tañón 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 Tañón recorded, " Nuestro Himno" in collaboration with Pitbull, Carlos Ponce, and

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...

. On May 2, 2010, Tañón first performed in

Iquitos Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province, Peru, Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the List of cities in Peru, ninth-most populous city in Peru ...

a concert where she presented her classic songs. The concert was part of her tour, which started in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. On February 22, 2007, Tañón won 3 awards at the 19th edition of Premio Lo Nuestro. During the 2006 show, she won in the categories: "Album of the Year", "Female Artist" and "Song of the Year". She holds the record as the artist who has won the most "Premio Lo Nuestro Awards", with a total of 29. In June 2009, Tañón released a new hit single called "Amor Entre Tres" which is the theme song for the new soap opera in Venezuela called "La Vida Entera." That month, WEA Latina released "25 Exitos de Fuego Vol. 1 & Vol. 2." Each CD has a set of greatest hits through her entire career of merengue and Latin pop. In September 2009 participated, next to Juanes and other artists, in "Concierto por la Paz" at Plaza de la Revolucion in La Habana, Cuba. In 2011 the first of three Tañon albums was released on the Mia Musa Label: "Ni Una Lagrima más’". In 2013 "Una Mujer" was released, and in 2017 "Olga Tañon y Punto".

Social activism

After her participation in the Concert for Peace in Havana, in 2013, Tañón, a resident and voter of the state of Florida, increased her social activism profile by announcing on

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

TV network that she would participate in the April March 10 in Washington, DC supporting immigration reform and a path to citizenship and the right to vote, as well as announcing her support for the admission of her native Puerto Rico as the 51st state of the nation.

Discography

;Studio Albums *1992: Sola (album), Sola *1993: Mujer de Fuego *1994: Siente el Amor *1996: Nuevos Senderos *1997: Llévame Contigo *1998: Te Acordarás de Mí *1999: Olga Viva, Viva Olga (Live Album) *2001: Yo por Ti *2002: Sobrevivir *2005: Una Nueva Mujer *2006: Soy Como Tú *2007: Exitos en 2 Tiempos *2008: Fuego en Vivo, Vol 1 & 2 (Live Album) *2011: Ni Una Lagrima Más *2013: Una Mujer *2017: Olga Tañón... Y Punto! *2021: Senderos de Amor *2022: Tañón Pal' Combo es lo que hay *2024: Así Yo Soy

Note

References

External links

Olga Tañón

Olga Tañón - AllMusic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanon, Olga 1967 births Living people Singers from San Juan, Puerto Rico Merengue musicians Latin pop singers Puerto Rican women composers 20th-century Puerto Rican women singers 20th-century Puerto Rican composers Latin Grammy Award winners Grammy Award winners Puerto Rican pop singers Warner Music Latina artists Latin music songwriters Feminist musicians 21st-century Puerto Rican women singers 21st-century Puerto Rican composers Women in Latin music