OLGA TAÑÓN

Born: Santurce, Puerto Rico, 13 April 1967

Genre: Latin

Best-selling album since 1990: Te Acordarás de Mí (1998)

The Puerto Rican diva Tañón has become the top female artist in merengue, a genre pioneered in the Dominican Republic. Her svelte good looks and R&B-informed singing helped make her tropical material palatable to Latin pop radio. Faster than its tropical counterparts cumbia and salsa, the merengue is a simple two-count rhythm often played in a minor key and accompanied by saxophone, trumpet, and, occasionally, the accordion.

The youngest of four children, Tañon began singing at eight with her church choir. She acted in school drama productions and competed in talent competitions, though she never won any of them. At the age of fifteen she began her professional career with the merengue group Las Nenas de Ringo y Jossie. After a brief stint with all-female merengue group Chantelle, she went solo in 1992.

Her first international hit was the merengue "Es Mentiroso" from Siente el Amor (1994). With fury and pain Tañón mocks an unfaithful partner's excuses and promises. For her 1995 follow-up, Nuevos Senderos, she called on the production talents of the Mexican singer/songwriter Marco Antonio Solis, who turned out a typically ballad-heavy effort. During the rest of the 1990s, Tañón alternated between pop and merengue releases.

As Tañón entered the new century, the distinctions between her merengue and pop CDs began to blur. Yo Por Tí (2001) adds soulful touches to her tropical canvas. The single "Como Olvidar," a number one hit on Billboard 's Hot Latin Tracks, was released in ballad and merengue versions, and Tañón works in some gospellike vocal inflections on the chorus. She even raps on "Me Gusta," playfully boasting about her talent and describing Mr. Right: "I'm looking for a guy . . . who sings like Marc Anthony, dances like Chayanne / and looks like Ricky Martin when he shakes his bon bon." Co-produced by Tañón and the pop-oriented producers Humberto Gática (Air Supply, La Ley) and Kike Santander (Cristian Castro, Jennifer Peña), Yo Por Tí maintains a danceable, polished groove that reflects Tañón's perfectionist nature. The album won the best merengue album Grammy in 2002, just one year after Olga Viva, Viva Olga accomplished the same feat.

The hard-working Tañón was already looking for material for her next album by the time Yo Por Tí was released. In November 2002 she returned with Sobrevivir, which features the number one Billboard Hot Latin Tracks hit "Así Es la Vida." She reteamed with Gática and Santander and tapped her longtime tropical-music collaborator Manuel Tejada. Dedicated "to all the women and men who struggle every day to survive," Sobrevivir features tasteful ballads and tropical-pop fusions. On the flamenco-flavored "Así Es la Vida," produced by Gática, Tañon tells a repentant ex that it's too late to come crawling back. An adult contemporary track, "A Partir de Hoy," features Spanish guitar and self-help lyrics like "I'm going to get rid of the custom of loving / he who mistreats me." Lush string arrangements and vocal experimentation combine to make Sobrevivir a musical step forward.

Tañón infused the male-dominated merengue genre with sisterhood, winning a largely female fan base through empowering lyrics that ranged from sympathetic pop psychology to righteous indignation. Not one to record blatantly autobiographical albums, Tañón says she prefers to sing about a variety of moods, regardless of what's going on in her notoriously topsy-turvy personal life. She and her first husband, Jesús Suarez, her former manager, divorced in 1994. In 1996 she married the professional baseball player Juan Gonzalez. They had one daughter, Gabriela Marie. After a turbulent relationship, the couple divorced, and Tañón married for a third time in 2002.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Siente el Amor (WEA Latina, 1994); Nuevos Senderos (WEA Latina, 1996); Olga Viva, Viva Olga (WEA Latina, 1999); Yo por Tí (Warner Music Latina, 2001); Sobrevivir (Warner Music Latina, 2002).

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