Ana Barbara

• Genre: Cumbia
• Hometown: Rio Verde, San Luis Potosi
• Ana Barbara Website

About

Ana Barbara can thank her beauty for her fame -- literally. Born in Rio Verde, San Luis Potosi, Barbara was always an enthusiastic singer who would serenade her family at every opportunity, but her first brush with fame came when she won a beauty contest and became Senorita San Luis Potosi -- officially the most beautiful woman in her home state. That win led to opportunities to sing on various television shows, which led to more contest wins and ultimately gave her the opportunity to sing for Pope John Paul II in 1993. With the realization of that dream, everything else came easy; in 1994 she recorded her first (self-titled) album for Fonovisa Records. It promptly went gold in Mexico and Bolivia, so Barbara released a second album hot on the heels of her first. By the end of the year she was known as "La Reina Grupera," but Barbara hasn't rested on her laurels, recording relentlessly and always experimenting with her mix of pop, cumbia, grupero and other styles.

- Sarah Bardeen