Olga Tanon

• Genre: Merengue

About

Like many great singers, Puerto Rico's Olga Tanon had identified her profession by the age of four; her story since is one of struggle and determination. After vanquishing a painful shyness that made public performance almost impossible, Tanon's 1992 solo debut went gold, thanks in no small part to her powerful, husky vocal delivery and good looks. Tanon's second album went double platinum, and she hasn't looked back since. She's earned a slew of awards, including Billboard, Grammy, and Latin Grammy nods, and gained a fan base that extends from Latin America to the U.S. and Europe. Fans dubbed Tanon the Queen of Merengue in 1994, but her repertoire is diverse, encompassing ballads, salsa, rock and pretty much anything that catches her fancy. She's worked with top-notch songwriters in the Latin Pop world, recording an album of ballads penned by Marco Antonio Solis and singing songs by Rudy Perez, among others. Versatile and sweet without being saccharine, she is also, naturally, the pride of Puerto Rico: the Puerto Rican Senate even dubbed November 9th "La Dia de Olga Tanon."

- Sarah Bardeen