Ednita Nazario

Ednita Nazario, born Edna María Nazario Figueroa on April 11, 1955, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, is a Latin pop singer and Broadway performer whose career spans more than five decades. The daughter of Domingo Nazario and Gudelia Figueroa, she grew up in Ponce alongside two older brothers, Tito and Alberto, and a younger brother known as Pancho. She has released twenty-three studio albums, seven live albums, and two extended plays over the course of her recording career.

Nazario's entry into the music industry came at an unusually early age. At six, she recorded her first song, a Spanish-language version of "My Boy Lollipop" titled "Mi Amor Lolipop," after catching the attention of record producer Alfred D. Herger at a baseball game in Ponce. Herger visited the Nazario household with a recording contract two months after that encounter, and the family eventually signed. Her radio debut followed in 1966, when she was eleven years old.

During her teenage years, Nazario performed with a group called The Kids From Ponce, formed by Tony Morales and featuring singer and photographer José Manuel and Frankie Sabath. The group appeared at hotels and on television before disbanding. At seventeen, Nazario was given her own prime-time television variety show, El Show de Ednita, broadcast by Telemundo Puerto Rico and produced by Paquito Cordero. The program was later syndicated across Latin America. During this same period she won the Miss Puerto Rico Teenage pageant. At eighteen, in 1973, she released her debut album, Al Fin...Ednita, which produced the number-one hit "Te Quiero y No Me Importa" and earned her a New Artist of the Year award.

Among the international figures Nazario hosted on her television program were Liza Minnelli, Bob Eberly, Charles Aznavour, Morey Amsterdam, and Puerto Rican actor José Ferrer. Ferrer subsequently designed a nightclub act for the two of them, and they performed together at hotels throughout the Caribbean, in Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, and New York, as well as at the Hyatt Hotel in Canada. Nazario was also invited to perform at the casino of Monte Carlo three times at the invitation of Monaco's Royal Family.

In the late 1970s, Nazario competed in the eighth edition of the OTI Festival as a performer, singing "Cadenas de Fuego" and finishing fifth with twenty-one points. She returned to the festival in 1980 as a songwriter, co-writing "Contigo, Mujer" with her then-husband, Argentine singer and songwriter Laureano Brizuela. That song, performed by Rafael José, won the festival's top prize with thirty-six points. During the same period, she collaborated with the boy band Menudo on a cover of ABBA's "Chiquitita," appearing with the group in a music video. She also recorded the theme song of the Puerto Rican telenovela Coralito: Mi Pequeño Amor as a duet with Brizuela, who had written the song. Throughout this era she signed successive record deals with Borinquen, Ariola, and Padosa, and developed a more pop- and rock-oriented sound.

In 1989 Nazario released Fuerza de Gravedad, which included a duet with Air Supply singer Russell Hitchcock. Her 1991 album Lo Que Son Las Cosas featured a Spanish-language version of a song associated with Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti. Following the end of her marriage, she released Metamorfosis in 1992 and subsequently performed a run of thirteen consecutive shows at the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in San Juan, surpassing Yolandita Monge's previous record of twelve. In 1993 she sold out a concert at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, which was released as a live album the following year. Her 1994 album Pasiones was among her most acclaimed releases, and her 1996 album Espíritu Libre went triple platinum shortly after its release. On the strength of that record, she sold out the Hiram Bithorn Stadium for a concert that was broadcast via the internet.

In 1998, Nazario made her Broadway debut in Paul Simon's musical The Capeman, where she played the role of Esmeralda Agrón alongside Rubén Blades and Marc Anthony. Her performance earned her the Theatre World Award in 1998 and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.

Nazario returned to recording in 1999 with Corazón, produced by Dräco Rosa, which went platinum within a week of release and earned her several awards along with two Billboard nominations. In 2001 she signed with Sony Music and released Sin Límite, produced by Tommy Torres. The following year she transformed the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center into a recording studio for two nights of acoustic performances attended by three hundred guests, releasing the results as Acústico I and Acústico II. The concerts included a duet with Beto Cuevas of the band La Ley. Her subsequent album Por Tí, again produced by Torres, featured collaborations with Ricky Martin and Luis Fonsi, and its supporting concert broke attendance records in Puerto Rico. She followed that release with Apasionada, also produced by Torres, which included contributions from composer Claudia Brandt, Noel Schajris of Sin Bandera, and Luis Fonsi.

In December 2007 Nazario released Real, produced by Armando Avila and Graeme Pleeth and recorded in London, Nashville, Mexico City, and Miami. The album debuted at number one on both Billboard's Top Latin Albums and Top Latin Pop Albums charts, selling more than eighteen thousand copies in its first week. On July 2, 2008, she filmed a music video for the single "No" alongside Natalia Jiménez of La 5ª Estación. Her 2009 album Soy, released on October 27 of that year, was produced with the involvement of Tommy Torres, Sebastian Krys, and Claudia Brant.