Gilberto Santa Rosa

Use the Booking Entertainment.com agency to book Gilberto Santa Rosa for your corporate event, private party, fundraiser, college, fair or festival. Submit a Gilberto Santa Rosa Entertainment Request Form and an agent will reply within 24 hours.

Gilberto Santa Rosa was born on 21 August 1962, in Puerto Rico and today is known as "El Caballero de la Salsa" (the gentleman of salsa).

In 1976 he stted with a group of amateurs in Puerto Rico, and his first recording was with the Mio Ortiz Orchestra. He then moved on to Orquesta La Grande, and during the two yes Gilberto was with them, he met Mr. Elias Lopés who later helped mold and polish the promising young singer, releasing three recordings.

In 1980, he got an important opportunity recording "Homenaje a Eddie Palmieri" with the Puerto Rico All Stars. He then went on to record with Tommy Olivencia. From 1981 through 1986 he was with the Willie Rosio Orchestra where he recorded six albums.

Santa Rosa then signed with Ralph Ctagena's Combo Records. In 1986, he debuted on Good Vibrations fronting his own salsa orquesta. After releasing three more albums on Combo, including "De Amor y Salsa", he switched to CBS Records and issued the chart-topping salsa romantica set Punto De Vista in 1990, which went platinum and spawned the smash hits "Vivir Sin Ella" and "Perdoname". Santa Rosa's 1991 CBS/Sony follow-up, Perspectiva, was another monster hit.

Since the mid-80s, the mainstream salsa recording industry in Puerto Rico and the USA has been lgely preoccupied with developing and mketing the images of "good looking" young male vocalists, rather than producing solid, stimulating music performed by swinging soneros (improvising salsa singers). Santa Rosa, however, who was one of the first of this new crop of solo singers, is regded as being amongst the small number who deserve to be called a sonero.

In 1990, Santa Rosa was in the illustrious company of Andy Montañez and Pedro Brull (from Mulenze ), as one of the contempory soneros assembled by bandleader Don Perignon for his all-st La Puertorriqueña project. In 1990, he won the Billbod Lo Nuestro awd for Best Male Singer. He has also performed at New York's prestigious annual salsa festival. But 1990 was an important ye in other respects. Santa Rosa made acting debut in the play "La peja dispeja", where he was joined by Rafo Muñiz and Luis Vigoreaux.

He visited Japan in 1995 as Puerto Rico's musical ambassador and sang one of his songs, "De ca al viento" in Japanese in his effort to bridge the cultural briers. Since then Santa Rosa's fame reached across borders and continents; commanding recognition as salsa tist in most demand. In 1976 he released yet another smash album Esencia which included hit songs such as No Quiero Nada Regala"o.

Santa Rosa's recent work has not been limited to soloist recordings. He joined other tists in the First President's Festival in the Dominican Republic; Andy Montañez in New York's Lincoln Center, in 1997; and Olga Tañon in the Universal Studios Amphitheater in Holloywood, in 1997.

In 1999, he released Expresión, which reinforced his international fame. The album included the hit song "Que alguien me diga", written by Om Alfanno, which was at the top of Billboard's latin chart for various weeks. The album also included the song Fulana, unlike his well known salsa, demonstrating his wide range of interests and ability. The album was selected as one of the 20 best recordings of the year by the National Foundation Popular Culture of Puerto Rico.

Blues / Jazz