Gilberto Santa Rosa Biography

Gilberto Santa Rosa was born in 1962 in Puerto Rico, and fell in love with salsa and bolero music when he was a young child. As a teenager, he began performing, and in the mid 1970’s worked as a backup singer before becoming a member of La Grande Orchestra, serving as the group’s lead singer. Gilberto’s years with La Grande helped to hone his vocal skills and prepare him for work with other orchestras. The experience also helped him to fully develop his improvisational style of salsa which became his trademark.

By the 1980’s, Santa Rosa was ready to form his own band and begin recording, bringing audiences a number of hits during this decade, including: “Good Vibration,” “Punto de Vista,” “De Amor y Salsa,” “Perspectiva,” and “Vivir Sin Ella.”

The success of these works led to Gilberto’s rise as a superstar of the genre, becoming the first tropical salsa singer to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall. In the 1990’s, Gilberto Santa Rosa continued to release multiple successful albums, including: Punto de Vista (1990), Perspectiva (1991), A Dos Tiempos de un Tiempo (1992), Nace Aqui (1993), Esencia (1996), De Corazon (1997), and Expresion (1999.)

In the new millennium, Gilberto Santa Rosa has continued to release albums nearly every year, and he scored a major hit with the album Viceversa, released in 2002, which reached the top of the Latin charts in the United States. In recent years, Santa Rosa has performed at the Center of the Performing Arts in Puerto Rico, released a live album alongside his protégé and friend, Victor Manuelle (Dos Soneros, Una Historia; 2005), and participated in the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City in 2008. Additional tours have brought Gilberto to Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Spain, and Mexico.  

Gilberto Santa Rosa continues to perform, record, and tour regularly. He most recently released the album Gilberto Santa Rosa in 2012, and is currently preparing for future performances.