Yolandita Monge

By Eliezer Rodríguez and Teddy Rodríguez

Yolandita Monge during the promotion of the album Sexto Sentido (2002).

Yolandita Monge (born September 16, 1955) is an international singer and actress from Puerto Rico, who is also known as "Puerto Rico's most glamorous and controversial diva". Monge is also known by the international press, Puerto Rico's Shining Star.

Monge started out by winning a radio contest in 1966 (at the age of nine). Later on, she made her tv debut on Luis Vigoreaux's show, Luis Vigoreaux Presenta. She had a regular section in that show. In 1970, she signed with record label Patty Records, which released her first album, named Puerto Rico's Poignant...Powerful...Incomparable:Yolandita Monge.

It was her cover of Italian hit, Vida, that made her an international star after she released her first album. At that young age, Yolandita would perform with legendary Argentinian singer Libertad Lamarque and then sing at the Festival De La Cancion Nueva York (New York Song Festival). Soon, she found another job on tv, this time on Tommy Muniz's show, El Show Del Mediodia.

She followed up with some other hits in Puerto Rico, but then she went to live in Mexico, where she signed with TECA records and had hits such as Vete de Aqui (Get Out Of Here), Por qué Papá? (Why, Dad?) and La Voz Del Silencio (The Voice of Silence).

1975 was a big year for Monge because she released a song named Cierra Los Ojos (Close Your Eyes), which earned her wild fame in such South American countries as Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, and Argentina.

Soon after, she would be signed by Coco Records of New York, and her career kept going on a steady rise internationally. She sang at the prestigious Carnegie Hall and was backed up by her artistic godmother, Argentinian famous singer and actress, Libertad Lamarque. By 1982, international label CBS International, Julio Iglesias' label, signed her up into their line-up. She then released another album with many top hits and in 1983, she won the prestigious Buga Festival, in Buga, Colombia with a song that she wrote her self call "Si" (Yes).

Yolandita Monge released her first full-legnth album Puerto Rico's Piognant... Powerful... Incomparable at the early age of nine.

Monge went into a stride in the middle 1980s, when she released what is possibly her greatest album ever: Luz de Luna (Moonlight). This album included her classics Te Veo Pasar (I See You Walk By), Señor Del Pasado (Man From The Past), and El Poder Del Amor, which was a cover of an English hit by the name of The Power of Love (the one that Céline Dion covered in English years later). With that album and CD, she became the first Puerto Rican female singer to earn a golden record during the decade of the 1980s.

Yolandita's album Laberinto de Amor earned her a Grammy nomination in the Best Latin Pop artist category. With this nomination she became the first Puerto Rican female singer to be nominated to the Grammy Music Awards.The album also went gold in many countries including the US.

She came back with the production of Laberinto de Amor (Labyrinth of Love), which earned her another gold album and later went platinum. In this album, she sang the best Spanish version of "On My Own" (Solo Yo) that is one of the most famous songs from the Broadway musical "Les Miserables".

In 1988, she returned to the platinum level with her album, Vivencias (Anecdotes). Yolandita considers this album her best album ever and many fans and non-fans agree with her. This album included such songs as: Acariciame (Caress Me) and Este Amor Que Hay Que Callar (This Love That we Must Keep as a Secret). She became the first Puerto Rican singer to earn a golden record, a platinum record and a doble platinum.

The album Limited Edition was the first album released by a latino artist with re-mixed material.

After that, she released Portfolio, with the help of famous singer Ricardo Montaner. With Portfolio, she was able to sing at Puerto Rico's Centro de Bellas Artes, and at the Madison Square Garden. Yolandita was claimed by the prestigious America's music magazine "Billboard" in 1985 as "The best-selling latin artist of the year" due to being the first Puerto Rican female artist to sell millions of records. She also was claimed by the international music press as "The most important latin singer of the decade" (1980-1990). NBC traveled all the way to Puerto Rico to interview Yolandita because they consider her the most important latin artist and she was compared with Madonna. Earning the number one place of Best Selling Artist for more than 15 years, from 1981-1996. She established the records at the Performing Arts of Puerto Rico (Bellas Artes), becoming the bigest singer selling out all the concerts, up to 12 concerts of the same tour in 1992. Also in 1992, Yolandita was invited by Spanish Tenor, Plácido Domingo, to be part of the Popular Opera of Spain artist "Goya" on the record of a special cd. In 1994, she was recognized by the Guinness World Book of Records as becoming the first singer to perform 3 concerts in 3 different cities (Mayaguez, Ponce and San Juan) - all in the same day.

Monge has been nominated for the Grammy in the Latino division and she was honored in 1996 by the Puerto Rican Senate for her long career as a singer and actress. She also earned two of the prestigious awards, Premios Lo Nuestro and Premios Tu Musica. In 1996, she participated in the annual music videos produced by Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, which usually includes only the most important and international singers the island has to offer. In the 1980's, for 2 consecutive years, she won the award as "Best Female Singer" competing with great female singers such as Lunna, Lourdes Robles, Ednita Nazario, Sophy, Carmita Jímenez, and many others.

Yolandita has also acted in more then eleven Spanish soap operas and theatre plays. Among the telenovelas, she acted in: La Mentira (The Lie), Poquita Cosa (Small Thing), Escandalo (where she acted alongside Andres Garcia, Iris Chacon and Charytin Goyco), and Ave de Paso (Fly by Bird), where she played the main role. She also acted in the Colombian mega hit soap opera, "La Viuda de Blanco". From 1996-1997, this soap opera was translated in more than 32 languages. She also earned international recognition as soprano, Maria Callas, in the play "Master Class" and made the first version in Spanish of "Clase Maestra" in 2003, for the Latin community in the United States. In 1994, she became the first Puerto Rican female to model for Pepe Jeans London and also for Diet Pepsi.

Her most recent album Sexto Sentido was produced by the Grammy-nominated Kike Santander, and also has the collaboration of her daughter, the singer Noelia.

Monge took a long lay-off from her career in the mid 1990s, but she hasn't been afar from controversy. After Pilar Montenegro covered one of her hits, Monge expressed her displeasure at Montenegro for singing one of her songs.

It was said that Yolandita had supposed rivalry with Ednita Nazario, which was well published and talked about in the press and gossip magazines, such as Vea. However, on the tv program "Al Grano con Servigon" in 1997,Yolandita expressed that she has no rivalry with Nazario. She said: "Ednita and I have known each other since we where kids. I used to stay at her house and met her parents, and she used to stay at my house as well. I respect her as an artist and I also respect all the other artists because I am an admirer of the arts."

During June 2003, Yolandita was part of a line of witnesses in a domestic violence trial with actor and model Osvaldo Rios as defendant. Her testimony was key for the prosecution as she had witnessed the aftermath of an encounter in the face of Osvaldo's girlfriend. Also in 2004 she conducted her TV Show for Telemundo called "De Mujeres". The show lasted 8 months, during which time she performed comedy and interviewed a lot of famous local and international artists. She sang duets with international singers like: Lucesita Benitez, Victor Manuelle, Chucho, Gilbertito Santa Rosa, India, Gisselle, Lissette Alvarez, Manny Manuel, Dagmar, Andy Montanez, Danny Rivera, and many more.

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