Music of Puerto Rico - Artists: Gisselle

Gisselle - Merengue

Gisselle Ortiz Cáceres was born in New York City on 28 March 1969 of Puerto Rican parents. She began her artistic career at a very early age.

By the time she was 15 years old, Gisselle was dancing at the Academy of Ita Medina. Her passion for dancing soon brought her various dancing opportunities at the Centro de Bellas Artes in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her performances in the musical "El diluvio que viene" and with Menudo opened the door to high-profile spectacular events, whetted her artistic appetite, and paved the way for her future career.

Dancing also brought opportunities in television to Gisselle, in Puerto Rican programs such as "Super sábados" and "El show de las 12" where she experimented with a different facet of the art.

Despite her successes as a danseuse, she leaned toward music. Her first stage experiences was as a backup singer for an all female merengue group called Kaviar, with which she distinguished herself by her talent and versatility. She worked with the group for a year and a half in concerts throughout Puerto Rico and enjoyed the public limelight.

The next stage in her musical career was two years singing with a group called "Punto G", starting in 1991. With that group, she found great success singing ballads in concerts in Puerto Rico and Miami. Her clear voice and charisma won the praise of Puerto Rican public, and signed on with the BMG record label.

Her first recording was produced in 1995 and included such hits as "Perfume de mujer en tu camisa" and "Pesadilla". The album went gold and platinum and she won the Paoli, Farándula and Tu Música awards as female soloist.

A year later, Gisselle came out with her second release: A Que Vuelve with great success. Reafirming herself as one of the top merengue singers.

Her next release, Quiero Estar Contigo, continued her string of triumphs in the music world. Reaching the top of the Billboard Latin Chart, the release was a great success and included a duet with Dominican artist Sergio Vargas. This merengue hit added that genre to her musical repertoire and set the stage for her next album, Juntos, again collaborating with Sergio Vargas. "Juntos" won wide acclaim and produced a concert tour with dates in Puerto Rico and Panama.

The end of the 90's saw the release of Atada received with the same acclaim as her earlier productions. This CD won her a Grammy nomination in the new merengue category that was won by her countryman Elvis Crespo In the summer of 2000, the young singer surprised everyone with her next CD, Voy a enamorarte, a compilation of ballads and bachatas that included the hit song "Júrame" and the title song, partial MP3 audio clip Voy a Enamorarte.

Her album, 8 was released in September, 2001 and included a mix of her trademark merengues together with ballads and mixed reviews. The CD included the hit single ballad "Voy a quitarme el anillo". Her latest album, En Alma, Cuerpo y Corazon was released in 2002.