Albita Rodríguez
Encyclopedia
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning Cuban-American singer, producer and composer.
Albita was born in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Her parents were well-known Cuban folk music singers, which ensured Albita's exposure to the world of Cuban country music from her early years.
Working professionally since her teen years, by the late eighties she had attained some level of recognition among national interpreters of Cuban folk music.
In 1988, her first album, Habrá Música Guajira (There Will Be Guajira
Guajira (music)
Guajira is a musical form which evokes a rural ambience in its texts, instrumentation and style.In the years around 1900 a style of guajira emerged in association with Cuban music theater, especially as composed by Jorge Anckermann.This genre had some similarity to the criolla and, to a lesser...
Music), was released. In 1990, work commitments took her to Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and from there she defected to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on April 15, 1993, making the southern city of Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
her place of permanent residence.
Albita spent some time performing at a Spanish food restaurant in Miami, where she got the attention of celebrities like Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Madonna, Elton John,...
, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Sly Stalone, Paco de Lucia
Paco de Lucía
Paco de Lucía, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez , is a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist and composer. He is considered by many to be one of the finest guitarists in the world and the greatest guitarist of the flamenco genre...
, Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, among others that soon became her fans.
In 1994 she was signed by Emilio Estefan
Emilio Estefan
Emilio Estefan, Jr. is a Cuban-American of Lebanese ancestry who is a musician and producer. Estefan's first taste of celebrity came as a member of the Miami Sound Machine, but he is also recognized as the producer of many famous singers. He is the husband of singer Gloria Estefan...
's Crescent Moon label and her first single in the U.S., "Qué Manera de Quererte" ("What a Way of Loving You"), was released. In 1995, her album No Se Parece a Nada (Like Nothing Else) saw daylight.
Her career in the U.S. has produced success. She travels extensively, performing in such places as Australia, all Europe, Malaysia, Africa and of course all of Latin America.
She has shared the stage with Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
, Willy Chirino
Willy Chirino
Willy Chirino, born April 5, 1947 in Consolación del Sur, Pinar del Río, Cuba, is an entertainer and singer in the salsa style.-Early Family Life:...
, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
, Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...
, Juan Luis Guerra
Juan Luis Guerra
Juan Luis Guerra is a singer, songwriter and producer from the Dominican Republic who has sold over 30 million records, and won numerous awards including 12 Latin Grammy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Latin Billboard Music Awards...
, Daniela Mercury
Daniela Mercury
Daniela Mercury , is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Brazilian axé, samba-reggae and MPB singer, songwriter and record producer. Since her breakthrough, Mercury has become one of the best known Brazilian female singers, selling over 20 million albums worldwide...
, Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba , nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award winning South African singer and civil rights activist....
, Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval is a jazz trumpeter and pianist. He was born in Artemisa, in the newest renamed Artemisa Province, Cuba....
, Paquito D’Rivera and Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
.
She has been invited to perform four Presidential functions,including two inaugurations. In 2004 she founded her own label "Angel's Dawn Records" under which she produced and launched her CD "Albita LLegó" that won her two Grammys in the category of Best Contemporary Tropical Album. Her music has also been featured in the soundtrack of several American and foreign films.
In 2005, Albita was cast for a major role in the Broadway produced Musical play “The Mambo Kings”, where she worked for six months to rave reviews.
Albita sings the theme song "La Mega Se Pega" for Mega TV, a Miami based TV station where she also hosts her own show "La Descarga con Albita" ("Jam Session with Albita").She had many hit singles.
Albums
- Habrá Música Guajira (There Will Be Guajira Music) (1988)
- Cantare (1992)
- Si se da la siembra (1991)
- No Se Parece a Nada (Unlike Anything Else) (1995)
- Dicen Que (They Say That) (1996)
- Una Mujer Como Yo (A Woman Like Me) (1997)
- Son (Son) (2000)
- Hecho a Mano (Handmade) (2002)
- Albita Llegó (Albita Is Here) (2004)
- Albita Live (2006)
- Mis Tacones (2009)