Melina Leon (born 12 July 1970 as Yamillette Aponte Anvil in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican merengue singer and actress. From an early age she performed with several groups including The Rubi, Girls of Puerto Rico and The Cherries, with whom she appeared in several San Juan hotels. Their first recording, Mujeres Liberada, appeared in 1997 on the Tropix Music label. This was followed in 1998 with a Sony release, Con Los Pies Sobre La Tierra. By 2003 she was also performing as an actress and has received several popular awards and had several successful albums and singles on the Billboard Tropical and Latin charts. July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Merengue can mean either: A style of music originating in the Dominican Republic; see merengue (music) A related style of dance; see merengue (dance) See also meringue, a type of dessert. ... San Juan, the Spanish for Saint John, is a common toponym in parts of the world where Spanish is or was spoken: Argentina San Juan Province San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province Cuba San Juan Hill Mexico San Juan, Campeche San Juan, Chihuahua San Juan, Coahuila San Juan... A hotel is an establishment that provides lodging, usually on a short-term basis. ... Sony Corporation (Japanese katakana: ソニー) (TYO: 6758), (NYSE: SNE) is a global consumer electronics corporation based in Tokyo, Japan. ...

Musical career

Leon started singing as a girl in musical festivals and music contests. At the age of 15, she joined a group called Las Cheris (The Cherries). After that she formed a group called Ruby which released an album through Independent Musical Productions.

Tropix Music signed her as a solo artist and she released her first album Mujeres Liberadas (Liberated Women) in 1997 which reached the top 10 of the Billboard tropical charts.The title track was a top 20 track on the Latin charts.

This attracted the interest of Sony Music who released her second album Con Los Pies Sobre La Tierra produced by Eduardo Reyes which made both the Billboard Latin and Billboard tropical album charts. Me Voy De Fiesta became another sizable hit single.

Baño de Luna was another top 10 Latin album when released and also won best female merengue singer by Premios de Musica 2000. Corazon de Mujer was another top 10 Latin album which was nominated for best tropical/salsa album in the 2002 Billboard Latin Awards. A self-titled album reached the top 15 of the Billboard tropical album charts in 2003 while she has also released an album called Serie Azul Tropical.

Discography

This is a discography of Leon's charting albums on Billboard's Latin and tropical charts.

• Mujeres Liberadas (1997) #9 Tropical/Salsa
  • singles Mujeres Liberadas, Ya No Soy Buena

• Con los Pies Sobre la Tierra (1998) #5 Tropical #26 Latin
  • singles Me Voy Fiesta Hoy, Te Crucifico O Te Santifico, Vieje Al Cielo, La Persona Equivocada,

• Baño de Luna (2000) #3 Tropical #8 Latin
  • singles Baño de Luna, Cuando Una Mujer, Siento

• Corazon de Mujer (2001) #1 Tropical #7 Latin #40 Heatseeker
  • Corazon du Mujer, Que Sera de Ti, Un Hombre de Verdad

• Melina Leon (2004) #14 Tropical
  • Quiero Ser Tuya

External links

• All Music Guide Melina Leon (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781ED947A57520EFB71670E1FA5CDE2DFE62D9BA5007656392940454880C71ED59E695CCB3E57CAB7B/)
• VH1 Melina Leon article (http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/leon_melina/bio.jhtml/)
• Internet Movie Database Melina Leon article (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0508262/)