by the El Reportero’s news services
Jessica Sánchez
“Jessica Sánchez is legit,” announced “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson after the 16-year-old singer of Mexican-Filipino decent sang an impressive rendition of the late Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”.
With just a bit of direction from R&B superstar Mary J. Blige and music producer Jimmy Iovine of Interscope-Geffen-A&M, the little Latino with a big voice brought down the entire crowd to their feet in a standing ovation.
Jackson went on to say, “This is one of the hardest songs in the world to sing. You, not only the best vocals of the night, I think you are one of the best singers in this whole competition. Oh my god. This is what it’s really all about. Finding the best talent in America … this is one of the best talents in the whole country.”
Jessica was first seen on television in the first season of “America’s Got Talent” at the age of 11, and though she didn’t win that competition, she certainly has the chance to be this year’s winner of American Idol.
Natti Natasha finds her place among the men of reggaeton
Natti Natasha credits musical godfather Don Omar and his record label for helping her carve out a niche in the traditionally male-dominated genre of reggaeton.
The 25-year-old Dominican said the chance to be part of the Orfanato Music Group came two years ago, when Don Omar walked into the New York studio where she had just recorded a song with producer Link-On.
After listening to the track, the reggaeton star telephoned Natti and asked her to come back to the studio, where he greeted her warmly and praised her work with Link-On.
Image of Jennifer Lopez single and Pitbull’s “Dance Again”
The image for the Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull song “Dance Again” has been released, and no surprise here, J.Lo is looking sexy.
The American Idol judge has said the song itself would be released on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show Friday, March 30, with the video being premiered on Thursday, April 5—the same day the song with be available to purchase on iTunes.
What do you think? Can Jenny from the block pull out another hit?
In other J.Lo news, her talent competition show with ex-husband Marc Anthony, Q’Viva: The Chosen, has been moved from Fox’s primetime slot on Saturdays to 11 p.m. and the network is trimming the show from 2 hours down to 90 minutes. In its primetime slot, Fox is putting in better-performing COPS. Though Q’Viva performed well on Univision, it failed to capture an English-speaking audience on Fox.
Colombian rock Band Dante makes its mark on the U.S. music scene
The Colombian rock band Dante began its international tour thanks to “The Rorschach Manifesto” disc they were able to record with ace producer Sylvia Massy.
Their trip in the world of rock and roll began when singer Kami Rayne, guitarists Alexx and Tan! and bass player Gonzo launched the band three years ago in Bogota. What they never imagined was that their sound “between old and modern,” and with metaphorical subjects always sung in English, would win Massy’s attention on Myspace.
“We told her thank you. It’s a great honor that you want us to record with you but we don’t have the money to finance a disc with you,” Rayne told Efe during an interview in Miami.
Stars with whom Massy has worked producing discs include Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Aerosmith, Paula Abdul and Julio Iglesias.
But Massy “wasn’t looking for us for our money” and so Dante packed their suitcases and flew to California, where the producer’s Radiostar studios recorded the disc that debuted late last month. “We think that English for what we do as a band sounds better musically,” Alexx said, joking that Spanish is a language “too romantic and beautiful to wreck with rock and roll.”
