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Our Colombian PeopleCarlos Vives  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmqdnHDSJt4Carlos Vives was born in August 7, 1961 in Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia,
where he spent his first 12 years of life. At that age, he and his family moved
to Bogotá
in search of a better life. They lived with Diego Martinez and his family.
There he acquired a taste for rock, and started playing in bars and cafés in
the city, but never forgot his In 1989,
he was offered an acting job in Puerto Rico,
and upon moving, he took a break in his music career. There, he is remembered
for his leading roles in the soaps La Otra and Aventurera. There he married Herlinda Gómez, his second wife (they are now
divorced). Upon his return to In 1993, he released his "Clásicos de la Provincia", which became
a timeless classic in Colombian and Latin American music, projecting Vallenato
to the continental and worldwide scenario. He followed his success with the not-as-successful but equally high quality
releases "La Tierra del Olvido" (1995), "Tengo Fe" (1997),
"El Amor de mi Tierra" (1999), "Déjame Entrar" (2001) and
"El Rock de mi Pueblo" (2004), which has the largest fusion component
of all his albums. He's now in a relationship with a Chemical Engineer and former Miss Colombia
Claudia Elena Vásquez and has 2 children
from his marriage with Herlinda Gómez. He spends his time between Miami and Source www.wikipedia.com Juan Pablo Montoya  Juan Pablo Montoya (born September 20, 1975) is a successful racing driver from Colombia who drove in Formula One from 2001 to 2006. He will soon become a NASCAR driver with Chip Ganassi Racing. He was born in Bogotá where he was taught the techniques of karting from an early age by his father Pablo, an architect and motorsport enthusiast. He has enjoyed great success, most famously in top open wheel racing series. The highlights of his career include an International F3000 title, a world title in the CART FedEx Championship Series, and race victories in the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix, the blue ribbon events of the Indy Racing League and Formula 1 respectively. Montoya began racing karts in 1981 at the early age of six, and by
age nine he won the Children's National Kart Championship. In 1986, he won the
junior division of the National Championship. For the next three years, he won
many local and national titles in the Kart Komet Division. Montoya capped off
his karting career by winning the Kart Junior Championships in 1990 and 1991. Montoya moved to the Copa Formula Renault Series in 1992. The same year, he also participated in a U.S. series operated by Skip Barber. 1993 saw Montoya switch to the Swift GTI Championship, a series he dominated by winning seven of eight races. The following year, 1994, was a very busy year for the 19-year-old Colombian, as it saw him race in three separate series: the Sudam 125 Karting, USA Barber Saab, and Formula N in Mexico (a series in which he won the title). As his success continued year after year, Montoya came to be known for his uncanny ability to win pole positions (as well as races), in some cases taking 80% of a season's poles. For the next three years, Montoya raced in various divisions, continually progressing upward. He raced in the 1995 British Formula Vauxhall Championship, and in the 1996 British Formula 3, as well as taking part in events in Zandvoort, Netherlands and at Silverstone. For more Juan Pablo Montoya, click here Orlando Ayala  Senior Vice President, Emergin segments market development group, Microsoft Corp. Senior vice-president Orlando Ayala heads the Emerging Segments Market Development Group at Microsoft. This group is charged with spearheading efforts to ensure that Microsoft makes a real, positive difference to people and Governments all around the world as digital inclusion in underserved communities, both in emerging nations and developed countries, becomes an increasing fundamental for economic success in the global economy. Microsoft is committed to finding ways to drop the “barrier of entry” in usability and affordability to meet the unique needs of this new set of customers, both in consumer and small business scenarios, and Ayala’s group works closely with other Microsoft teams to make this a reality. Born in Colombia, South America, Ayala gained a bachelor’s degree in management information systems before joining NCR in 1981, where he held international assignments, including sales manager for Mexico, ultimately becoming product and sales manager for Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. He joined Microsoft in 1991 as the senior director of the Latin America region, growing the region from 4 to 9 subsidiaries with a 90% revenue increase over 4 years. Intercontinental revenue similarly doubled to over $1 billion when he took on the role of senior vice president of that region. During this period, Ayala opened no fewer than 33 Microsoft subsidiaries around the world, working with each to establish local needs, goals and presence. Roles followed as the senior vice-president for the South Pacific and Americas region (SPAR) and Group Vice-President of the worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services group. In this latter role, he led the world-wide strategies, policies and programs that integrate the activities of Microsoft’s diverse sales and service partners with the needs of Microsoft customers. In his last role, as the senior vice-president of the Small, Medium Services and Partner group (SMS&P), he led Microsoft’s strategic focus on the rapidly-growing market of small and medium businesses, as well as the extensive channel of sales and services partners. Simultaneously, he agreed to take on a unique dual role in Microsoft by serving as the Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft Dynamics, where has was responsible for driving a consistent marketing and services strategy for Microsoft’s then-nascent business solutions division. His latest appointment continues his tradition of serving in different roles for which he has a strong personal passion. He is committed to driving innovative partnerships between Microsoft, Governments, NGO’s and individuals to improve access to technology and education that will offer new ways for individuals, communities and entire countries to realize their potential in the coming years. Source: www.microsoft.com Gabriel Garcia Marquez
 Gabriel García Márquez
was born in 1928 in the small town of Aracataca, situated in a
tropical region of northern Colombia, between the mountains and
the Caribbean Sea. He grew up with his maternal grandparent - his
grandfather was a pensioned colonel from the civil war at the
beginning of the century. He went to a Jesuit college and began
to read law, but his studies were soon broken off for his work as
a journalist. In 1954 he was sent to Rome* on
an assignment for his newspaper, and since then he has mostly
lived abroad - in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Mexico - in a
more or less compulsory exile. Besides his large output of
fiction he has written screenplays and has continued to work as a
journalist. Bibliography Leaf Storm, and Other Stories. (La hojarasca. 1955) Transl.
by G. Rabassa. Shakira  Shakira was born in Barranquilla, Colombia to a Colombian mother, Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado and an American born father of Lebanese descent, William Mebarak Chadid. Shakira, means "grateful" in Arabic, is named after her grandmother. She was one of seven siblings, one of whom is her road manager. Shakira began writing and composing music at the age of eight. One of her first songs was called "Tus Gafas Oscuras" (Your Dark Glasses), which was about her father's grief over his son who had died in a car accident. At the age of ten, Shakira tried out for her school choir, but she was not taken because her voice was "too strong." Between the ages of ten to thirteen, Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla, and gained some recognition in the area. It was around this time that she met local theater producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with Shakira and as a result attempted to help her career. During a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, Ariza convinced Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas to hold an audition for Shakira in a motel lobby. Vargas held Shakira in good regards and returned to the Sony office and gave the cassette to a song and artist director. However, the director was not overly excited and thought Shakira was somewhat of "a lost cause". Vargas, not daunted, was still convinced that Shakira had talent, and set up an audition in Bogotá. He arranged for Sony Colombia executives to arrive at the audition, with the idea of surprising them with Shakira's performance. She performed three songs for the executives and impressed them enough for her to be subsequently signed to record three albums. Magia (Magic) was Shakira's debut album, recorded with Sony Colombia in 1991, when she was 15. The album did not fare well commercially, selling less than one thousand copies. After Magia, Shakira released Peligro (Danger) in 1993. The album was better received than Magia, but Shakira decided to take a hiatus from recording so that she could graduate from high school. For more information, visit shakira's official website www.shakira.com
Juanes  Juanes, (born August 9, 1972), born Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez, is a Colombian rock singer-songwriter-guitarist born in Medellín.
When he was younger, his father started calling him Juanes, rather than
Juan, a contraction of his two first names Juan and Esteban. As his
friends grew to know him by this name, he chose to keep it for his
musical career, which started when he, Andrés García, Fernando "Toby" Tobón and José David Lopera, formed the rock band Ekhymosis.
His politically-minded solo debut Fijate Bien ("Take a good look") (2000) after Ekhymosis disbanded, earned him three Latin Grammys: Best New Artist, Best Rock Solo Vocal Album and Best Rock Song. The follow-up, Un Día Normal ("A Normal Day") produced by Gustavo Santaolalla (2002), was a platinum mega-hit in Latin America and dominated that year's Latin Grammys, where he was nominated for and won five awards including Song of the Year and Album of the Year. It featured "Fotografía" ("Photography"), a duet with Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado about the isolation between lovers. His latest album, "Mi Sangre" ("My Blood") was released in September 2004 and debuted at #1 on the Latin Billboard Charts. He recently began a year-long sabbatical during which he will compose songs and spend time with his family (wife and model Karen Martinez, daughters Luna and Paloma) in Medellin. He hopes to release his next album in September 2007. One of the new songs off his most recent album "Mi Sangre" is called "La Camisa Negra" ("The Black Shirt") and has been a huge hit. Some reports suggest that the song has recently been used as a symbol of neo-fascism in Europe, specifically Italy, when taken by a few fans to refer to Mussolini's Italian fascist organization nicknamed the "Black Shirts". However this is not true, as originally intended by Juanes himself, the song is about mourning over the end of a relationship, and the black shirt is a sign of mourning or bad feelings. In the lyrics, he sings, "Respiré de ese humo amargo de tu adiós y desde que tu te fuiste yo solo tengo la camisa negra". This translates to "I breathed that bitter smoke of your goodbye and since you left I just have the black shirt". In the 2005 Latin Grammys, Juanes won three additional awards to his nine previous Grammy awards. He took the award for Best Rock Song for Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor ("I'm Worth Nothing Without Your Love"), Best Rock Solo Album for Mi Sangre and Best Music Video for Volverte a Ver ("To See You Again"). Juanes, who expresses both political and romantic themes in his songs, was named by Time Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people. He has also been honored by Adopt-A-Minefield for his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for United for Colombia, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about the impact of land mines within Colombia. He also performed at the 2005 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which took place just a few months before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city. On December 9, 2005, Juanes was the top musical act of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany Final Draw evening, performing "La Camisa Negra", which is his most successful song in Europe. Juanes is currently completing his world wide "Mi Sangre" tour. Juanes has sold an estimated 4.8 million records worldwide, becoming one of the few Colombians who have sold over 1 million records. Carlos Vives, was the first Colombian male artist selling more than a million records, and has sold around 2 million records (Shakira is the highest selling Colombian artist of all time; she has currently sold an estimated 46 million albums worldwide). On April 19 2006, Juanes performed before the European Parliament, as part of a campaign to increase awareness against the use of land mines around world, including in his native Colombia. He is reportedly the first musician to perfom in the Parliament's auditorium (which is the meeting auditorium, not a performance auditorium). On July 19 2006, the French Culture Minister, Renaud Donnedie, awarded Juanes with the highest cultural honor given by France, L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, declaring him "Knight in the order of Arts and Letters". source: www.Wikipedia.com
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