Billy Pontoni, (born 1954) or Guillermo García, joined the
Pedro Morales Pino conservatory in his hometown
Cartago, Colombia as a child. Then he became one of the artists from the Youths Club in
Radio Cartago, in which he made his first appearances as a singer. In 1966 he arrived to
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
searching for an opportunity. There he became a regular performer at the
Club del Clan TV Show, where his name was changed to Billy. At 14 he signed a contract with the
Grill El Caracol Rojo as lead vocalist.
After that he started working with the Tropibomba Orchestra. In early 1971 he toured the Americas, with Colombian folk singer
Luis Ariel Rey. The same year he started working for the "Miramar" club. There he met
Pacheco, a famous Colombian TV show host. Billy suggested to Pacheco using the last name Pontoni in honor of singer Rocky Pontoni and he agreed. Pacheco then introduced him as local idol Billy Pontoni at several TV shows.
In 1978 the singer was selected by
RCN to represent
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
in the
seventh edition of the
OTI Festival, which was held in
Santiago, Chile. Although his song "joven" (Young) ended second to last, his career went on successfully.
Because of the surprising reception, CBS (now known as
Sony Music) signed him as an exclusive artist. Since then he has released many hits in several musical styles: ''Alguien cantó una canción'', ''Dime qué pasó'', ''Por qué ahora'', ''Borra'', ''Luna Roja'', ''I like mena'', ''Angélica'', ''retarda'', ''Cómo hacerle entender que la amo'', ''Tu Complemento'' and many more.
Pontoni has gotten many gold records and international prizes. He has shared the stage with many people such as
Julio Iglesias,
Camilo Sesto,
Raphael,
Joan Manuel Serrat, and
Daniel Santos.
[Farandula Criolla](_blank)
Billy Pontoni en la Media Torta el 27 de septiembre, (Spanish) Carolina Guevara Pabon, 25 September 200
(Google translation)
/ref>
After a break of seven years,
¡Vuelve Billy Pontoni!, Calos Solano, el 19 de junio de 2008 (Spanis
/ref> Billy Pontoni released his latest album ''Nada es igual'' in 2008 under his own music label BIP Music.
Notes
External links
Billy Pontoni Official Web Site (Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontoni, Billy
1954 births
Living people
Colombian musicians