Soledad Pastorutti

Soledad "La Sole" Pastorutti (born October 12, 1980, in Arequito, Santa Fe) is an Argentine folk singer, who brought the genre to the younger generations at the end of the 20th century, and the beginning of the 21st.

She is also a film and TV actress.

Soledad is the older sister of Argentine singer Natalia Pastorutti.

Her first album, Poncho al Viento, is Sony Music's best-selling album ever in Argentina according to Alberto Caldero, Sony Music's president in the late 90s, in an interview with La Nación newspaper.

In 1995, when Pastorutti was only 15 years old, César Isella took her under his tutelage to participate in the Cosquín folklore festival.

Her performance with her sister Natalia landed her a contract with Sony Music Argentina to record and release her first album, Poncho al Viento, that very same year.

After one year singing in over 181 villages and cities in Argentina, Soledad was already popular in the whole country.

By the time her second album was released, her first album became a huge hit in Argentina.

She was so incredibly successful and popular that the media called her 'Huracan de Arequito' (Arequito's Hurricane).

In 1997 she recorded her second album, La Sole, which she also presented in several concerts throughout the country, including 10 concerts in Buenos Aires' Teatro Gran Rex.

During the year, both of her albums went to No. 1 several times.

In 1998 her success kept growing.

She performed more concerts at the Teatro Gran Rex, and accompanied the Argentina national football team for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

In Madrid, Spain, she received a distinction from Sony International for selling a million units of her first two works.

Upon her return, Sony Music Argentina recognised her as the best seller artist of the company in all the musical genres, and edited her third album A mi gente, recorded live during her concerts.

For the first time, folkloric music was getting huge airplay in radios and discos.

In 1999 she became the protagonist of the movie Edad del Sol ("age of the Sun", also an anagram of her name), and recorded her fourth album, Yo sí Quiero a mi país ("I love my country"), this time in studios in Miami under the production of Cuban musician (and husband of Gloria Estefan) Emilio Estefan.

The album opened doors to other markets in, among others, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Perú, México, the United States and Spain, in which she would embark on tour.

Edad del Sol was a huge production for Argentina's cinema standard, and Clarin reported Soledad asked for three times more than an "A-list" Argentine actor asks for a movie.

The movie, about a graduation trip, was shot in Bariloche.

The movie was not as successful as expected, with Manuelita (an animated film based on a popular children's song) overshadowing and outperforming at the box office.

The cartoon stole the film's spotlight, and was the biggest film in Argentina of the last 20 years.

Furthermore, "Edad" was not well-received or widely praised by critics.

In 2000, after an absence of two years, Soledad returned to Buenos Aires for three concerts at the iconic Luna Park.

In August, she participated in the Martigues Folklore Festival, in France, where she was met with critical acclaim.

Back in Argentina, she started recording her fifth album, released in October of that year.

Before the release of La Sole, she performed at the Barbican Centre of London during a festival of Argentine cinema and music.

Soledad also participated of the 2000 Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile, considered the most important recurring music festival in Latin America, where she received the Audience prize.

Her sixth album was recorded in 2001, produced by Alejandro Lerner and Fernando Isella, with a renovated style.

She had again concerts at the Gran Rex, and received the "Silver Torch" award at the Viña del Mar Festival.

Soledad debuted on TV in the telenovela (soap opera) Rincón de Luz in 2003.

Soledad was also announced as one of the vocal coaches for the Argentine version of the reality singing competition The Voice and, in recent years, served as a judge on Telefe's version of the singing competition program Rising Star.

Since 2008, she has hosted the popular music program Ecos de mi tierra ("echoes of my land").

Soledad has done over 2,000 different shows, many outside of Argentina, and some of great relevance, including her performances at the Martigues Folklore Festival in France; the Barbican Centre, London, England, during a festival of Argentine cinema and music; and performing fore over 20,000 people at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, in Valparaíso, Chile (where she received the Audience Prize and the Silver Torch Award), which is widely considered the most important recurring music festival in Latin America.

Each year, usually in March, the iconic "Viña del Mar" (as it is known) festival showcases the very best of South American, Latin American and international musicians; the artists and styles are highly varied, from Chilean classical and folk musicians to South American superstars such as Karol G, Maluma, María José Quintanilla, Shakira and Tini, as well as international megastars like the Backstreet Boys, Becky G, Christina Aguilera, Daddy Yankee and Ivy Queen.

Soledad has released 16 albums, including acoustic, studio and live recordings, and has been nominated for several Latin Grammy Awards.

She has recorded duets and features with top international artists, including Alejandro Sanz, Carlos Santana, Carlos Vives, Franco De Vita, Joan Manuel Serrat, Juanes, Lila Downs and Niña Pastori.

In July 2013, she performed for Pope Francis at World Youth Day, closing the event in Rio de Janeiro, the televised performance being played to more than three million people.

In 2014, Soledad took part in the album Raíz ("root"), a collaborative album with Mexican singer Lila Downs (hailing from Oaxaca) and Spanish flamenco artist Niña Pastori, and received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album and the Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year, winning the Latin Grammy for Best Folk Album.

The trio also collaborated with Santana on the track Una Noche en Nápoles for the 2014 album Corazón.