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Gerardo is the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of the male given name Gerard. It may refer to:

• Gerardo Bonilla, Puerto Rican-born professional race car driver
• Gerardo Carrera Piñera, Spanish professional footballer, usually simply Gerardo
• Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet
• Gerardo Greco, Italian journalist
• Gerardo Herrero, Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer
• Gerardo de León, Filipino actor and film director
• Gerardo Machado, President of Cuba
• Gerardo Martino, retired Argentine footballer and current manager of the Paraguay national football team
• Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, Uruguayan musician, composer and journalist
• Gerardo Mejía, Ecuadorian-born musician, known as Gerardo
• Gerardo Miranda, retired Spanish footballer defender, usually simply Gerardo
• Gerardo Roxas, Filipino senator
• Gerardo Sofovich, Argentine businessman
• Gerardo Torrado, Mexican footballer

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

Gerardo Mejía (born April 16, 1965^[1]), better known as simply Gerardo, is a Latin rapper and singer who later became a recording industry executive. Born in Guayaquil, Ecuador,^[2] he has based his career in Los Angeles, California since his family moved to Glendale, California, when he was 12 years old. He became known for his bandana, skintight jeans and shirtless torso. He sometimes refers to himself as the "Latin Elvis" or the "Latin Frank Sinatra".^[3]

As a performer[link]

Gerardo's first major appearance in show business was as Ricky in the 1987 feature film Can't Buy Me Love.^[2] He was later cast as the character Bird in the 1988 film Colors, about South Central Los Angeles gang violence. This was also the first time his dance skills were showcased, in one of the party scenes; however, he did not sing at any point in the film.

His hit single "Rico Suave" appeared on his 1991 debut album, Mo' Ritmo. The album peaked at #36 on the Billboard 200 chart in June 1991; the single had peaked at #7 in April. This song, as well as some others of Gerardo's, include verses with lines in both English and Spanish. Although his following single "We Want the Funk" (a semi-remake of Parliament's "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker") peaked at #16,^[4] the popularity of "Rico Suave" has made Gerardo known as a one-hit wonder via sources including MTV, VH1,^[5] Synthesis^[6] and even Gerardo himself.^[5]

Recent times[link]

Now an A&R executive at Interscope Records, Gerardo was responsible for bringing Enrique Iglesias to the attention of Interscope Label Executives in early 1999. He also signed rapper Bubba Sparxxx.^[3]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

• "Rico Suave" (1990)
• "We Want the Funk" (1991)
• "When the Lights Go Out" (1991)
• "Love" (1992)
• "Maria Elisa" (1994)^[7]
• "Ae-Ah" (The Outhere Brothers featuring Ricardo) (1998)
• "Americana" (2004)

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site
• Gerardo Mejia at the Internet Movie Database
• (Spanish) Gerardo Mejía respondió preguntas de los lectores Article by El Universo
• Interview
• AKMusic Productions/Andy Kotz

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Maria Elisa Domingues, commonly referred to as Maria Elisa (born in Lisbon, Portugal on June 4, 1950) is a journalist and television presenter.^[1]

Early years[link]

Maria Elisa was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1990. After attending the Medical School of the University of Lisbon for two years and the Drama School for another two (1967–1972), she trained as a professional journalist at the Centre de Formation des Journalistes, in Paris (1974–1977).

Career[link]

As a journalist with RTP, the Portuguese Public Television, she was the author and hostess of her own political and cultural talk shows since 1977. She received and interviewed most of the Presidents, Prime Ministers and other politicians, writers, painters and many other relevant cultural Portuguese personalities as well as business men and union leaders, amongst many others. She was the hostess of The Greatest Portuguese, a BBC format (October 2006 to March 2007).

In her live Maria Elisa Domingues had other professional experiences; she was the Press Counsellor to Prime Minister Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo (1979/1980); Program Director of RTP^[2] (1980–1983 and 1998–1999); Press Counsellor with the Portuguese Embassy in Madrid (1986–1987); Director of Communication of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1995–1998) and Cultural Counsellor with the Portuguese Embassy in London (2004–2006).

Maria Elisa nowadays is the President of Associação dos Jornalistas Europeus (the Portuguese association of European Journalists) and also a regular contributor to some of Portugal's largest newspapers and news magazines, such as Diário de Notícias, Público, Expresso and Visão.

Honours and decorations[link]

She received the Ordem do Mérito from President Mário Soares in 1987.

Personal life[link]

In January 2001, Maria Elisa was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. She is a member of Myos- Associação Nacional Contra a Fibromialgia e Síndrome de Fadiga Crónica (Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue National Association).

References[link]