Hermán Olivera
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Herman Olivera is a salsa singer from Newark, New Jersey. Born to Puerto Rican parents, he began his career in New York City where he earned his reputation as a “sonero,” that is, an expert in the demanding art of lyric extemporization.
In a genre overrun by pop-oriented singers, Herman’s musicality and mastery in this regard garnered him the sobriquet of “El Sonero del Siglo XXI” (“Sonero of the 21st Century”). Today Herman counts among the most in-demand and hardworking salsa singers around. His voice literally permeates the sound of hard-hitting salsa from the 1980s to the present—with album credits with the likes of Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri, among many others—where he has contributed to the continued vitality and development of the sonero tradition.