Myriam Raquel Hernández Navarro (born 2 May 1967) is a Chilean singer, songwriter and television presenter. She has dabbled mainly in romantic ballad, which is why she is sometimes nicknamed "La baladista de América" ("America's balladeer"), although she has also fused her style with other genres such as electronics or hip-hop.
She began her musical career in the late 1980s with her album Myriam Hernández and the single "El hombre que yo amo" that reached No. 10 on Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks in 1989, while her first album reached No. 4 on Billboard's Latin Pop Songs the same year. She has released nine studio albums, two live albums, five compilation albums, two DVDs and 39 singles, including duets with various artists from the Ibero-American music scene such as Marco Antonio Solís, Cristian Castro or Gilberto Santa Rosa.
She has sold more than 6 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling Chilean music artist of all time. Thirteen of her singles have entered Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart, with "Peligroso amor" and "Te pareces tanto a él" reaching number one, while her album Dos reached the same position on the Latin Pop Albums chart. On the Latin Pop Songs chart, "Huele a Peligro" and "Ese hombre" also reached number one.
In 2011, she was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album for her album Seducción and in 2015 she received the President's Merit Award from the Latin Recording Academy; in the same year she entered the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2022, she received the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, being the first female artist from her country to receive it.
She has also ventured into hosting and participating in various television programs in Chile, including sporadic participation as an actress. She co-animated the Viña del Mar International Song Festival between 2002 and 2006, while she has performed as an invited artist five times, receiving the highest awards.
Biography
Prior to beginning a musical career, she made some television appearances on a handful of TV shows, including "Generación joven" —at age 11— and "La Pandilla", both part of Televisión Nacional de Chile; also, she performed a small role in the soap opera "De cara al mañana", where she appeared in five episodes.
In 1982, as a solo artist, she entered into the "Ranking Juvenil" (Juvenile Ranking) of Canal 13's "Sábados Gigantes" program, hosted by Don Francisco. At 18 she was named Artista Revelación (Best New Artist) by the Chilean press before having even recorded a single album.
In October 1988, Hernández released her first album under record label EMI entitled "Myriam Hernández". In Chile the record got her the Disco de Oro, and would later go quadruple platinum in – among other countries – the United States, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Panama. Thus began her international career. Two tracks on this album, "Ay Amor" (Oh My Love) and "El Hombre que Yo Amo" (The Man I Love), spent months at the top of music charts in Latin America and the U.S. In February 1989 she was a guest artist and jury member at the Festival de Viña del Mar.
In 1989, the Asociación de Periodistas de Espectáculos de Chile awarded Hernández the APES award for Best Female Performer and her album received the Mejor Producción Discográfica (Best Record) award. In July 1989, Billboard's Hot Latin scored her first success with "El Hombre que Yo Amo," and soon after in December her album was among the 10 best selling albums in the Latin world.
In Los Angeles in April 1989, Hernández began recording a second album, produced by Humberto Gatica, and on which collaborated David Foster, Jason Scheff (Chicago Group) and Lucho Gatica as executive producer. Noteworthy songs included "Te Pareces Tanto a Él" (You Look so much like Him), "Tonto" (Fool), "Mío" (Mine), "Peligroso Amor" (Dangerous Love), and "Herida" (Hurt, composed by Myriam Hernández). The album remained on the Billboard charts from May 1990 to July 1991, with "Peligroso Amor" occupying the No. 1 spot for several weeks, followed by "Te Pareces Tanto a Él" and "Herida." This album held the No. 1 spot for Top Latin Albums for a record 18 consecutive weeks. "Peligroso Amor," whose video, produced by Luis de Lllano (Televisa-Mexico), was nominated for Billboard magazine's Best Latin Video.