Lola Ponce

Born on June 25, 1982, in the small Argentine town of Capitán Bermúdez near Rosario, Lola Ponce emerged as both actress and singer distinguished by a powerful, intense vocal style. As the daughter of vocalist Hector Ponce, she began performing at age eight, assembling a group with her brother Alejandro and entering multiple music festivals. While still a teenager she moved into acting, securing parts in several leading Argentine soap operas. Her debut album, the English-language Inalcanzable, appeared in 2001. A promotional visit to Spain led to her casting as Esmeralda in Riccardo Cocciante’s rock opera Nôtre Dame de Paris; she subsequently relocated to Italy, where the production drew four million spectators and sold one million soundtrack copies. After signing with Sony, she tracked her sophomore album Fearless in Sweden and Los Angeles, issuing English and Spanish editions in 2004. In 2005 she returned briefly to Argentina to join the cast of Sin Codigo, one of Latin America’s top-rated soap operas. Three years later she claimed victory at the Sanremo Music Festival with the Gianna Nannini-penned duet “Colpo di Fulmine,” performed alongside Giò Di Tonno, then issued her third album, Il Diario di Lola. During the same period she appeared in the film Polvere, directed by Massimiliano D’Epiro and Danilo Proietti, and contributed vocals to its soundtrack.