Belle Perez

[dna]

Maribel Pérez (born on January 29, 1976 in Neerpelt, Belgium), best known by her stage name Belle Perez, is a Belgian musician and songwriter.

Born in Neerpelt to Spanish parents as María Isabelle Pérez Cerezo. The 31 year old Belgian singer was discovered for her musical talents by her current manager Patrick Renier at a local talent show. In 1999 she participated in the Belgian preselections of the Eurovision Song Contest and from then on Belle's career in music took off. She started off in pop music but in 2002 she changed her style to Latino/pop and went live on stage with her own "Baila Perez"-band. The album that came with it was an instant success and remained on the top spot in the Belgian charts for several weeks.

As of 2006, she has achieved a relatively high level of fame in her native Belgium and the Netherlands. She has also become the presenter of a popular Dutch music show in the meanwhile. Perez participated in the Belgian tryouts for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, but ended up getting 3rd place. Her newest album Gotitas De Amor was released on August 23 2006. In December 2006 she released her 4th single of "Gotitas de amor", called "Hoy (Le pido a dios)", a ballad.

On 5 May she will be performing another "Mega Latino"-Concert in the "Sportpaleis" Antwerpen. She will be performing in front of about 15,000 people. According to some articles on her fan-site she is planning to release a CD in Germany, Austria and Switzerland upcoming summer. She has already signed a contract. Due to some rumours "El mundo bailando" is going to be the first single in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Before summer she will release another single from her album "Gotitas de amor" in Belgium and Netherlands which will be "Amor Latino" and it peaked in Belgium on Position 11.

In June 2007 she released her first album "Gotitas de amor" and the first single "El mundo bailando" in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In the mean time she recorded a new single called "Djolei! Djolei!" which has already been released on 15th June 2007 in Belgium and Netherlands. Once again it is a song for the upcoming summer and so she is heading again for her next Radio 2-Summer-Award-Trophy in August 2007.

In The Netherlands she will release a new album. It will be a compilation with former hits like Que viva la vida and her current hit Djolei, Djolei. The name is going to be Greatest Latin Hits and it will also contain Live-Versions of previous mentioned songs. The following days she will be on a great promotion tour throughout the Netherlands.

[dna]

FHM Netherlands november 2006