In 1992, Stephanie Salas released her debut album, Ave Maria, and it began her wonderful but short musical career. You can debate me on this if you want. Let’s see… Stephanie Salas’s two albums (count one-two) are no doubt wonderful and seriously underrated. If you blinked, you missed them.
Ave Maria fell during the time that so many artists were coming out with albums. 1992 might be the best year in music. Thalia’s Love came out that year. Stephanie’s aunt, Alejandra Guzman release her album, Libre. Paulina Rubio, Biby Gaytan, and Benny Ibarra all started their debut albums, too. While Mexico was watching all these artists, I was in awe over the little album that could. Stephanie’s Ave Maria had me addicted.
There is no doubt that the title track, “Ave Maria” is by far one of the best songs of 1992 when it comes to singles. My jaw dropped when I first saw Stephanie Salas step on the stage with the rock stylings of her first single. I still love it to this day but there are too many other songs from this album that outshine Salas’s signature song. “Nadie Más Que Yo” (No One Else But Me) is a little rock-funk track that literally makes the album. “Bajas Pasiones” (Low Passions) is another funk-infused pop track that adds so much flavor to the album.
On a traditional pop album, you will see a few ballads dropped in sporadically to break up the album. With Ave Maria, we only have one which is the song, “Niña Michelle” which is dedicated to her love-child with Luis Miguel. By only having one ballad, Stephanie keeps up the tempo and pace of the album, which makes it quite enjoyable.
Ave Maria celebrates its 29th anniversary this year but it is quite sad that it doesn’t really have a home in the digital/streaming world. Only a few tracks have been released on the compilation album, Noventas. Now, remember when I stated that Stephanie’s music career was short-lived? That is where you might want to debate me.
While 1992 was the start of Salas’s musical career, it really hasn’t ended. Just this year, she released a newly recorded remix version of the song, “Ave Maria.” Over the past 29 years, Stephanie has released four albums (two of which were in the ’90s), singles, and EPs. So Stephanie is still relevant and should be watched. I do feel that the world is missing out for not having access to this album freely.
Since that day, I have been study Latin pop and rock music and have become a Latin pop music historian through the publishing of articles, fanzine, and websites. My goal is to teach people about Latin pop music and the history behind it with my website, Siempre En Domingo.
- REVIEW: Los Claxons – Caminando En Fuego (2022) - November 6, 2022
- Review: Airbag – Siempre Tropical (2022) - November 6, 2022
- Debut: Thalia – Psycho Bitch - November 6, 2022