Marlin Ramazzini

Since winning a talent contest in her native Guatemala at the age of 12, Marlin has been making music. She developed an interest in dance, theater and poetry in high school. After winning a few more contests and placing second in several others, a hometown TV station told her she was too young for national exposure. Ignoring this advice and with the encouragement of her mother ( a well-known singer on local radio ) she continued performing at home and abroad while studying percussion and musical theory.

On a trip to Mexico she was invited to join a six-piece band based in Nicaragua. During her seven years with the band she toured Moscow, Mexico, Central America, Cuba and Canada (where she has performed in every province) making appearances at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 1987 and 1989. She recorded three albums with this band

Since settling in Vancouver in 1990, Marlin has performed at Music '91 and other major festivals in B.C. including Harrison, Mission, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Whistler, Surrey and Vancouver's own Canada Day Festival. She has also recorded with Orquesta BC Salsa and Orquesta Tropicana, and has made guest appearances, live and on disc, with Charlotte Diamond, Shango Ashe and Sal Ferreras. Her enthusiasm and talent continue to enhance the popularity of Latin music in Vancouver's thriving cultural scene.

In 1992 Marlin began to concentrate on a vocal career. She has sung with many of the city's leading Latin groups and in 1994 she became lead singer for Son Canela, a band led by Fito Garcia, himself an accomplished musician and composer as well as Juno Award Winner. She still shows off her considerable talents as a percussionist by playing timbales and conga drums with the band on occasion.

A seasoned performer with over ten years of experience, versatile in both English and Spanish, Marlin is also becoming known as a composer. She and her husband are now leading their new band Marlin Ramazzini and plan to tour their native Guatemala in the near future.