Library of Congress Adds Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” to U.S. National Recording Registry

Daddy Yankee is gassed about his latest honor…

The 46-year-old retired Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter and actor, considered to be one of the pioneers of the reggaeton genre, has earned a place in the U.S. National Recording Registry.

Daddy YankeeThe Library of Congress announced the 25 albums, singles and other recording that have been added to the registry, including Daddy Yankee’s smash single “Gasolina.”

Appearing on Daddy Yankee’s 2004 album Barrio Fino, the track was the first reggaeton song to be nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

But Daddy Yankee isn’t the only Hispanic artist making this year’s list…

Mariah Carey’s modern holiday classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has made the grade.

“I’m honored beyond belief,” wrote Carey on Twitter about the single, which was released in 1994. “I definitely did not even imagine this would happen when writing and recording this song!”

The track became her 19th No. 1 the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2019, 25 years after its initial release, extending her record for the solo artist with the most number ones in the charts history.

Cuarteto Coculense’s album The Very First Mariachi Recordings (1908-1909) has also been added to the registry.

While mariachi music and its imagery are now emblematic of Mexican national identity, it was once a rural style of music played mainly in the state of Jalisco. In 1907, four musicians from the town of Cocula, Jalisco, led by the vihuela player Justo Villa, made the first recordings of it in Mexico City, where two years earlier they had introduced the style to the capitol when they performed for Mexican president Porfirio Diaz. These performances lack the trumpet now inextricably associated with mariachi, but even the early recording technology of the time could not fail to capture the group’s drive and spirit, and the recordings remained in print for many years. Due to the efforts of scholars and record collectors, the group’s work was collected and reissued in 1998 by Arhoolie Records, revisiting and reviving an otherwise lost chapter in mariachi’s history and paying overdue homage to these recording pioneers.

The late Irene Cara’s 1983 single “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” which she co-wrote for the film Flashdance, has also been named to the registry.

The hit single earned Cara the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female and a nomination for Record of the Year. As part of the Flashdance soundtrack, it gave her and all of the songwriters who contributed to the album the Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special, and she was also nominated alongside all of the other performers on the soundtrack for Album of the Year.

“Flashdance…What a Feeling” won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was also nominated in that category at the BAFTA Film Awards.

The 25 recordings were deemed worthy of preservation “based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage,” according to the Library of Congress.

Ortega to Executive Produce Fox’s Dance Drama “The Edge”

Kenny Ortega is livin’ on The Edge

The 66-year-old choreographer and director-producer, best known for his work on the High School Musical franchise, has joined forces with Flashdance star Jennifer Beals and James Larosa, creator of VH1’s cheerleading drama series Hit the Floor, for Fox’s dance drama The Edge.

Kenny Ortega

Written and executive produced by Larosa, The Edge is set in the Los Angeles dance world, where it’s survival of the fittest. And no one is more fit than this ensemble of ambitious, sometimes ruthless women and men who have trained their whole lives to be the best and won’t let anything—or anyone—get in their way.

Ortega, Beals and Larosa will executive produce. Sony Pictures Television is the studio.

Ortega is director and choreographer of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Victoria Justice, Fox’s television remake of the cult classic set to premiere on October 20.

Beals Starring in Inspirational Sports Film “Full Out”

Jennifer Beals is flipping out…

The 50-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress has joined the cast of Sean Cisterna‘s Full Out, an inspirational sports film based on the true story of Ariana Berlin, a California gymnast whose Olympic dreams were crushed by a devastating car accident.

Jennifer Beals

Beals will portray UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos­Field, who helped Berlin return to her school’s gymnastics team and win an NCAA championship.

The Flashdance star made the casting announcement on her website.

The ensemble cast for Full Out includes Degrassi star Ana Golja, who portray Berlin, Trevor Tordjman, Sarah Fisher, Jake Epstein, Trevor Tordjman, Robbie Graham Kuntz and Lamar Johnson.

The Carmel Creek Productions film is shooting in Toronto.

Beals to Guest-Star on This Week’s Episode of ABC’s “Motive”

Jennifer Beals is dancing her way to the small screen this week…

The 50-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress appears on this week’s episode of Motive.

Jennifer Beals

The former Flashdancestar guest-stars as a dance instructor who finds herself the target of Angie’s (portrayed by Kristin Lehman) investigation into a killing that initially seems like a case of self-defense during a home invasion, but quickly morphs into something more sinister.

Angie’s kill-them-with-kindness approach only serves to make Beals’ character — whose GPS system inconveniently places her near the scene of the crime — extra jumpy, which in turn makes Angie all the more suspicious.

Motive airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.

Beals to Star in TNT’s Supernatural Medical Drama Pilot “Proof”

It’s a case of science vs. religion for Jennifer Beals

The 50-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress has landed the lead role in TNT’s pilot Proof.

Jennifer Beals

The supernatural medical drama, which is being executive produced by The Closer alum Kyra Sedgwick, will be written by Rob Bragin and directed by Alex Graves.

Proof centers on Dr. Kathryn Russo (portrayed by Beals), a skeptical, hard-science, brilliant female surgeon with a caustic edge who has been struggling with the devastating loss of her teenage son and a growing estrangement from her surviving daughter.

She’s persuaded to investigate cases of reincarnation, out-of-body experiences, hauntings — all of it looking for verifiable proof to answer one of life’s greatest questions: Is death truly the end, or is there something else beyond?

Beals, best known for portraying Alexandra “Alex” Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, previously starred in Fox’s Chicago Code. She also co-created and is executive producing Laughs Unlimited, starring Melonie Diaz, which is currently in development at HBO.

Beals’ previous television credits include appearances on The L Word, Lie to Me, Castle and The Mob Doctor.

Beals to Star in ABC’s “Venice” Pilot…

Jennifer Beals is preparing to star in a Romeo & Juliet-like project…

The 49-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress has been cast as the lead in ABC’s drama pilot Venice.

Jennifer Beals

The drama pilot, written by Byron Balasco, is a sudsy-type project about the haves and the have-nots in California’s most seductive city, Venice. It centers on two rival families and a forbidden and dangerous romance that emerges between them as the families battle for control of the beach city.

Beals will portray Lisa Carver, the elegant bohemian matriarch of the Carver family, one of the two feuding clans.

McG will be directing the pilot from Warner Bros. Television and his Wonderland Sound and Vision studio, which he’ll executive produce as well.

Beals, who rose to acclaim in 1993’s Flashdance and starred in Showtime’s The L Word, most recently appeared on television in The Mob Doctor, Castle and Lie to Me.