Viña del Mar International Song Festival

Between 1984 and 1989 Leonardo Schultz and Gary H. Mason, one of the pioneers of the reggaeton movement, teamed up to help revamp the festival and streamline its operations. They arranged for the appearance of artists including: The Police, Air Supply, Eddie Money, Sheena Easton, Jose Feliciano (the pair produced his Grammy-nominated album Escenas de Amor in 1982, as well as the Grammy-winning album Me enamoré in 1983), Andy Gibb, Neil Sedaka, Gloria Gaynor, Mr. Mister to name a few. In 1988 and 1989, Thomas Anders (of Modern Talking fame) was the festival's headliner, one of the first times an artist was invited back to perform two years in a row.

Schultz and Mason also arranged for major international jurors including: George Martin (the Beatles' producer), Maurice Jarre (scored the films such as Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Witness, A Passage To India, and Ghost), Manoella Torres (Mason produced her hit duet, which was written by Schultz entitled "No me mires así"), Joey Travolta, Connie Stevens and many others.

In the 1990s the broadcast rights to the Festival were given to Televisa and featured prominent Mexican Artists, as well as major Latin Artists.

In 2008, American rock music band Journey played their first concert with new vocalist Arnel Pineda at the festival. The 2008 Viña Festival was hosted by Sergio Lagos and Tonka Tomicic, and headlined by Nelly Furtado, Wisin & Yandel, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

In 2009, artists such as Latin sensation Daddy Yankee and the legendary British band Simply Red captivated the audience of Viña. For its 50th edition, the festival's hosts were the late Felipe Camiroaga and news reader Soledad Onetto.

On November 10, 2020, it was announced that the Viña Festival will be canceled for 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic that is affecting the world and it is the first time that the festival event will not take place in 62 years in the history of the festival.[5]

Traditionally, the Festival's audience openly demonstrates its acceptance or displeasure with the established acts performing there, as well as contestants in the two competitions. As a result, the Chilean media has nicknamed the Festival's audience El Monstruo ("The Monster"). Earning acceptance from El Monstruo usually has a direct impact on an artist's popularity in the rest of Latin America. This is particularly true for Spanish speaking pop stars. Conversely, booing artists off the stage is not uncommon.

Artists compete in the Festival's regular competitions for one of three awards, given in this order: "Antorcha de Plata" (Silver Torch), "Antorcha de Oro" (Golden Torch) and "Gaviota de Plata" (Silver Seagull). However, audience response may demand that one of the three awards - or, progressively, all three- also be awarded to an established act as their performance progresses. An artist who "tames the "Monstruo"" by earning all three awards receives almost instant recognition as a major star by Chilean and Latin American media.

Each year the TV companies try to improve on the previous year's set. Millions are invested in creating elaborate stages.

Every year international artists are invited to perform at the Festival. in the 2003 edition the Italian singer-songwriter Franco Simone received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for having strung together thirty years of success in South America with his songs translated into Spanish,

Every year the festival selects a queen. Popular personalities apply to be queen, often offering outrageous stunts to win.

The queen is chosen by a vote organized by the newspaper La Cuarta.[7] Journalists accredited to the Festival express their preferences through a secret ballot.

The day after the election there is a coronation and the delivery of a band and a ring as a prize by the relevant authorities. Since 2001, on the day of the coronation the Queen of the Festival has to dive into the pool at the Hotel O'Higgins in Viña del Mar in front of the media.[8]

Some of the women chosen as Queen include: Celia Cruz, Diana Bolocco, Thalía, Sigrid Alegría, Yuri, Raffaella Carrà, Tonka Tomicic, and Gloria Trevi.

List of Queens

Year	Queen	Country	TV Channel	Notes
2018	Betsy Camino	Cuba	Canal 13
2017	Kika Silva	Chile	Canal 13
2016	Nicole "Luli" Moreno	Chile	Canal 13
2015	Jhendelyn Nuñez	Chile	Canal 13	Known for participating in Vedette shows.
2014	Sigrid Alegría	Chile	Canal 13	Film and TV actress
2013	Dominique Gallego	Chile	Canal 13	Star on numerous reality shows
2012	Valeria Ortega	Chile	Canal 13	Journalist.
2011	Andrea Dellacasa	Argentina	Canal 13	Vedette.
2010	Carolina Arregui	Chile	Canal 13	Actress in TV Series, 2010 festival juror
2009	Catherine Fulop	Venezuela	Canal 13	Actress in TV Series, 2009 festival juror
2008	Pilar Ruiz	Colombia		Reality show participant
2007	Diana Bolocco	Chile	Canal 13	Journalist, Cecilia Bolocco's Sister, TV show host.
2006	Tonka Tomicic	Chile	TVN	Miss World Chile 1995
2005	Luciana Salazar	Argentina	Chilevisión	Showbiz Queen from Argentina
2004	Carolina "Pampita" Ardohain	Argentina		Benjamín Vicuña's wife.
2003	María Eugenia Larraín	Chile	Canal 13	Showbiz Queen from Chile.
2002	Patricia Manterola	Mexico		Artist invited to the festival that year, crowned for the second time.
2001	Natalia Oreiro	Uruguay		Artist invited
2000	Celia Cruz	Cuba  United States		Invited the same year, as part of the festival show.
1999	Carla Perez	Brazil		Dancer of É o Tchan ! as invited artist.
1998	Sofía Franco	Peru		Presenter
1997	Thalía	Mexico		Invited artist
1996	Paola Falcone	Chile		Miss Chile 1995
1995	Patricia Manterola	Mexico		Artist invited
1994	Sofía Vergara	Colombia		Presenter
1993	Gloria Trevi	Mexico		Artist invited
1992	Lucero	Mexico		Had a romance with Felipe Camiroaga
1991	Yuri	Mexico		Invited artist
1990	Xuxa	Brazil		Invited artist
1989	Myriam Hernández	Chile		Invited artist
1988	Marcela "Mache" Sánchez	Peru
1987	Irene Llano	Chile		Invited artist
1986	Cindy Valentine	Canada		Participated in the "competencia internacional"
1985	María Conchita Alonso	Venezuela		Invited artist
1984	Gianina Matei	Romania		Participated in "competencia internacional"
1983	Lucía Méndez[n 1]	Mexico		Formed part of the festival judging panel
1982	Raffaella Carrà[n 1]	Italy		Invited artist
1979	María Graciela Gómez[n 1]	Chile		Presenter

Notas

1. Elección no oficial.

Queens per country

Country	#	Year
Chile	14	1979, 1987, 1989, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Mexico	7	1983, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2002
Argentina	3	2004, 2005, 2011
Venezuela	2	1985, 2009
Colombia	2	1994, 2008
Brazil	2	1990, 1999
Peru	2	1988, 1998
Uruguay	1	2001
Cuba	2	2000, 2018
Canada	1	1986
Romania	1	1984
Italy	1	1982

• List of historic rock festivals
• List of music festivals in Chile

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Festival de Viña del Mar.

• Viña del Mar city website (in Spanish)