Myrna Santana is currently living in the Pacfic Northwest and is the lead singer for the groups Las America Ensemble and Las America Combo, both with a focus on the music and rhythms throughout the Americas, both North and South.
Las America Ensemble made its debut in 2025 led by Myrna Santana (vocals/percussion) and Sammy Alamillo (drums/percussion) and featuring the talents of Maria Cristela Gonzalez (vocals), Lindsey Dabek (vocals), Ernesto Pediangco (percussion), Eric Verlinde (piano), Dean Schmidt (bass), Nathan Vetter (trombone), Joshua Harner (trumpet), Teddy Dortch (sax), Andy Zadrozny (bass), Fred Hoadley (piano), Steve Yamasaki (sax) and more!
Myrna Santana began to sing for Ponce High School drama groups and discovered her passion to perform. Unfortunately, her parents did not approve or encourage her to continue her passion at performance where many peers saw and recognized her talent. After high school she decided to attend and was awarded a scholarship to be a track and field athlete for Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, Puerto Rico where she excelled as an athlete and competed at a high level.
Myrna graduated from Catholic University and decided to continue her graduate studies at Indiana University Bloomington. At IU she found fellow Puertorican students from the island that were studying at the world recognized Jacob School of Music at Indiana University. A student from the school of music started the first salsa group at the university called “Jaime Morales Salsa Orchestra”, here she was asked to join the salsa band.
Her passion to perform was once again alive and she then performed for more than 3 years with Jaime Morales Salsa Orchestra at festivals and clubs throughout the Midwest. She had the honor to perform for Pan American Goodwill Games (village) 1987, Indianapolis.
Myrna, although now retired, plans to continue her passion to sing and perform. The public should not be surprised by Myrna’s sincere power and confidence when she performs, which is nothing new to her old classmates.