Jerry Legrand, born Gerardo Polanco, is a Dominican merengue singer and songwriter who rose to prominence in the 1980s. Born in San Pedro de Macorís and raised in Santo Domingo and later in the United States, he began as a ballad singer, won a New York song festival with a song of his own, and took the name Jerry Legrand when that prize brought him to «El Show del Mediodía». Recording for «CBS», he made three productions with his orchestra and is best remembered for «Todo Me Gusta De Ti».

Early years

By his own account he was born in San Pedro de Macorís and grew up in Santo Domingo until his mother, who lived in the United States, took him there; he dates his arrival to 1966. His first public applause came at a festival on a programme by Rafael Solano. In New York he played guitar and sang at venues in Upper Manhattan.

The festival and the name

He won the third «Festival de la Voz y la Canción» in New York with «La Gran Ciudad», a ballad he wrote about people who leave their country to look for a new life. The prize was a trip to the Dominican Republic to begin a career through «El Show del Mediodía», arranged through Yaqui Núñez del Risco. Finding Gerardo Polanco unmemorable, he chose Legrand, French for the great one, as a name that could travel beyond the Dominican Republic.

First recordings and CBS

His first recordings in the Dominican Republic were the ballad «Adelante Amor» and the merengue «Además», his first in the genre. He was an exclusive artist at Casa de Campo when representatives of «CBS» heard him singing at the resort's bar La Caña and asked the management about recording him.

Three productions

The first «CBS» production, «La Voz» (1984), was produced by Dioni Fernández, Ramón Orlando and Manuel Tejada, who contributed a track or two. It includes «Todo Me Gusta De Ti», «No Se Va Poder», «Buscando», «La Meta del Vago» and «Sin Tambora No Hay Merengue». The label chose the comic numbers «No Se Va Poder» and «La Meta del Vago», the latter by Raffi Rosa, which Legrand says he was not the first to record. He describes «Sin Tambora No Hay Merengue», composed by Mario Díaz, as a hymn to the tambora player.

Manuel Tejada produced most of the second production, of which only a few tracks were released after «CBS» passed to Sony Records. It includes «Mujer Venezolana», which Legrand wrote for an appearance on a beauty-pageant broadcast on Radio Caracas. The third, made as the label became Sony, put songs from southern Brazil into Spanish, was promoted in Panama and Costa Rica, and received little airplay in the Dominican Republic. Legrand's strongest reception came in Venezuela, where after the pageant appearance he played stadiums and appeared on television. «CBS» at one point approached four Dominican singers for its Latin American catalogue: Olga Lara, Sergio Vargas, Carlos Alfredo Fatule and Legrand.

«Todo Me Gusta De Ti»

The song was written by María Angélica Ramírez, of Argentina, and was known as a ballad in the version of Vikki Carr. Dioni Fernández made the merengue arrangement for Legrand's first production, and his orchestra performed it on «El Show del Mediodía» in 1984. Legrand calls it the recording that launched his career and says it is still chosen for weddings and anniversaries.

After the orchestra

His orchestra, «Jerry Legrand y su Orquesta», had the bassist Juli Monte, of La Romana, as its musical director. Legrand says his run stalled after «CBS» became Sony Records and management changed, and that he stopped leading the dance orchestra. He turned to the tourist sector, working with dance and folkloric groups and drawing on French, Italian and some German, and stayed an exclusive artist at Casa de Campo until he and his wife decided to raise their children in the United States. He moved to Orlando, Florida, more than twenty years ago.

Baptized a Seventh-day Adventist in New York in the 1970s and later distant from the church, he returned to it in Orlando and has sung in Adventist churches since. In a March 2026 interview, his first in about twenty-five years, he said he planned to record two new songs, among them his own composition «Sí Llegó el Amor», in a soft, pop-leaning bachata style.

Legacy

Legrand's catalogue rests on the three «CBS» productions of the 1980s, above all «Todo Me Gusta De Ti», which remains in circulation at family celebrations and in classic-merengue programming.