Aventura was an American bachata group formed in The Bronx, New York. With the lineup always consisting of the members Romeo Santos, Henry Santos, Lenny Santos, and Max Santos, they are regarded as one of the most influential Latin groups of all time. All of the members are of Dominican descent, although Romeo is also half Puerto Rican on his mother's side. They were the first major bachata act to have originated in the United States instead of the Dominican Republic. The group was integral to the evolution of bachata music and are the pioneers of the modern bachata sound. Aventura released five studio albums in a decade, creating many top 10 hits like "Cuándo volverás", "Un Beso", "Mi Corazoncito", "Los Infieles", "El Perdedor", "Por un Segundo", "Dile al Amor", among others. They have sold out many arenas including the world famous Madison Square Garden. Aventura has been nominated for awards such as American Music Awards, the Latin Grammy Awards, Billboard Latin Music Awards, and Premio Lo Nuestro. Aventura is one of the most internationally recognized Latin groups of the last two decades and frequently refer to themselves as "K.O.B.", or "Kings of Bachata".
Juan Luis Guerra Seijas is a Dominican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. He has sold 15 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards including 24 Latin Grammy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and one Latin Billboard Music Award. He won 3 Latin Grammy Awards in 2010, including Album of the Year. In 2012, he won the Latin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year.
Juan de Dios Ventura Soriano, better known as Johnny Ventura nicknamed El Caballo Mayor, was a Dominican singer and band leader of merengue and salsa.
Monchy & Alexandra were a bachata musical group from the Dominican Republic. They sang together as a duo beginning in 1998. Their first big hit was "Hoja en Blanco (song)", which they released in 1999. Since then, they had many other hits, such as "Hasta El Fin" and "Perdidos", both from their 2004 album Hasta el Fin, as well as "No Es Una Novela" from their 2006 Éxitos y Más album. They have been often credited with being instrumental in popularizing bachata music outside of the Dominican Republic.
Raulín Marte Rodríguez is a Dominican bachata artist. He is one of the first major bachata artists to have international success and popularize this style of music in the Dominican Republic. He was one of main pioneers of bachata that help grow the genre's popularity in the 1990s. While traditional bachata songs were often risque and suggestive, Raulín Rodríguez's idealized romantic lyrics helped the style achieve general social acceptability and to receive radio play. Rodriguez is known as El Cacique and is one of the most established musicians to ever come from Dominican Republic. He has many international hits, including the songs: "Nereyda", "Medicina de Amor", "Soledad", Esta Noche, and many more. Three of them have been certified Platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Domingo Antonio Santos Muñoz, known professionally as Antony Santos, is a Dominican musician and singer. One of the top-selling bachata artists of all time, he is known as one of the pioneers of modern bachata in the early 1990s, with his role in redefining the genre to include romantic lyrics, poppy guitar licks, and implementation of new instruments, such as the piano and saxophone. He became the first rural bachatero to reach a mainstream audience with his hit single, "Voy Pa'lla". He has had success with other hits like "Por Mi Timidez", "No Te Puedo Olvidar", "Me Quiero Morir", "Lloro", "Solo Te Amo", "Se Acabó El Abuso" among others. Today, Santos is unanimously considered the greatest bachata artist of all time. He is known as "El Mayimbe" of Bachata, and is the second Dominican musician to acquire this moniker, after Fernando Villalona. He is also known as El Bachatú, the nickname he originally started with.
Angel Villalona better known as Andy Andy is a Dominican musician from the Villalona family. Starting as a merenguero, he gained fame when he changed to bachata.
Frank Reyes is a Dominican singer. Known as the Prince of Bachata, he is regarded as one of the best known bachata artists of all time and famous throughout Latin America. He is a 7 time Bachata of the Year winner at the Soberano Awards, making him the most awarded artist in that category. He is known for hits like "Vine a Decirte Adios", "Con el Amor No Se Juega", "Tu Eres Ajena", "Nada De Nada", "Quién Eres Tu", "Princesa", "Amor a Distancia", "Decidí", among others.
La Llave de Mi Corazón is the 10th studio album recorded by Dominican singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra, It was released by EMI Televisa Music on March 20, 2007. It was Guerra's first album to contain songs in English since his 1994 recording of Fogarate. The album contains fusions of mambo and tropical rhythms that Guerra himself defined as "Mambo merengue". Its production and musical structure of album is based on merengue, bachata and salsa and encompasses elements of Blues, Son, Jazz, Mambo and Bossa Nova. The album was written, arranged and produced by Juan Luis Guerra and according to the artist is his most romantic album. It is composed of four merengues, two bachatas, three romantic songs and two salsas.
Bachata Rosa is the fifth studio album by Dominican singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra and his group 4.40. It was released on 11 December 1990, by Karen Records. It brought bachata music into the mainstream in the Dominican Republic and gave the genre an international audience. A Portuguese version of the record was released in 1992 under the title Romance Rosa; it was certified gold in Brazil. The album received a Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album and two Lo Nuestro Awards for Tropical Album of the Year and Tropical Group of the Year.
Toby Love is an American singer, rapper and songwriter of Puerto Rican descent. Based on The Bronx, New York, he is best known for being a former member of Aventura before pursuing a solo career, mostly known for their 2002 album We Broke the Rules, later performing a style of bachata music that combines traditional and urban singing and production. In 2006, he embarked on a solo career, thus gaining success. His debut single, "Tengo Un Amor", helped him rise to fame in mainstream Latin music. Since then, he became one of the most successful bachata artists of the 2000s and 2010s with hits like "Llorar Lloviendo", "Te Parece Poco", "Lejos", "Vestida De Blanco", among others.
Ojalá Que Llueva Café is the fourth studio album by Dominican singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra released in 1989 by Karen Records. It is considered one of his most emblematic and important albums. The album set the musical path for his later albums, re-formulating Dominican merengue and bachata music through the contemporary elements of pop, rock, salsa, or jazz. Incorporating socially conscious lyrics with danceable merengues and romantic-poetic bachatas, the album is considered one of the most important albums of his discography.
Fogaraté! is the seventh album of the famous Dominican songwriter and musician Juan Luis Guerra. It was released on July 19, 1994. The album mixed a variety of music genres including rural and flolklroic rots of merengue called "Perico Ripao" with elements of African soukus music and Tropical Music such as Reggae with the collaboration of African guitarist Diblo Dibala and Dominican accordionist Francisco Ulloa, along with Son, Bachata and Salsa. Also, the album features a particular, bachata-styled adaptation of the Lacrimosa movement from Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor and Guerra's first song fully in English "July 19". Exploring lyrics and themes about magical realism of Latin American literature and commenting on the politics of the Caribbean, for many fans and critics, Fogaraté! is one of his most musically complex album.
Anthony "Romeo" Santos is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer who is best known as the frontman and lead vocalist of the bachata group Aventura. In 2002, the song "Obsesión" was number one in Italy for 16 consecutive weeks. He released several albums with Aventura before the group broke up. Since then, Santos has embarked on a solo career which has created seven number one songs on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and seventeen number ones on the Tropical Airplay chart. Romeo Santos has sold over 24 million copies making him one of the best-selling Latin artists.
While the Dominican Republic is known for shaping merengue and bachata music, its musicians have also melded these influences into the early development of salsa music amongst the Latin community of New York City in the early 1960s. A major development in those initial days of salsa occurred when Johnny Pacheco, a Dominican-born musician living in New York City, teamed with partner Jerry Masucci to create Fania Records in 1964. They started selling records from the trunk of cars on the streets of Spanish Harlem, signing up young artists, creating new sounds, and eventually having hit records. Over the next 15 years, Fania Records helped define the sound, culture, and language associated with the salsa genre, a musical movement that arose partly from the unavailability in the United States of music produced in Cuba.
Carlos & Alejandra was an American music duo that focused on the genre of bachata. The duo is composed of members Carlos Vargas Franco Jr. and Bianca Alejandra Feliz. Despite the success of the duo, they split in 2016, with each following their own separate paths as solo artists.
Henry Santos Jeter is a Dominican singer, songwriter, and producer. Best known for his tenure as a singer and songwriter in the bachata group Aventura. During his time with the group, he produced, wrote and was the lead singer in the songs "9:15", "Déjà Vu", "Voy Malacostumbrado", and Princesita as well as being the background vocalist in most tracks. He made his debut as a solo artist in 2011. Since then, he has released hit singles like "Poquito A Poquito", "Por Nada", "My Way", "La Vida", among others. Santos has released 5 studio albums and 1 live album. He has been featured in other songs with other artist, including Bad Bunny, Anthony Santos & Pavel Núñez. He is also a dancer, actor and art designer.
Monchy & Alexandra were a bachata musical group from the Dominican Republic. They sang together as a duo in the period 1998 to 2008. Their discography consists of three studio albums, three compilation albums, two live albums and ten singles.
"Mambo" is a song by Dominican singer Henry Santos featuring Dominican salsa singer David Kada. It was released as a single on July 16, 2021, and served as the ninth single from Santos's fifth studio album Friends & Legends (2021). The music video was released the day before.
"Debate de 4" is a song by American singer Romeo Santos, featuring Dominican bachata singers Luis Vargas, Raulín Rodríguez and Anthony Santos, from his first studio album Formula, Vol. 1 (2011).
