Victor Manuelle
Encyclopedia
Víctor Manuelle, born Víctor Manuel Ruiz on November 4, 1968 in Bronx, New York, is a successful Latin Grammy nominated Puerto Rican American salsa
singer, songwriter, and improvisational sonero, known to his fans as El Sonero de la Juventud ("The Youth's Sonero"). He is identified primarily with salsa romantica
or "salsa monga", but has also experimented with styles ranging from Colombian vallenato
to urban reggaeton
. Unlike other young salsa performers such as Marc Anthony
, he has neither recorded in English, nor made a Latin pop
album, nor (with rare exceptions) ventured into acting, preferring to remain a musician grounded within salsa music. As of 2009, he ties with Marc Anthony
for having the most number-one singles in the Billboard Tropical Songs
chart.
. Growing up in Puerto Rico
had a great impact on his youth as he enjoyed salsa music (which was immensely popular in Puerto Rico at the time). His singing career began by chance, during a concert at his high school's graduation party by salsa superstar Gilberto Santa Rosa
. At the instigation of classmates, who were going on about their friend the sonero, Santa Rosa invited Victor to jump up on stage and sing a song with him. To Santa Rosa's surprise, not only could Victor sing, but he "free-styled" the improvisational soneo lyrics in the song, and traded soneos with Santa Rosa. Shortly thereafter, on Santa Rosa's recommendation, Puerto Rican bandleader Don Periñon hired teenage Victor as a backup singer. During these years of apprenticeship he performed with numerous salsa greats.
Perhaps his moment of greatest visibility came when he, to the happy surprise of the attendees, sang an a cappella version of Celia Cruz
's signature song, La Vida Es Un Carnaval ("Life is a Carnival"), at her funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York in July 2003. This scene was replayed numerous times in the ensuing days on Spanish-language television. A few months before, he had performed the song for Miss Cruz, with full orchestra, at a televised tribute concert for her, the last one at which she ever performed on stage. (When he recorded his live album at Carnegie Hall
in late 2004, his closing number was another rousing rendition of La Vida Es Un Carnaval.) In 2008 he was approach by the Diva of Puerto Rico Yolandita Monge
to do a duet in the album "Mala
". The song is called "Oportunidad Perdida."
Manuelle released his 10th studio album, Decisión Unánime ("Unanimous Decision"), in May 2006. Six months earlier, in November 2005, he and his mentor, Gilberto Santa Rosa, released a joint live album, Dos Soneros, Una Historia ("Two Soneros, One History"), recorded at Coliseo Roberto Clemente outside San Juan, Puerto Rico
. Manuelle's own live album, Víctor Manuelle En Vivo: Desde El Carnegie Hall, came out in early 2005.
He served as co-host of the 7th annual Latin Grammy awards show, held November 2, 2006, in New York.
Manuelle's first foray into movie acting was his cameo role (mostly singing) as salsa legend Rubén Blades
in El Cantante
, the 2007 film biography of Héctor Lavoe
, starring Marc Anthony
and Jennifer Lopez
.
On June 10, 2008, Manuelle released the album Soy ("I am). He was one of several artists selected to perform at the "KQ Live Concert" on September 27, 2008, organized by KQ 105 FM. The event included several renowned artists from Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries.
On February 8, 2010 television network Univision
announced international singer Ana Bárbara
and Víctor Manuelle as the hosts of the 2010 Premio Lo Nuestro Awards. The ceremony will take place live from Miami, Florida on February 18, 2010.
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
singer, songwriter, and improvisational sonero, known to his fans as El Sonero de la Juventud ("The Youth's Sonero"). He is identified primarily with salsa romantica
Salsa romantica
Salsa Romántica, also known as Salsa Erotica, is a soft form of salsa music that emerged between the mid 1980s and early 1990s in New York City and Puerto Rico...
or "salsa monga", but has also experimented with styles ranging from Colombian vallenato
Vallenato
Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...
to urban reggaeton
Reggaeton
Reggaeton is a form of Puerto Rican and Latin American urban and Caribbean music. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European and Asian audiences. Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico but is also has roots from Reggae en Español from Panama and Puerto Rico and...
. Unlike other young salsa performers such as Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
, he has neither recorded in English, nor made a Latin pop
Latin pop
Latin pop generally refers to pop music that has what may be perceived a Latin American influence...
album, nor (with rare exceptions) ventured into acting, preferring to remain a musician grounded within salsa music. As of 2009, he ties with Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
for having the most number-one singles in the Billboard Tropical Songs
Latin Tropical Airplay
The Tropical Songs is a record chart published on Billboard magazine established in 1994 with the first number-one song to be published was "En Las Nubes" by Edgar Joel. It features Latin music information from tropical music such as salsa, merengue, bachata, cumbia, and vallenato...
chart.
Discovery and early career
Although born in the Bronx in New York City, Victor was raised primarily in Isabela, Puerto RicoIsabela, Puerto Rico
Isabela is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the north-western region of the island, north of San Sebastián; west of Quebradillas; and east of Aguadilla and Moca. Isabela is spread over 13 wards and Isabela Pueblo...
. Growing up in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
had a great impact on his youth as he enjoyed salsa music (which was immensely popular in Puerto Rico at the time). His singing career began by chance, during a concert at his high school's graduation party by salsa superstar Gilberto Santa Rosa
Gilberto Santa Rosa
Gilberto Santa Rosa, also known as "El Caballero de la Salsa" , is a Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero.-Early years:...
. At the instigation of classmates, who were going on about their friend the sonero, Santa Rosa invited Victor to jump up on stage and sing a song with him. To Santa Rosa's surprise, not only could Victor sing, but he "free-styled" the improvisational soneo lyrics in the song, and traded soneos with Santa Rosa. Shortly thereafter, on Santa Rosa's recommendation, Puerto Rican bandleader Don Periñon hired teenage Victor as a backup singer. During these years of apprenticeship he performed with numerous salsa greats.
2000s
Víctor Manuelle has become one of the best-selling salsa performers of recent years, with his albums selling a combined 1 million-plus copies in the U.S. Three studio albums, 1999's Inconfundible ("Unmistakable"), 2001's Instinto Y Deseo ("Instinct and Desire") and 2004's Travesía ("Crossover"), have cracked Billboard's overall Top 200 Albums chart, and the latter two reached #1 on the Latin Album chart (Inconfundible reached #2). Interestingly, while several of his singles have made the Top 5 or Top 10 on the Latin charts, he had to wait for 2004's Tengo Ganas ("I'm in the Mood") to score a Billboard #1 Latin hit.Perhaps his moment of greatest visibility came when he, to the happy surprise of the attendees, sang an a cappella version of Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
's signature song, La Vida Es Un Carnaval ("Life is a Carnival"), at her funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York in July 2003. This scene was replayed numerous times in the ensuing days on Spanish-language television. A few months before, he had performed the song for Miss Cruz, with full orchestra, at a televised tribute concert for her, the last one at which she ever performed on stage. (When he recorded his live album at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in late 2004, his closing number was another rousing rendition of La Vida Es Un Carnaval.) In 2008 he was approach by the Diva of Puerto Rico Yolandita Monge
Yolandita Monge
Yolandita Monge is an international singer and actress from Puerto Rico and the first Puerto Rican female singer to be nominated to the Grammy Music Awards. She is also Puerto Rico's highest selling female artist. She has been in the music business since adolescence, and has recorded over thirty...
to do a duet in the album "Mala
Mala (album)
"Mala", is the 31st studio album by Puerto Rican singer Yolandita Monge and the first album under her new label, Universal Music Latin Entertainment. This album was released on November 25, 2008, but the mega music store "La Gran Discoteca", begins to sell this album on November 22, 2008...
". The song is called "Oportunidad Perdida."
Recent activity
Victor's most recent production was released in May 2009. However, on this disc, not all of his songs have to do with topics of "LOVE", "INFIDELITY", etc. Nonetheless, it does include various interludes where he explains the meaning of songs related to his personal life, which is why the album is called; "Muy Personal"(Very Personal)Manuelle released his 10th studio album, Decisión Unánime ("Unanimous Decision"), in May 2006. Six months earlier, in November 2005, he and his mentor, Gilberto Santa Rosa, released a joint live album, Dos Soneros, Una Historia ("Two Soneros, One History"), recorded at Coliseo Roberto Clemente outside San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
. Manuelle's own live album, Víctor Manuelle En Vivo: Desde El Carnegie Hall, came out in early 2005.
He served as co-host of the 7th annual Latin Grammy awards show, held November 2, 2006, in New York.
Manuelle's first foray into movie acting was his cameo role (mostly singing) as salsa legend Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres...
in El Cantante
El Cantante
El Cantante is a 2006 American film released in the United States on August 3, 2007. The biopic stars singer Marc Anthony and actress-singer Jennifer Lopez . The film is based on the life story of salsa legend Héctor Lavoe...
, the 2007 film biography of Héctor Lavoe
Héctor Lavoe
Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez , better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe was born and raised in the Machuelito sector of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Early in his life, he attended a local music school and developed an interest inspired by Jesús Sánchez Erazo. He moved to New York...
, starring Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
and Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
.
On June 10, 2008, Manuelle released the album Soy ("I am). He was one of several artists selected to perform at the "KQ Live Concert" on September 27, 2008, organized by KQ 105 FM. The event included several renowned artists from Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries.
On February 8, 2010 television network Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
announced international singer Ana Bárbara
Ana Bárbara
Ana Bárbara is a Mexican Latin Grammy Award winner, songwriter, producer, and Grammy-nominated recording artist.-Early life and early career:...
and Víctor Manuelle as the hosts of the 2010 Premio Lo Nuestro Awards. The ceremony will take place live from Miami, Florida on February 18, 2010.