Romeo Santos | |
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Birth name | Anthony Santos |
Also known as | Romeo Santos |
Born |
The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States |
July 21, 1981
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1995–present |
Labels | |
Associated acts | Aventura |
Website | romeosantosonline |
Anthony Santos (born July 21, 1981), known professionally as Romeo Santos, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer and former lead vocalist of the American bachata group Aventura. After releasing several albums with Aventura, the group went its separate ways. Since then, Romeo has embarked on a solo career which in six years has spawned seven number one songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart and nine number ones on the Tropical Songs chart.
Santos was born on July 21, 1981, in The Bronx, New York City, to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. He had a humble upbringing, with his father working in construction and his mother staying at home to take care of the family.
Before the success of Aventura, Santos founded a group called "Los Tinellers" ("The Teenagers" written phonetically in a Dominican pronunciation), with his cousin Henry and two friends in the early 1990s. The group released an album called Trampa de Amor, and by the end of the decade, they changed the name of the band to Aventura.
Romeo was the main songwriter and producer of Aventura, an American bachata band from The Bronx, New York and the band's lead singer. Aventura was formed in 1997 by Anthony "Romeo" Santos, Henry Santos, Lenny Santos, and Max Santos, all natives of The Bronx, but having families born in the Dominican Republic.
Aventura made their big break in 1999, with the hopes of breaking bachata music into the mainstream from its traditional base and fuse it with pop music; more specifically hip hop and R&B. In 2004, the song, "Obsesión" achieved huge success in many countries, topping many international charts like the France, Germany and Italy. Aventura released five studio albums in a decade, spawning many top 10 hits like internationally famous "Obsesión", but also "Un Beso", "Los Infieles", "El Perdedor", "Por Un Segundo", "Dile Al Amor" and many others.