Anthony
Santos (born July 21, 1981), known professionally as Romeo Santos, is
an American singer, featured composer and former lead singer of the Bachata group Aventura. As a member
of Aventura, Santos has been a key figure in popularizing Bachata, with hits
reaching near the top of the Billboard Latin charts
and the top of charts in Europe. In 2002, the band'ssong "Obsesión" was number
one in Italy for sixteen consecutive weeks. Santos was born
in The Bronx, New York City, United States
to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. At twelve years of age, he
became a member of the church choir. While the grouper forms in both English
and Spanish, the ir work was widely ignored by the English-language media
during the early part of the ir career. On May 9, 2011, Santos released his
first single, "You", from his solo debut album, Formula, Vol.
1. The song became a number-one debut on the Hot Latin Songs and Tropical Songs chart. The
second single revealed from his album was "Promise" which features a
duet with Usher. The
single has peaked at number #1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and
number one on the Tropical Songs chart. His next album Formula, Vol. 2 is planned to be released on
February 25, 2014. The album will contain collaborations with Drake, Nicki Minaj, Marc Anthony, Carlos Santana, Tego Calderón, and Kevin HartSantos entered
onto the scene in the early 1990s, beginning his career as the guira player for
fellow bachatero Luis Vargas, only to leave
the group and maintain a very public feud with Vargas that would last until
Vargas' career faded into obscurity. Santos became the first rural bachatero
toreacha mains team audience, with his hit "Voy pa'llá", shortly
after Blas Duran had Introduced the
electric guitar into the genre. Santos' adoption of soft romantic lyrics was
more socially accepted than the baw dysty lecom monto bachata before him, and
he shortly became the genre's leading artist, hel ping move bachata in to the mainstream.
Santos has helped define these found of modern bachata, mainly through his use
of a chorus pedal and the Yamaha APX series of guitars (with a Gibson Classic Hum
bucker mounted in the sound hole).He is
supportive of Anthony "Romeo" Santos, lead singer of Aventura, even
to perform alongside him in Romeo's latest album alongside Vargas and Raulín Rodríguez in both
one skit and the track "Debate De 4". His hit song sin clude: "Voy Pa lla",
"Cuantos Dias Mas", "Creiste", "Vete y Alejate de
Mi", "Un Muerto Vivo", "Por Mi Timidez", "Pegame
Tu Vicio", "Corazon Culpable", "Pequeño Huracan" and
"Muchos Cambios" "amongothersSantos is
currently the best paid bachatero in the Dominican Republic. He held a concert
at Puerto Rico's Roberto Clemente Coliseum on May
12, 2007, and his record label is said to have been paid an unprecedented
US$90,000 for this one presentation alone