Spanish Culture

Luis Fonsi is a Puerto Rican singer, composer, producer and instrumentalist with 17 years of experience in the music world. He is seen as a model of Latin American music, and has spearheaded the success of Latin music into the mainstream. A multi-award-winning artist, Fonsi has had an incredibly successful career, with 8 album releases and 7 tours across Latin America, the USA and parts of Europe to date.

• Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Orlando, Florida, Luis Fonsi has always had a strong interest in music having studied it at University
• A pioneer of the recent success of Latin music, Luis Fonsi has won many awards and has even turned his hand to acting on occasion

Shortly after his graduation from Florida State University, Luis Fonsi received a record deal from Universal Music Latino. His first album “Comenzaré” was released in 1991, and brought Fonsi success immediately as it reached number 11 on the Top Latin Album Billboard charts. This album was also very popular across other parts of Latin America, such as Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. In 2000, not only did Fonsi record a single with Christina Aguilera for her Spanish-language album, but he also released his second album “Etorno” which proved even more successful than his debut. It was in this year that Fonsi began to conquer the European market, as his music was becoming more and more popular in Spain in particular.

From this point onwards, Fonsi continued to release albums and singles in the Latin music world. His fifth, sixth and seventh albums debuted at number one on the Latin Music Billboard charts, and stayed there for long periods of time, which just shows his widespread popularity. In 2008, Fonsi broke into the pop Billboard Charts with his single “No Me Doy Por Vencido” for the first time, and while it only reached number 92, his fame in the United States was growing. This song also received the accolade of becoming the Latin Pop Song of the Decade. Fonsi received his Latin Grammy in 2009 for “Aqui Estoy Yo”.

As well as these Billboard successes, Luis Fonsi has had many gold and platinum albums across numerous countries such as: Mexico, Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Colombia, as well as several countries in Central America. Aside from his Latin Grammy, he has also received eight Lo Nuestro awards, five Billboard Awards, ten Juventud prizes, an ASCAP Voice of Music Award, as well as several others, and he has also received honours at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival for his performances on three separate occasions.

Luis Fonsi gained some success in acting, and this is something he wishes to pursue further. His first acting role was in Corazones al limite, a Mexican telenovela, in which he played Roy, and he featured in a two-week run of Forever Tango on Broadway in 2013. Aside from this, Fonsi also represents the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital that is based in Memphis; he is the Spanish-speaking representative.