Victor Manuelle

Vorlage:For Vorlage:Unreferenced Vorlage:Infobox Musical artist Victor Manuelle (born Víctor Manuel Ruiz on September 28, 1970 in New York, New York, is a successful 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 the salsa music genre he loves.

Discovery and early career

Although born in New York, Victor was raised primarily in Añasco and Isabela, Puerto Rico). 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.

Thanks again to Santa Rosa, Manuelle was eventually signed as a solo artist to Sony Tropical. His debut album, Justo A Tiempo ("Just in Time"), which Santa Rosa produced, was released in 1993. (A list of his albums and notable songs appears in the Victor Manuelle discography.)

2000s

Victor 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 capella 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.)

Songwriting

Manuelle also is an increasingly accomplished and prolific songwriter, and now records mostly material he has written or co-written himself. His favorite composition, however, he wrote for Gilberto Santa Rosa: 2003's huge salsa hit Si Te Dijeron ("If They Told You").

Recent activity

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, Victor 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. In 2008, Manuelle announced his new upcoming album, Soy ("I am), will be released June 10, 2008. Manuelle was one of several artists selected to perform in "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 locations.

Awards and recognitions

Victor Manuelle has won several awards during his 14 year career. Some of those Awards/Recognitions are as follow:

Billboard Latin Music Awards

2002 Tropical/Salsa Airplay Track of The Year: "Me Da Lo Mismo"
2005 Tropical Airplay Track Of The Year, Male: "Tengo Ganas"
2007 Tropical Album Of The Year, Male: "Decision Unanime"

Premio Lo Nuestro

2007 Tropical Salsa- Artista Año

Other awards

1999 “Distinguished Youngster in Music” award bestowed by the Senate of Puerto Rico
2005 ASCAP Latin Awards: Songwriter of the Year
2005 People En Espanol: 50 Hombres ma Bellos
2001-07 Premios Tu Musica

Personal details

Victor Manuelle is a divorced father of three (two girls and a boy), who says he prefers to spend his free time with his children and family, and playing pick-up basketball. He was romantically linked to actress Roselyn Sanchez for several years, until they ended their relationship in December 2005. He is reportedly known to his family by the nickname Vinki.

External links

• Victor Manuelle on the Internet Movie dataBase
• Fan Club Internacional Del Sonero de la Juventud-USA
• Unofficial Fan Club for Mexico
• Artista Destacado - Billboard En Español
• Victor Manuelle, Nuevas Canciones - Billboard En Español