Alejandro Sanz to Make Special Appearance at This Year’s Billboard Latin Music Week

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Sanz has achieved Icon status…

The 55-year-old Spanish Grammy-winning singer and songwriter will take part in this year’s Billboard Latin Music Week.

Sanz, a four-time Grammy and 22-time Latin Grammy winner, will sit down for an exclusive Icon Q&A.

Sanz joins a star-studded lineup for the five-day event, featuring exclusive panels, conversations and performances by Latin music’s biggest stars.

Previously announced participants include Bad Gyal, Belinda, Camila Fernández, Chiquis, DANNA, Danny Ocean, Dei V, Domelipa, Eslabon Armado, Fat Joe, Gloria Estefan, J Balvin, JOP, Keityn, Kunno, Lele Pons, Luis Alfonso, Lupita Infante, Majo Aguilar, María Becerra, Marko, Mau y Ricky, Mon Laferte, N.O.R.E., Omar Courtz, Paola Jara, Peso Pluma, Pipe Bueno, Sophia Talamas, Yahritza y Su Esencia, Yeison Jiménez, Yeri Mua and Zhamira Zambrano, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

“It’s an honor to welcome Alejandro as he prepares to release new music,” says Leila Cobo, Billboard’s Chief Content Officer for Latin and Español, in a press release. “We pride ourselves in being a home for artists where they can speak creatively and openly, and we can’t wait to hear what Alejandro has to say.”

Sanz’s Icon Q&A marks his return to Latin Music Week after he sat for an exclusive conversation in 2003.

From his debut in 1991 with Viviendo Deprisa to his album of the year Latin Grammy-nominated latest studio album SANZ, released in December 2021, Sanz has established himself as one of the most well-known and influential artists around the world.

With more than 25 million records sold, all his albums have obtained multi-platinum status in Spain, Latin America and the United States.

Throughout his career, Sanz has collaborated with renowned artists from all over the world, from Alicia Keys to Shakira, Destiny’s Child, Laura Pausini, Ivete Sangalo, Juanes, Juan Luis Guerra, Marc Anthony and many more.

Among his latest releases are “NASA” with Camilo; “La Despedida,” included in the soundtrack of the movie Bullet Train; and “Yo Soy” with Eros Ramazzotti.

He recently obtained his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was honored by his hometown of Andalucía with the city’s highest distinction, a medal with the title of “Favorite Son.”

Celebrating its 35th anniversary, Billboard Latin Music Week will take place October 14-18 at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater. Tickets are available for purchase here.

Karol G to Co-Headline This Year’s Rock in Rio Festival

Posted on April 20, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Karol G is ready to rock…

The 33-year-old Colombian Grammy-winning singer/songwriter will co-headline this year’s Rock in Rio, one of the biggest music festivals in Brazil.

Karol G has been added to the line-up, which will include performances from Mariah Carey, Ludmilla and many other artists.

The very first Rock in Rio festival took place in 1985. The line-up included music icons like Queen, Tina Turner, AC/DC, Rod Stewart and Iron Maiden. Since then, many other global stars like Britney Spears, Shakira, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Paul McCartney and Drake have performed at the multi-day festival.

This year, Rock in Rio will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the festival in a big way. The event will take place over two weekends, Sept. 13 to 15 and 19 to 22, at the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro.

Karol G was added as a co-headliner to the September 20 date. She’s currently touring Latin America with her Mañana Será Bonito Tour. The tour will visit Brazil on May 10 in São Paulo. Her fans in Brazil will get a second chance to see her in Rio de Janeiro for Rock in Rio. She’ll headline the Palco Mundo (World Stage) that day with Katy Perry, Cyndi Lauper and Ivete Sangalo.

Brazilian superstar Ludmilla is one of the co-headliners on the September 13 date. She recently performed on the main stage of the Coachella music festival. Travis Scott, 21 Savage, and Matuê, Teto & Wiu will also headline the Palco Mundo. Mariah Carey will headline the Palco Sunset (Sunset Stage) on September 22. Other performers to look out for over those two weekends include Lulu Santos, DENNIS, Gloria Groove, Iza, Ed Sheeran, Charlie Puth, Imagine Dragons and One Republic.

Next month, the 2024 Rock in Rio Lisboa will first take place. From June 15 to 16 and 22 to 23, Camila Cabello, Jonas Brothers, Aitana, Doja Cat, Sheeran and many others will perform at the precursor festival to the one later happening in Rio de Janeiro.

Sangalo Debuts on Billboard’s Social 50 Chart

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Ivete Sangalo has sambaed her way onto a soclal chart…

The 44-year-old Brazilian singer makes her first appearance on Billboard’s Social 50 chart, bowing at No. 14 on the list dated March 18 following a flurry of activity around the 2017 Rio Carnival (February 17-March 5).

Sangalo’s arrival follows two weeks during which she performed at the event and was even named Carnival Queen by a fan-voted poll on Billboard.com, besting countrywoman and fellow singer Claudia Leitte. (It was a distinction Sangalo shared on social media, thanking her fans.)

She garnered 6.4 million Instagram reactions and 252,000 new followers on the service in the tracking week ending March 5, according to Next Big Sound. Her No. 14 debut also gives the singer her first Billboard chart appearance on a ranking that is not specific to Brazil.

Lopez: The Most Followed Hispanic Celebrity on Twitter in 2014

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Jennifer Lopez is all atwitter…

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican singer/actress and American Idol judge has made Twitter’s list of the Top 100 accounts with the most followers in 2014.

Lopez, who has 30,024,935 followers, takes the No. 14 spot on the list and is the highest-ranking Latino/a entertainer/celebrity on this year’s chart. In all, 17 Hispanic celebrities have made this year’s final count.

Nipping at la Lopez’s “Louboutins” is Shakira.

The 37-year-old Colombian superstar comes in at No. 15 on the list with 28,228,559 followers.

Demi Lovato ranks as the third-highest charting Latino/a on the list. The 22-year-old part-Mexican American singer/actress and former The X Factor judge is ranked No. 18, with 25,802,236 followers.

Here’s a look at the other Latino/a celebrities on Twitter’s year-old list:

No. 20 Selena Gomez 25,164,292
No. 25 Kaka 21,562,716
No. 30 Bruno Mars 19,427,935
No 36 Pitbull 18,648,341
No. 44 Neymar Jr. 15,677,899
No. 46 Mariah Carey 15,234,039
No, 58 Christina Aguilera 13,563,729
No. 76 Alejandro Sanz 11,837,809
No. 82 Ivete Sangalo 11,437,396
No, 84 Charie Sheen 11,328,352
No. 85 Ricky Martin 11,239,789
No. 86 Ronaldinho Gaúcho 11,180,564
No. 95 Andrés Iniesta 9,998,061
No. 96 Claudia Leitte 9,962,698

Click here to see the complete list.

Shakira Performs “La La La (Brazil 2014)” at the FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a red-hot record-setting performance for Shakira in Brazil…

The 37-year-old Colombian singer performed “La La La (Brazil 2014)” at the closing ceremony of this year’s FIFA World Cup.

Banging on a Carnaval drum while sizzling in a red dress made up of sequined straps and a revealing fringe skirt, Shakirae was accompanied by samba dancers, Brazilian percussionists and Brazilian collaborator Carlinhos Brown, wearing a black tie and an Indian headdress.

It was the third consecutive appearance at the World Cup for Shakira, a first for a musical act.

Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” feat. Freshlyground, was the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and she also performed “Hips Don’t Lie” at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Berlin.

Shakira was immediately followed by Santana, Wyclef and Alexandre Pires, who gave an inspired live performance of the official World Cup anthem “Dar Um Jeito (We Will Find a Way).”

By the time Brazilian superstar Ivete Sangalo came out to sing, the crowd was jumping in the stands.

A roar went up in the stadium at the end of the 20-minute show, which came before the final match between Argentina and Germany. As a finale, all of the artists danced together on the field, Shakira holding her toddler son, Milan.

The closing ceremony, though brief, was an appropriately celebratory kickoff for the last game of the global tournament. It was a bittersweet sendoff for Brazil, which suffered an embarrassing defeat to Germany and ended up in fourth place after a 3-0 game against the Netherlands.

After the unprecedented success of her 2010 World Cup South Africa anthem “Waka Waka,” Shakira made a bid for this year’s World Cup with the Brazil 2014 version of her single “Dare.” The song was not awarded official FIFA song or anthem status but was included as a cut on the World Cup album.

The video posted on Shakira’s Vevo channel has more than 220 million views, besting Pitbull’s “We Are One,” which has almost 189 million.

Sangalo Preparing to Launch Five-City U.S. Tour…

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Ivete Sangalo is ready to conquer America with her untiring Brazilian party music.

The 41-year-old Brazilian Axé and MPB singer, songwriter, actress and television host is preparing to celebrate her 20-year music career with a five-city U.S. tour that will take her to the West Coast for the first time.

Sangalo, known for her all-singing, all-dancing, high-energy extravaganzas that come as close to Brazil’s over-the-top Carnival celebrations as one can get, expects to see more than a few “gringos” during her tour, thanks to her growing reputation among non-Brazilians.

“My public is growing outside of Brazil. Every time I play out of the country there are more and more local people, thanks to all the Brazilians who act as ambassadors for my music,” said Sangalo, who will kick off her Real Fantasia Tour 2013 on August 9 in Oakland, Calif. She’ll also visit Los Angeles; Lynn, Mass.; and Newark, N.J., before wrapping in Miami on Aug. 17.

“I’m going to places I’ve never performed before so I have to cure a lot of homesickness. I have to give the fans what they like,” said Sangalo in a phone interview from her home in Salvador, Bahia.

In Brazil, Sangalo is the undisputed Queen of Axe (ah-SHAY) music – a doubled-timed party sound that fuses Brazilian rhythms like samba and frevo with rock, reggae and calypso styles. It is the sound of Bahia’s weeklong Carnival- which differs from the better known blow-out in Rio where samba is king – and Sangalo, a statuesque brunette with a voice like a trumpet, reigns over it, singing from the top of a huge sound truck for six hours or more at a stretch.

“My music reaches a lot of different (people),” Sangalo said.

The Latin Grammy winner released the album Real Fantasia last year.

Guerra Leads Pack of Latin Grammy Nominees

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He’s one of the most internationally renowned Latin artists in the world… And, now Juan Luis Guerra is this year’s most recognized Latin musician, at least when it comes to receiving Latin Grammy love.

During a special press conference at the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles, it was announced that the 55-year-old Dominican singer, songwriter and producer has earned six nominations for this year’s Latin Grammy Awards, receiving the most nods of any of the artists nominated for the awards show’s thirteenth installment.

Guerra—a 12-time Latin Grammy winner for his distinctive blend of merengue, bolero, bachata and rock—is nominated for record and song of the year for his gospel-tinged single “En El Cielo No Hay Hospital.”

The veteran music star also scored a nod in the Producer of the Year category for his work on Juanes’ MTV Unplugged album, among other musical projects.

Meanwhile, Mexican brother-sister pop duo Jesse & Joy, winners of the best new artist Latin Grammy in 2007, earned five nods heading into Latin music’s biggest night.

The duo earned nods in the big three categories — album, record, and song of the year — for their third studio set ¿Con Quién Se Queda El Perro? and their song “Corre!”

Guatemalan singer Ricardo Arjona, Colombian rocker Juanes, Cuban musician Arturo Sandoval, Brazilian singer-songwriter Ivete Sangalo and Brazilian singer-composer Caetano Veloso joined music engineer Edgar Barrera and Mexican pop singer Carla Morrison with four nominations each.

The Latin Grammy Awards will take place on November 15 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The show will be broadcast live on Univision from 8:00 – 11:00 pm ET.

Click here for a complete look at this year’s Latin Grammy nominees.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: Ivete Sangalo