Grace Lands Recording Deal with Sony Music U.S. Latin

Leslie Grace has a new recording contract…

The 20-year-old Dominican-American singer, the youngest female to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Latin charts, has signed a recording deal with Sony Music U.S. Latin.

Leslie Grace

Under the new deal, Grace – who scored two No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart before she was 19 years old –will release an EP of new material likely in June. A first single will hit radio in May.

Grace, who was previously signed to Top Stop Music, the label launched by producer Sergio George (and also the first home of Prince Royce), tells Billboard in an exclusive interview that her new material will follow the bachata/pop vein of her previous fare.

“It will be very infused with lots of R&B and it’s infused with my roots, which are bachata,” says Grace, who speaks and sings in both English and Spanish. “We have a song called ‘Crazy Crazy’ and the introduction is very R&B and it has drums in there. But when the verse starts, it goes straight to bachata. It’s the two worlds I come from.”

Grace was born in New York City to Dominican parents and was raised straddling both cultures, much like Romeo Santos and Prince Royce.

She came to prominence with her debut single, a bilingual cover of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” which reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart in 2012. Grace released two albums on Top Stop, but going to Sony, she says, will allow her to take her music to other markets.

“A big focus is opening new markets for Leslie,” adds Sony Music U.S. Latin president Nir Seroussi, noting that Grace is also “very appealing” to brands.

Working with her, adds Seroussi, “is like a dream come true.”

Prince Royce Releases Brand New English-Language Song “Stuck on a Feeling”

Don’t get stuck on Prince Royce’s new sound; just enjoy the music…

The 25-year-old Dominican American singer-songwriter has released a brand new English-language song, “Stuck on a Feeling,” that doesn’t sound anything like his previous work.

Prince Royce

“My friends say it doesn’t sound like me,” Royce tells Billboard. “It’s a whole new vibe, a whole new swag, a whole new animal. But when I hear myself, I think it sounds like me; it’s just not a me that they’ve heard before.”

The “new” Royce sings rhythmic, urban pop in English, with a brand-new album due out next year on RCA Records and on this first track from that album, featuring Snoop Dogg, available for sale on November 24.

The sexy track, produced by Jason Evigan, takes Royce to places he’d never been before. While Royce has long been romantic, he’s never been as forwardly sexy as he is here. And while his urban bachata has been decidedly acoustic, in “Stuck,” he goes more for production and layered tracks.

“It’s a side of me that’s always been here, only people never got to hear it,” says Royce. “I think people never really got to hear my R&B vibe.”

Born and raised in the Bronx, Royce has both Latin and urban roots.

And while he started his career singing his contemporary take on bachata — the traditional music of the Dominican Republic — in his crossover bid to English, he’s taking a very different path.

“As soon as I heard the track, it took me back to New York and the Bronx and the urban vibe,” he says. “And from the beginning, I could hear Snoop doing it. So we reached out and it was amazing how fast he jumped on the track, and when I heard the verse it was exactly how I pictured it. We shot the music video in Los Angeles with director Colin Tilley [of ‘Anaconda‘ fame], and it was insane. It’s so much fun.”

The video shows Royce riding on an elevator that gets stuck. The lights flicker, and suddenly “it’s a whole new world. We don’t know if I’m dreaming or not,” says Royce. “In the last floor I meet up with Snoop Dogg. There’s choreography, there’s dancing. It’s a beautiful video. It’s definitely a big-budget video. It’s exciting.”

More exciting is the prospect of successfully crossing over from Spanish to English, something that hasn’t happened in a while. Royce, who was initially signed to indie Top Stop Music, signed a recording contract in 2013 with Sony Music Entertainment for the release of Spanish-language albums through Sony Music Latin and English-language albums via RCA Records.

The first of those English albums will be released sometime next year. Although Royce wouldn’t give more detail, he says there are collaborations aplenty with both Latin and mainstream acts.

More immediately, Royce is up for four Latin Grammys this week, more than he’s ever competed in, including record and song of the year for his hit single “Darte un Beso.”

“I’m excited for those nominations and for hopefully winning my first Latin Grammy. The fact that it’s bachata music makes it special. It’s a genre that just keeps growing and just being nominated is not so common.”

Prince Royce Signs Recording Contract with Sony Music Entertainment

Prince Royce’s future is at Sony… at least for the next few years…

The 23-year-old Dominican-American bachata singer-songwriter and soon-to-be La Voz Kids coach inked a contract with Sony Music Entertainment to release his next albums, the label reported this week.

Prince Royce

“I’m very excited about this new step in my career, which will help spread my music globally. I chose Sony because we share the same passion and vision about the direction we want to take my music and my career,” said Royce.

Prince Royce reached an agreement last February with his previous record label, Top Stop Music, to settle a legal battle that erupted when h decided unilaterally to break their contract.

Once a free agent, the winner of 12 Billboard Latin Music Awards was approached by a number of labels trying to sign him, but he finally picked Sony, which is home to artists like Shakira, Justin Timberlake and Usher.

Prince Royce will launch his first Sony album in Spanish next fall. Later, as stipulated in the contract, he will record his next pop discs in English for Sony’s RCA Records label.

“We are thrilled about the opportunity to work with such a dynamic Latin artist on his first English album,” RCA’s CEO Peter Edge, said in a statement.

Anthony Currently Recording New Salsa Album…

He’s  the top-selling tropical salsa artist of all time… And Marc Anthony’s ready to make you mover las caderas all over again…

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican singer is back in the studio recording his next record with noted producer Sergio George.

Marc Anthony

“We’re doing a salsa album with brand new songs,” confirmed George to Billboard.

Anthony is recording the album in Miami, with musicians being flown in from salsa capitals Puerto Rico and New York.

George, who recently launched the career of bachata-pop idol Prince Royce, worked with Anthony on the gold-selling Todo a su tiempo, and his 1993 salsa debut, Otra nota.

Anthony’s last studio album was 2010’s Iconos, which featured the singer’s emotive versions of classic love ballads made famous by Latin pop stars.

The idea for Anthony’s upcoming return to recording salsa came out of George and Anthony’s encounter at the Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival in August, where Anthony sang as part of George’s All Star Salsa Friends. The band of salsa legends included Anthony, along with Cheo Feliciano, José Alberto “El Canario”, Luis Enrique and other greats of the genre. George is preparing to put out a CD and DVD of that concert on his label, Top Stop Music, which also released Enrique’s 2012 Latin Grammy-winning salsa album Soy y sere.

“Salsa music is still very loved, very hot, but there aren’t a lot of good new salsa interpreters,” George remarked. “It’s still relying upon the legends who really can do it.”

George hinted that Anthony’s new album, to be released by Sony U.S. Latin, could re-invigorate the genre, just as Todo a su tiempo did in its day.

“There might be a couple of surprises on this album that people won’t expect from him,” George said, adding that a single could be out at the beginning of 2013. “This is totally new.”