Frankie Negrón (born January 21, 1977, in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.salsa music Salsa music is a style of Latin American music. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most songs considered as salsa are primarily based on son montun ...

and actor of Puerto Rican descent. He is among a group of notable young tropical singers and ''soneros'' who have woven a blend of pop, rock,

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

, R&B, hip-hop, and

reggaetón Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American hip hop, ...

elements into their salsa, a group that includes

Huey Dunbar Huey Dunbar (born Eustace Dunbar IV; May 15, 1974) is the former singer of Dark Latin Groove. Born in New York City, New York to a Puerto Rican mother and a Jamaican father, he was exposed to music since his earliest years due to his parents' musi ...

Charlie Cruz Charlie Cruz (born 3 April 1975 in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico) is one of the new stars of the Salsa music genre. His start was well received by fans of Salsa music. Career Born in 1975 in Puerto Rico Cruz was the oldest of seven siblings. He liv ...

, Kevin Ceballo, and

Obie Bermúdez Obie Bermúdez (born January 10, 1981) is a Puerto Rican Latin pop, salsa singer and composer. Early years Bermúdez was born in Aibonito, Puerto Rico into a family who loved music. His father and grandfather were both musicians. He received ...

. Siblings include a younger sister, Jaqueline Negrón (Jackie Negrón), who is also a singer and dancer, and a brother, David Negrón.

Early life

Frankie attended

Newark Arts High School Newark Arts High School is a four-year magnet public high school, serving students in Ninth through twelfth grades in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Newark Public Schools. The school is located in t ...

in the early 90s gaining notoriety as part of an R&B singing group called Base Harmony (the other members at this time were Sean Pulley, Dionte Sutton, Kwhan Jarmond, and Bobby Bright). As part of Base Harmony, Frankie sang for audiences in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

, Newark City Hall, The United in Group Harmony Association, and various clubs and venues around the tri-state area. It was during this period with Base Harmony that Frankie reinforced his already great vocal talents with an understanding of soul singing, complex group harmony, and stage performance that he'd draw from later in his musical career. Fluent in both English and Spanish, Frankie was raised in New Jersey primarily as an English speaker, but developed his initial love of salsa from his father's record collection. He sings almost exclusively in Spanish, but converses and jokes with his audiences in both languages. The first of his seven studio albums to date, ''Con Amor Se Gana'' (roughly translatable as "Love Conquers All"), was released in May 1997. His last salsa release, ''Mejor Que Nunca'' ("Better than Ever"), was released in August 2006. Frankie Negrón also has tried his hand at acting.

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

, conducting an audition of Base Harmony for the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

musical ''

The Capeman ''The Capeman'' is a musical play with music by Paul Simon and book and lyrics by Simon and Derek Walcott based on the life of convicted murderer Salvador Agrón. The play opened at the Marquis Theatre in 1998 to poor reviews and ran for 68 p ...

'', immediately recognized Frankie as someone worth watching and gave him a supporting role in the play as part of the "Doo Wop Group Ensemble" (cast under the name Frank Negro

. Frankie and members of Base Harmony also participated in the recording of the play's soundtrack CD "

Songs From The Capeman ''Songs from The Capeman'' is the ninth solo studio album by Paul Simon, released in 1997. His first new studio album of original materials in seven years, it contains Simon's own performances of songs from the Broadway musical he wrote and produc ...

". Also, in 2000 Frankie starred as a struggling artist in the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

in Val Lik's independent film, ''

Boricua's Bond ''Boricua's Bond'' is a 2000 American drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with ...

'

His singing career has been far more successful, evidenced by two Gold Album awards, for ''Con Amor Se Gana'' and ''No Me Compares'' ("Don't Compare Me"), and nine Billboard Top 40 Hot Latin Tracks to date. Frankie has also earned Grammy Award nominations, ''Billboard'' Award nods and two Premio Lo Nuestro Awards for Song of the Year. In an All Music Guide review, Frankie is referred to as "the genre's next definitive voice." Negrón appeared on the American soap opera ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'' on August 5, 2009, to perform music from his then upcoming album ''Independence Day''. on Airgo Music. The Jimmy Greco produced ''Independence Day'' was released in September 2009 as the singer's first crossover into the English market. Negrón's CD got enthusiastic reviews, with Jon Pareles of the ''New York Times'' highlighting the CD in his Fall record release roundup. Airgo are currently in the process of re-releasing I''ndependence Day'' with Negrón's performance of the

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penned song "No Reply," mixed by

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1963) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at The Hit Factory in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground f ...

. He came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

in December 2022.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Con Amor Se Gana'' (1997) *'' No Me Compares'' (1998) *''Lo Que Llevo Por Dentro'' (1999) *''Por Tu Placer'' (2001) *''Inesperado'' (2003) *''Amanecer Contigo'' (2005) (nomitaded at

Lo Nuestro The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro (Spanish for "Our Thing") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music, presented by Univision, a Spanish-language television network based in the United States. The awards began in ...

2006 for the tropical album of the year) *Mejor Que Nunca (2006) – produced by

Sergio George Sergio George (born May 23, 1961) is an American pianist, arranger, and record producer, known for working with many famous performers of salsa music, although he has worked in other genres of the music industry as well. He has worked with som ...

& Diego Galé *''No Vuelvo Contigo'' (2007)

Compilation

*''Siempre Frankie'' (2003)

Singles

Sourcle: AllmusicFrankie Negron Billboard Singles
Allmusic 1997 * Inolvidable (Hot Latin Tracks No. 20, Latin Tropical Airplay #1) *Hoy Me Vuelto a Enamorar (Hot Latin Tracks No. 5, Latin Tropical Airplay #1) *Una Gota de Lluvia (Latin Tropical Airplay #14) 1998 *Agua Pasada (Hot Latin Tracks No. 3, Latin Tropical Airplay #1) *Princesa (Hot Latin Tracks No. 8, Latin Tropical Airplay #2) 1999 *No Me Compares (Latin Tropical Airpaly #18) 2000 *Remolino (Hot Latin Tracks No. 28, Latin Tropical Airplay #6) *Enamorado de Ti (Hot Latin Tracks No. 12, Latin Tropical Airplay #3) 2001 *Comerte a Besos (Hot Latin Tracks No. 25, Latin Tropical Airplay #2) *Por Tu Placer (Hot Latin Tracks No. 30, Latin Tropical Airplay #5) 2003 *Mi Mulata (Latin Tropical Airplay #23) *Hasta Que Te Enamores (Latin Tropical Airplay #13) 2005 *Lento (Latin Tropical Airplay #17) *Todo Es Mentira (Latin Tropical Airplay #6) 2006 *No Vuelvo Contigo (Latin Tropical Airplay #24) 2009 *Holding on to Love/Adicto a Tu Piel (Latin Tropical Airplay #3) 2011 *Quemaré mi cama

References