Jean Carlos Jiménez Centeno (born November 11 in

Cabimas Cabimas is a city on the shore of Maracaibo Lake in Zulia State in northwestern Venezuela. In 2005, its population was around 200,859. Before 1900, Venezuela was known to possess commercial quantities of petroleum. One major find was the 'Zumaqu ...

Zulia Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...

) is a

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n singer and composer of vallenato, bolero and salsa. Centeno gained fame as singer and composer for the vallenato group Binomio de Oro de America. On December 31, 2005 Centeno left the Binomio de Oro to pursue his own vallenato group along accordionist Juan Fernando "Morre" Romero. In 2006 Centeno and Romero released the album '' Ave Libre''.

Early years

Centeno's parents are Ebel Jiménez and Miryan Centeno whom as a child, with only 3 months old, took him to

Villanueva, La Guajira Villanueva is a town and municipality located in the northern Department of La Guajira, Colombia. Villanueva is known in Colombia for being the cradle of many vallenato singers and composers. The economy of the town relies heavily on agriculture a ...

, in

and left him with María Elena Jiménez due to financial hardships. Centeno's grandfather Reynaldo was a musician, played the trumpet and the drums. At the age of 14 years financial hardships forced him to work on the streets selling snacks, worked as a farm boy and took care of kids to survive. He traveled around town in the

Department of La Guajira La Guajira () is a department of Colombia. It occupies most of the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, on the Caribbean Sea and bordering Venezuela, at the northernmost tip of South America. The capital city of the departm ...

also singing at parties. He dreamed of becoming a ballads singer or soap opera actor. In 1992 participated along Poncho Cotes Jr in a song contest in the Colombian town of

San Juan del Cesar San Juan del Cesar is a municipality and town located in the La Guajira Department, Colombia. Etymology San Juan Bautista del Cesar name in en, John the Baptist and ''Chet-tzar'' or ''Sasare'' indigenous language for calm water, the name of the ...

, in La Guajira. The song "Un ángel mas en el cielo" of his authorship was a dedication to his role model singer

Rafael Orozco Maestre Rafael José Orozco Maestre (March 24, 1954 – June 11, 1992) was a Colombian singer of vallenato music. He was one of the major representatives of Colombian popular folk music and was lead singer and co-founder, alongside fellow accordionist ...

, then recently deceased, and lead singer of the Binomio de Oro de America vallenato group.

Israel Romero Israel Romero Ospino or popularly known as "El Pollo Isra" (Born in Villanueva, La Guajira, Villanueva, Department of La Guajira, La Guajira in 1954) is a Colombian vallenato musician, composer and accordionist. Romero was along Rafael Orozco Mae ...

the accordionist from the Binomio de Oro de America became interested on Centeno's talent and hired him as backup singer for the group. Centeno sang the group hits "''No te vayas''", "''Celos''", "''Manantial de amor''", among others and also got to be recorded by the Binomio de Oro; "''Volvió el dolor''", "''Me ilusioné''", "''Amigo el corazón''" and "''Me vas a extrañar''".

Discography

With Binomio de Oro de America

*1993 - '' Todo Corazón'' *1994 - '' De la Mano con el Pueblo'' *1995 - ''

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 ...

'' Centeno and Jorgito Celedon became lead singers *1996 - ''

A su Gusto A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' *1997 - '' Seguimos por lo Alto'' *1998 - ''

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

'' *1999 - ''

Más cerca de tí Mas, Más or MAS may refer to: Film and TV * Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series * "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad'' Songs * ''Más'' (album), by Spa ...

'' *2000 - '' Difícil de Igualar'' *2001 - ''

Haciendo Historia ''Haciendo Historia'' (''Making History'') is Xtreme's second album. The album contains the singles "Shorty, Shorty" and " ¿Adónde Se Fue?". The album has sold 18,000 copies as of February 2007. On November 20, 2007, the Platinum Edition was r ...

'' *2003 - '' Que Viva el Vallenato'' *2004 - '' En todo su Esplendor'' *2005 - '' Grafiti de Amor'' On December 31, 2005 Centeno decided to leave Binomio de Oro and joined initially accordionist Robert Urbina, but later teamed up with

's nephew, Juan Fernando "El Morre" Romero to create their own vallenato group.

With Morre Romero and Ronald Urbina

*2006 - '' Ave Libre'' *2008 - ''Inconfundible''

With Ronald Urbina

*2012 - '' Asi Canto Yo''

References

External links

*
Jean Carlos Centeno official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centeno, Jean Carlos 1968 births Living people People from Cabimas 20th-century Colombian male singers Vallenato musicians Venezuelan emigrants to Colombia 21st-century Colombian male singers