Luis Figueroa (born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, U.S., on September 18, 1989) is a

singer and songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition, although this role has transmuted th ...

of Puerto Rican origin of the

Latin pop Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...

music genre. He studied at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

and in his teens he participated in shows such as

Star Search ''Star Search'' was an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 2929 Productions from 2003 to 2004. On both versio ...

Sábado Gigante Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. The day's na ...

and

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

. He has gained international recognition after covering songs by artists like Elijah Blake,

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, '' I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'', ...

, and

Omarion Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actor and dancer. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the boy band B2K. The group achieved success in the e ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. As a result of his version of "Flor Palida" he caught the attention of singer

Marc Anthony Marco Antonio Muñiz Rivera (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. A three-time Grammy Award and six-time Latin Gra ...

, which led him to sign an agreement with ''Magnus'', the salsa star’s

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. In 2018 he accompanied

Romeo Santos Anthony "Romeo" Santos (born July 21, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor who is best known as the frontman and lead vocalist of the bachata group Aventura. In 2002, the song " Obsesión" reached number one in It ...

as a vocalist on three of his international tours, including the world tour "''Golden Tour".'' In 2019, he released his first single for

Sony Music Latin Sony Music Entertainment US Latin LLC (often referred to as Sony Music Latin) is a record label owned by Sony Music. The label focuses on artists of Latin music. History In 1979, CBS Records (now Columbia Records) ended its partnership with C ...

, ''“La Especialista”'', which reached ''number 27'' on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Latin Pop Airplay Latin Pop Airplay (also referred to as Latin Pop Songs) is a record chart published on ''Billboard'' magazine and a subchart of the Latin Airplay chart. The chart focuses on Latin pop music, namely Spanish-language pop music. It was established b ...

chart, remaining for ''8 weeks'', and the pre-release

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from his debut album, ''“Te Deseo ”,'' peaked at number ''24'' on

chart, spending ''11 weeks'' on ''billboard.'' He has received an ''award'' at the Premios Juventud (2016) for his version of “ Flor Pálida”, performing with Marc Anothony live on the Univisión channel. In 2021, he was nominated for ''"Best Pop Artist"'' at the 2021 HTV Heat Latin Music Awards.

Early years

During his upbringing in his mother's Puerto Rican home, he was captivated by the music that surrounded him, based on its origins in

Aibonito Aibonito () is a small mountain town and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the Sierra de Cayey mountain range, north of Salinas; south of Barranquitas and Comerío; east of Coamo; and west of Cidra, and Cayey. Aibonito is spread over 8 ' ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. He started playing the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

at a young age, and his interest in

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, as well as his vocal performance, led him to have early recognition in the Puerto Rican musical community, collaborating with artists such as

Johnny Rivera Johnny Rivera is an American salsa singer of Puerto Rican descent. Rivera was born in the Bronx, NY, and attended high school at Benjamin Franklin High School. He moved briefly to Puerto Rico before returning to New York City to begin a care ...

La India Linda Viera Caballero (born March 9, 1969), better known as La India, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter of salsa, house music and Latin pop. La India has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, winning the Latin Grammy Aw ...

, and

Domingo Quiñones Domingo Quiñones is a singer of salsa music. He is also a composer, producer and actor. Domingo Quinones was born on August 9, 1963, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. When he was four years old he moved to Puerto Rico with his parents and lived in C ...

Musical career

As a teenager, he was a contestant on the talent shows

, in 2003, and American Idol (Season Six), in 2007. In 2007 he also entered the

in Boston, and the following year began to upload versions of songs to the

platform. His version of ''Luke James''´ ''"I Want You"'' was seen by one of the song's co-authors,

Nasri Atweh Nasri Tony Atweh ( ar, نصري طوني عطوة, born 10 January 1981), known mononymously as Nasri, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is the lead vocalis ...

, lead singer of the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

group

Magic! Magic! (stylized in all uppercase) is a Canadian reggae fusion band based in Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of lead vocalist, guitarist/producer Nasri Atweh, guitarist/keyboardist Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer, and bassist Ben Spivak. Active si ...

Atweh, who invites him to travel to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and work with him on

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

music production A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. In 2014 he uploaded his version of '' Flor pálida,'' by

. In 2015, while in Malaga, Spain, he found out through Atweh that his YouTube videos had been viewed by singer

. The following year, Luis signed with Magnus Media, Marc Anthony's

entertainment company Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousand ...

. The night of the signing, he received an award from

Premios Juventud Premios Juventud (Youth Awards) is an awards show for Spanish-speaking celebrities in the areas of film, music, sports, fashion, and pop culture, presented by the television network Univision. Winners are determined by online vote at univision.com ...

for his version of Marc's “ Flor Pálida”, which the two performed together live on Univisión television network. In 2017 he appeared at the

Billboard Latin Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards grew out of the ''Billboard'' Music Awards program from ''Billboard'' magazine, an industry publication charting the sales and radio airplay success of musical recordings. The ''Billboard'' awards are the La ...

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...

, televised internationally for all of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. That same year he released his single, ''"Hopeless"'' under the ''Magnus Media'' label, and accompanied

as a vocalist on three of his international tours, including the ''Golden Tour'' in 2018. Combining his musical career with

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

, he spent six months in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

filming the musical-themed series Guerra De Ídolos (2017), playing the fictional urban artist ''Diego Santillán'' and singing the show's t''heme song.'' In 2018 he collaborated with Norwegian EDM artist

Matoma Tom Stræte Lagergren (born 29 May 1991), professionally known as Matoma, is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. Early life Lagergren was born in Åsnes, Norway. He started playing the piano as a child. During that period, he won a contest t ...

, on the single ''"Telepatía"''.

“La Especialista” and debut cover-album "Canciones del Alma"

In 2019, he released his first single with

, ''“La Especialista”'' which peaked at ''number 27'' on

chart and spent ''8 weeks'' on the charts. In February 2020, he released the cumbia fust single, ''“Te Deseo”'', as an official pre-release to his ''debut album'', which peaked at ''number 24'' on

chart and spent ''11 weeks'' on the billboard. In April 2021, he released the cover of “Hasta el Sol de Hoy”. The original song was written by Oscar Domingo Derudi. It became a hit in 1993 when it was recorded by Edgar Joel and his orchestra along with Luis's uncle Anthony Colón. Luis' cover was released in two versions: one acoustic and one salsa and that was the first single from his debut, full-length cover-album "Canciones del Alma" which was released in May 2021. In an interview he gave to SounDarts.gr he mentioned ''"I wanted to take the opportunity for people to get to know me a little bit through songs that they are familiar with. Also I wanted them to really see and hear me to the capacity that I can use my voice. I think, there was no better moment for this to be the first album and something that people would really get to listen to because the familiarity of the songs is what is gonna get their attention"''. In addition to April 2021, Luis was featured on the Billboard: Latin Artist on the Rise article highlighting his accomplishments thus far. Luis joined Marc Anthony's Pa'lla Voy Tour in October, November and December as a special guest. Luis received his first number #1 on Tropical Billboard Airplay with ''"Hasta el Sol de Hoy"'' on July 27 2021, making this one of his greatest accomplishments and quoting Marc Anthony saying "Esto Sigue." Follow up single, ''" Si Tu Me Dices Ven"'' became his second consecutive #1 when it topped the Mediabase Tropical Chart in late November. "Canciones del Alma" visual album was released on Youtube in November 2021 which included songs, ''"Tù con Él", "Qué Hay de Malo", "Historia de Un Amor"'' and more following a TV special that premiered on Telemundo Puerto Rico.

Contributions as a composer

As a songwriter, he has collaborated with artists such as

Sebastián Yatra Sebastián Obando Giraldo (born 15 October 1994), known professionally as Sebastián Yatra, is a Colombian singer, songwriter and actor. He began as a Latin pop artist and has recorded many ballads, but has released several successful reggaeton ...

and Lary Over, on the urban pop hit ''"Por Perro"'', which has amassed more than 590 million views on

and peaked at ''No. 16'' on Billboard's Latin Pop Songs. ''“Por Perro”'' has also been certified Quadruple Platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, and was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2019 HTV

Heat Latin Music Awards The Heat Latin Music Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the HTV cable channel, which is usually held in early June, that honors the year's biggest Latin music acts, as voted by HTV viewers. The show features numerous celebrity guests an ...

. He wrote the spanish version of ''“Cross Your Mind”'' for

Sabrina Claudio Sabrina Claudio (born September 19, 1996) is an American singer and songwriter. In late 2016, Claudio uploaded several songs to SoundCloud, before compiling a select collection as part of her debut extended play, ''Confidently Lost'', which was ...

featured on the

Fifty Shades Freed ''Fifty Shades Freed'' is the third and final installment of the erotic romance ''Fifty Shades Trilogy'' by British author E. L. James. After accepting entrepreneur CEO Christian Grey's proposal in '' Fifty Shades Darker'', Anastasia Steele m ...

''Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''.

Songs

* "Flor Palida" (2016) * "Hopeless" (2017) * "Por perro" (2019) * "La Especialista" (2019) * "Te Deseo" (2020) * "Recuerda" (2021) * "9PM" (2021) * "PrimeraVez" (2021) * "DimePorque" (2021) * "Tírame" (2021) * "Desigual" (2021) * "Vuela - Remix" (2021) * "Hasta El Sol de Hoy" (2021)

Albums

* 1807 ( 2021) * Canciones del Alma (2021)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Figueroa, Luis 1989 births Living people American male pop singers 21st-century Puerto Rican male singers Spanish-language singers