Sergio George (born May 23, 1961) is an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, arranger, and

record producer 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 ...

, 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 some of Latin music's most popular artists starting with Marc Anthony, DLG, Jennifer Lopez,

Tito Nieves Humberto "Tito" Nieves (born June 4, 1959; also known "El Pavarotti de la Salsa") is a Puerto Rican musician who became one of the leading salsa singers of the 1980s and the early 1990s. Born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, and raised in the Unite ...

Víctor Manuelle Víctor Manuel Ruiz Velázquez (born September 27, 1968), known professionally as Víctor Manuelle, is an American salsa musician, known to his fans as ''El Sonero de la Juventud'' ("The Singer Of Youths"). He is identified primarily with ''s ...

, Frankie Negrón,

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 car ...

, Ray Sepúlveda,

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz ...

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Orquesta de la Luz is a Japanese salsa band that was formed in 1984, and began performing and recording in 1989. The band sings in Spanish and is led by vocalist Nora Shoji, who returned to traditional salsa after the band broke up in the mid-1990s. It became wid ...

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, Celia Cruz,

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 ...

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, Bacilos,

Leslie Grace Leslie Grace Martínez (born January 7, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. For her work as a singer she has received three Latin Grammy Award nominations. She starred as Nina Rosario in Jon M. Chu's film adaptation ''In the Hei ...

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, Liz Elias, Indy Flow, among others.

Biography

George, the son of Puerto Rican parents, was born and raised in New York City, and attended the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

. He had started his professional career with Conjunto Caché and Conjunto Clásico in 1979, then moved on to session recordings and live performances during the 1980s. Starting in 1987, George was musical director for several album recordings, including being pianist for Grupo Star for their 1987 album "Grupo Star", and lived in Colombia for a year. During this period he was also a member of Grupo Baruc and their release of the album "Reeencuentro" in 1988. It was not until he became the producer of Tito Nieves's first album "The Classic" for RMM in 1988 that his status as one of the most sought-after salsa producers was stamped. Also in 1988, he was the producer and musical director for Johnny & Ray's (later became Johnny Ray) first album "Mascarada" with vocalist Ray Sepulveda. George later became the main visionary behind the New York-based Latin label

RMM Records & Video RMM Records, also known as RMM Records & Video Corp, was an independent Latin music record label established in 1987 and based in New York City. The label was most active during the late 1980s and early 1990s and produced primarily salsa, Latin j ...

, between 1988 and 1995, arranging, producing, and directing dozens of recordings for that label, working with artists like Jose Alberto 'El Canario', Johnny Rivera, Domingo Quinones, Tony Vega, Ray Sepulveda, Cheo Feliciano, Celia Cruz, La India and others. He produced the 1991 album "100th LP" for Tito Puente, produced & arranged the first two albums of Marc Anthony, "Otra Nota" & "Todo A Su Tiempo". George also produced the platinum-selling "Combinacion Perfecta" album from Familia RMM in 1993. He also produced and sessioned in recordings outside of RMM during this period, including albums with Nestor Sanchez, Junior Gonzalez, Africando and Los Hermanos Colon, as well as arranging several hit songs, including his arrangement on the hit track "Solo" for Luis Enrique on his 1989 album "Mi Mundo". In early 1995, George left RMM to pursue his own producing venture with Sir George Entertainment, and had a producing agreement with Sony Discos. During this time, he formed DLG, featuring vocalist Huey Dunbar and rappers James 'Da Barba' and Fragancia. He also helped in re-inventing Victor Manuelle into one of the Salsa's most powerful artists. His producing credits continued on with WEA Latina by 1997 with Frankie Negron, Charlie Cruz, Charlie Cardona, Servando Y Florentino and many other salsa performers. In early 2004, Sergio George and Latin recording executive George Zamora created SGZ Entertainment, in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, focusing on urban artists. In August 2006, SGZ Entertainment became part of La Calle Records, a sublabel of

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

. During the 2008 Latin Grammy Awards, Sergio George won

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non- classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

for his work on "Historia De Taxi" by

Ricardo Arjona Edgar Ricardo Arjona Algadeoro (born 19 January 1964), known as Ricardo Arjona (), is a Guatemalan singer-songwriter. Arjona is one of the most successful and best-selling Latin American artists of all time, with more than 80 million records so ...

featuring Marc Anthony, "La Vida Se Va" by

Gloria Trevi Gloria de los Ángeles Treviño Ruiz (born February 15, 1968), known as Gloria Trevi (), is a Mexican singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, television hostess, music video director and businesswoman known as "The Supreme Diva of Mexican Pop". ...

, "Mi Mayor Sacrificio" by

featuring

Marco Antonio Solís Marco Antonio Solís Sosa (born 29 December 1959) is a Mexican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. Born and raised in Ario de Rosales, Michoacán, Solís began his musical career at the age of six, performing part of Los Hermanito ...

, "Quiero Decirte Que Te Amo" by DLG featuring Ness, "Toro Mata" by DLG featuring Napoles and Ness and the album ''

El Cantante ''El Cantante'' is a 2006 biographical film which stars singers Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. The film is based on the life of the late salsa singer Héctor Lavoe, who is portrayed by Anthony. The film is told from the viewpoint of Puchi, ...

'' by Marc Anthony. In 2009, George founded

Top Stop Music Top Stop Music is an independent record label founded by Puerto Rican producer, Sergio George in 2009 based in Delray Beach, Florida. History Sergio George was known for producing albums for salsa musicians during his work with RMM Records & V ...

, and the first release was with Luis Enrique and his album, '' Ciclos'' which has topped the charts and garnered two Latin Grammy awards. He signed

, whose self-titled debut album was released early 2010. At the end of 2009,

signed with Top Stop Music, having her first single released in early 2010, "Estupida" which quickly reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' Tropical Songs chart. Her album, '' Unica'', was released by Top Stop Music in 2010. At the 11th Latin Grammy Awards, George received his second Latin Grammy for Producer of the Year, for his work on "

Corazón Sin Cara "Corazón Sin Cara" (English: "Love is Blind," literally "Heart Without a Face") is a bachata song by American singer-songwriter Prince Royce. It was written and composed by Prince Royce, and produced by Andrés Hidalgo and Sergio George. The son ...

", "Tu y Yo" and " Stand By Me" by

, " Estúpida", "Si Él Te Habla De Mi", "Smile" and "Te Vas a Arrepentir" by

. In 2013, George released "Sergio George Presents Salsa Giants" and became a platinum-selling hit record worldwide. At the 14th Latin Grammy Awards, George took home a trio of Latin Grammys for Producer of the Year, Producer of Marc Anthony's Record of the Year "Vivir Mi Vida" and Best Salsa Album for "Sergio George Presents Salsa Giants." ''Studio Albums'' *'' Sergio George Presents, Salsa Giants'' 2013 *''Sergio George Presents, Salsa Giants - EP'' 2014

References

Portrait of a Future Legend... Sergio George
*https://web.archive.org/web/20140324083714/http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/archives/Interview53A {{DEFAULTSORT:George, Sergio 1961 births Living people American salsa musicians Record producers from New York (state) Grammy Award winners Latin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year Latin Grammy Award winners American musicians of Puerto Rican descent Latin music record producers Latin music songwriters 20th-century American pianists American male pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians The Blackout All-Stars members People of Afro–Puerto Rican descent 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians