Cruz Martínez (born June 21, 1972) is an American record producer, songwriter and musician. He is a former member of the

Tejano Tejanos ( , ) are descendants of Texas Creoles and Mestizos who settled in Texas before its admission as an American state. The term is also sometimes applied to Texans of Mexican descent. Etymology The word ''Tejano'', with a ''J'' instead ...

band

La Sombra Manuel Alfonso Andrade Oropeza (born November 3, 1989) is a Mexican professional wrestler. , he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the WWE SmackDown (brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Andrade (formerly Andrad ...

. In 1999, he joined the

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

music group Los

Kumbia Kings The Kumbia Kings are a Mexican-American cumbia group from Corpus Christi, Texas, created by A.B. Quintanilla. Their music encompasses the styles of cumbia, hip hop, and R&B. They produce songs in both Spanish and English. The producers for th ...

, created by A.B. Quintanilla. In 2007, he created the band

Los Super Reyes Los Super Reyes are an American musical group from Corpus Christi, Texas, created by Cruz Martínez. Martínez created the group after he and A.B. Quintanilla had arguments over Martínez selling Quintanilla's group they were both in at the tim ...

. He is married to

Alicia Villarreal Martha Alicia Villarreal Esparza (born August 31, 1971), known simply and professionally as Alicia Villarreal, is a Mexican singer. Villarreal participated in different bands in Monterrey, before becoming the lead singer for Grupo Límite in ...

Career

Cruz Martínez's interest in music began at the age of twelve when he learned to play the piano with the help of one of his uncles. By the age of sixteen, Martínez began producing music and programming computers in the studio for the family band. By age sixteen, Cruz had received his first Grammy nomination. He joined the

band La Sombra. A.B. Quintanilla formed the band Los

in 1999, which Cruz Martínez would join and co-write and co-produce songs. Los

received a total of twelve Grammy nominations and have set attendance records during performances at several venues. Aside from receiving much success with Los Kumbia Kings, Cruz Martínez also gained notoriety for his keyboard talents in the industry. In 2004, Martínez produced, arranged, and wrote

's latest album, ''Cuando el Corazon Se Cruza'' which he received two Latin Grammys for Album of the Year in 2004, several 2005 and 2006 BMI songwriting awards, two Premios Lo Nuestro Awards for Best Regional/Mexican Album and Best Regional/Mexican Song and two Billboard nominations for Album and Song of the Year. As a producer/engineer, Cruz Martínez received two more Latin Grammys in 2006 for his

live album '' Kumbia Kings Live''. Martínez's latest project is

. Cruz Martínez y Los Super Reyes have already had their hit single " Muévelo" reach the top of the radio charts in the United States, Spain, Japan, Germany and in Mexico. The group has since enjoyed major chart success and maintains a busy performance schedule in support of their recent record.Recently, Cruz was asked by Television giant TV Azteca / Azteca America to participate as a Judge for the 10th anniversary of the reality show La Academia and to produce the winner's album.

Personal life

Cruz Martínez married

on August 31, 2003. Cruz Martínez has two children with Alicia Villarreal. Their first son, Cruz Ángelo Martínez Villarreal, was born on December 19, 2005, and their second son, Félix Estefano Martínez Villarreal, was born on February 12, 2007. Martínez also has a stepdaughter, Melenie Aidée Carmona Villarreal, who was born on April 10, 1999 to Villarreal and Arturo Carmona during their marriage. Martínez and Arturo Carmona maintain a good relationship with each other and have worked together. Cruz Martínez's father, Félix Martínez, died on July 14, 2020 as result of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. Félix spent 16 days battling the disease and was taken to a hospital in Brownsville, Texas where he stayed for 6 days until his death. Cruz Martínez's brother, Daniel Martínez, died on January 10, 2022. Cruz Martínez's uncles, Antonio "Tony" Guerrero Jr, Gavino Guerrero, and Cruz Guerrero, were members of the band La Sombra, which was led by Tony Guerrero Jr. Cruz Martínez and his cousins, the brothers Alex and Roy "Slim" Ramírez, were also part of their uncles' group La Sombra, which helped start their music careers. They were also together in the bands

and

, being original members in both bands. Cruz Martínez and his band Los Super Reyes performed at his niece Jazzmin Martínez's quinceañera at Corpus Christi, Texas in 2009 which aired on

MTV Tr3s MTV Tres, stylized as Tr3s, is an American owned by Paramount Media Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The channel is targeted toward bilingual Latinos and non-Latino Americans aged 12 to 34, and its programming formerly included lifes ...

's ''Quiero Mis Quinces'' as episode 7 of season 4 on January 11, 2010.

Discography

;Albums with La Sombra * ''Porque Te Quiero'' (1991) * ''Mas Que Amor'' (1992) * ''Iluciones'' (1993) * ''Mas Que Todo'' (1995) * ''Caliente Dulce Amor'' (1996) * ''Alborotados'' (1997) ;Albums with Kumbia Kings * '' Amor, Familia y Respeto'' (1999) * '' Shhh!'' (2001) * '' All Mixed Up: Los Remixes'' (2002) * '' 4'' (2003) * '' Presents Kumbia Kings'' (2003) * '' La Historia'' (2003) * '' Los Remixes 2.0'' (2004) * '' Fuego'' (2004) * '' Duetos'' (2005) * '' Kumbia Kings Live'' (2006) ;Albums with Los Super Reyes * ''

El Regreso de los Reyes ''El Regreso de los Reyes'' (English: ''The Return of the Kings'') is the debut studio album by Mexican-American cumbia group Cruz Martínez y Los Super Reyes. It was released on August 14, 2007 by Warner Music Latina Warner Music Latina Inc. ...

'' (2007) * ''

Cumbia con Soul ''Cumbia con Soul'' (English: ''Cumbia with Soul'') is the second studio album by Mexican-American cumbia group Cruz Martínez y Los Super Reyes. It was released on June 30, 2009 by Warner Music Latina. Track listing Personnel ;Los Super Rey ...

'' (2009)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * *
Cruz Martínez
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Cruz Martínez
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...