Jean Carlos Rodríguez López-Cepero (born December 10, 1980), also known as Jean, is a Puerto Rican singer, the younger brother of

Luis Fonsi Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero (born April 15, 1978), known by his stage name Luis Fonsi (), is a Puerto Rican singer. He is known for his soulful and dance oriented songs, most notably 2017's "Despacito". Fonsi received his first Latin ...

. Rodríguez has released a handful of solo albums and mixtapes, hitting number one on ''Billboard'' Latin Pop Airplay chart with the single "Duele" in 2006. As a member of the production duo Coastcity, he co-produced the Spanish-language version of " Hey Ma" by Pitbull,

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

and

Camila Cabello Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the Pop music, pop girl group Fifth Harmony, one of the List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling girl gro ...

in 2017; the Spanish-language video passed 400 million views on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, and the song was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Rodríguez sang on

Tony Succar Antonio Guillermo "Tony" Succar (born 18 May 1986),Wall Street International Magazine, 11 July 2012 retrieved 1 June 2013. is a Peruvian- American percussionist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and producer. He is the son of singer Mimy Succa ...

's Unity Project, covering

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's " Smooth Criminal" and "

Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 3, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produ ...

", and in 2017 he performed " Super Freak" by

Rick James James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his tee ...

for the BMI ''Los Producers'' charity ball. The same year, he served as

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

's vocal coach for her Spanish-language remix of the song " Mi Gente". The video of this remix gathered 100 million views on YouTube. Through Coastcity, he teamed with his brother on the single "Pa La Calle" in 2018. Rodríguez was named in two Latin Grammy Award nominations. At the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2018, he was a contender in the Best Tropical Song category for the song "Me Enamoro Más De Ti", sharing credit with Tony Succar and Jorge Luis Piloto. Two years later at the 21st Annual Latin Grammy Awards, Rodríguez was nominated for Album of the Year for co-producing the

Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...

EP ''

Pausa In linguistics, pausa (Latin for 'break', from Greek παῦσις, ''pâusis'' 'stopping, ceasing') is the hiatus between prosodic declination units. The concept is somewhat broad, as it is primarily used to refer to allophones that occur in ...

''.

Early life

Rodríguez was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

, to Alfonso Rodríguez and Delia López-Cepero. His older brother is

, and his sister is named Tatiana. His parents sang in the choir ''Viva la gente'' (Up with People), and one grandfather played trumpet in Puerto Rico. One grandmother came from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. Rodríguez sang from age four, and at age six he joined his brother in the San Juan Children's Choir. When he was nine years old, his family left Puerto Rico to move to

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, where Rodríguez continued his schooling. He learned to play trombone, performed with the school jazz band, and he sang in the chorus at Dr. Phillips High School. He was influenced by music from

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

the Jackson 5 The Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons, are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was formed in Gary, Indiana in 1964, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Ti ...

Mint Condition Mint Condition is an American R&B band from St. Paul, Minnesota. The band is focused on diverse genres such as jazz, hip hop, funk and dance. Mint Condition has also been nominated for one Grammy and three Soul Train Awards. The group is cr ...

Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...

and

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men ( ) is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris, tenor Wanya Morris, Wanyá Mo ...

. Two years younger, Rodríguez idolized his brother Luis and Luis's friend Joey Fatone, wishing he could join their singing group, the Big Guys. Fatone later became famous with boy band

NSYNC NSYNC ( ; also stylized as *NSYNC or N Sync) was an American vocal group and pop boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. The group consists of Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, ...

, while Luis found success in 2008 with " Aquí Estoy Yo", and scored a record-breaking hit with "

Despacito "Despacito" (; ) is a song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, originally written in 2015. In 2016, Luis sent the song to Puerto Rican rapper and singer Daddy Yankee to give it an "urban injection", and released it as the lead single from Fons ...

" in 2017.

Career

S'tilo trio

Rodríguez formed a Latin vocal trio called S'tilo with Wes Rodriguez (no relation) and Carlos Mendoza, after the three met in high school choir. Performed with choreographed dance moves, their songs were a blend of hip-hop, pop, Latin and R&B. The trio appeared at local venues such as

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers (film), The Blues Brothers''. The ...

and

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a chain of theme restaurant, theme bar-restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos, hotels and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll ...

. In early 2001, S'tilo went to Los Angeles to sign a recording deal with

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

, under the personal attention of label president

Ron Fair Ronald Fair is an American record producer, record executive, musical arranger, recording engineer and conductor. A traditional record producer since 1970, Fair has been credited with orchestral production work on several commercially success ...

. The record company's legal team found an earlier act named Steelo, pronounced the same way, so the trio began searching for a new name to avoid confusion. They spent time in the recording studio, but the project was shelved. Rodríguez chose to stay in Los Angeles, collaborating with artists such as Cutfather,

Manuel Seal Manuel Lonnie Seal, Jr. (born September 26, 1960) is an American multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, vocal coach, and arranger. He has been credited, often in tandem with Jermaine Dupri, on releases by Mariah Ca ...

and Robbie Nevil. After two years, he relocated to New York City to perform at Joe's Pub, Village Underground and The Cutting Room. He signed with BMG Chrysalis as a songwriter. Following this, Rodríguez moved back to Florida, this time to

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

where he reconnected with his Latin music roots.

Jean

In 2005, Rodríguez signed a record deal with Sony BMG Norte, to record and release the album '' On'' in April 2006, using the mononym Jean. ''On'' was mainly urban R&B with elements of

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and tropical music. Two singles came from the album: "Juegas Con Fuego" produced by

Jim Jonsin James Gregory Scheffer (born June 8, 1970), known professionally as Jim Jonsin, is an American record producer and songwriter from South Florida. He has produced for numerous musical artists, including Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Usher, Lil Wayn ...

, and "Duele" which hit number one on the Latin Airplay charts. Rodríguez was invited by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

to represent the music of Puerto Rico at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

in Germany. In 2008, he self-released the mixtape ''JeaniusMusiq Mixtape'' followed by the Sony BMG album '' Out the Box''. In 2009 he released another mixtape: ''Genius To Jeanius''. The independent single "Mia" peaked at number 21 on ''Billboard'' Tropical Airplay chart in October 2011. In between these recordings, Rodríguez toured South and North America in 2010 with

Marc Anthony Marco Antonio Muñiz (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer and actor. He is the top selling salsa artist of all time. A four-time Grammy Award, eight-time Latin Grammy Award and twenty-nine-tim ...

in support of Anthony's '' Iconos'' album. In 2012 at the invitation of producer

Juan Luis Guerra Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (born 7 June 1957) is a People of the Dominican Republic, Dominican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards including 28 Latin Grammy Awards, three Grammy Awards, ...

, Rodríguez assisted as a vocal producer on the live album ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...

'' by

Juanes Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez (born 9 August 1972), known professionally as Juanes, is a Colombian musician who was a member of the Rock music, rock band Ekhymosis and is now a solo artist. Since releasing his solo debut album ''Fíjate B ...

. The album debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' Top Latin Albums chart, and won the 2012

Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and creates a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists in the ...

. The next year, Rodríguez co-wrote and co-produced '' Soy el Mismo'' for

Prince Royce Geoffrey Royce Rojas (born May 11, 1989), known professionally as Prince Royce, is an American singer. At an early age, Royce took an interest in music, and in his teenage years began experimenting with music and writing poetry. By age nineteen ...

. The album topped the ''Billboard'' Latin album chart in October 2013. The independently released album ''It's Jean'' peaked at number 8 on ''Billboard'' Tropical Albums chart in April 2014. The single "Can't Find Love" rose to number 19 on the Tropical Airplay chart in May. Released a year earlier, the lead single "Maquina Del Tiempo" hit number 3 on Tropical Airplay. For

Yandel Llandel Veguilla Malavé Salazar (born January 14, 1978), best known by his stage name Yandel, is a Puerto Rican singer who is a member of the reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel. He released his first solo album, ''Quien Contra Mí'', in 2003. His s ...

's 2014 album ''

De Líder a Leyenda ''De Líder a Leyenda'' ( English: ''From Leader to Legend'') is the second studio album by Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Yandel, of the duo Wisin & Yandel;

'', Rodríguez co-wrote the song "En La Oscuridad" for Yandel.

The Latin Tribute to Michael Jackson

Rodríguez was a major contributor to

's Unity Project, a Latin-flavored tribute to

. Rodríguez sang lead vocals on "

" and " Smooth Criminal", including a section of Spanish language translation. The album '' Unity: The Latin Tribute to Michael Jackson'' was released in early 2015, led by the first single, "Smooth Criminal". The Unity project gave various live concerts starting with a TEDx presentation at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

in late 2012 which was filmed for DVD release. A special performance was captured on video at the headquarters of

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

satellite radio in December 2015, and a full show was delivered in

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

at the Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival in September 2016. Rodríguez sang additional songs for these live concerts, including " Man in the Mirror" and "

Black or White "Black or White" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on November 11, 1991, as the first single from Jackson's eighth studio album, '' Dangerous'' (1991). Jackson wrote, composed, and produced the track with rec ...

Coastcity

In 2014 when Rodríguez was considering a third album as Jean, he tapped Puerto Rican–American Danny Flores to produce it. The album was intended to be named ''Coast City'', but as the two began working together, they decided to form a partnership. The duo took the name Coastcity from the abandoned album. Coastcity was formed as a tropical and Latin soul songwriting team, recalling sounds of the Caribbean, combined with

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and urban R&B. The duo worked with Pitbull and

to produce the Spanish-language version of the song " Hey Ma", sung by Pitbull, Balvin and

for the film '' The Fate of the Furious''. The Spanish and English versions of the song appear on the soundtrack album, '' The Fate of the Furious: The Album'' (2017). "Hey Ma" was certified Gold in the US, 3× Platinum in Spain, and it was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Also in 2017, Rodríguez helped

with her Spanish version of the song " Mi Gente" by J Balvin and

Willy William Willy Fauade William (born 27 June 1981) is a French DJ, record producer and singer famous for his club remixes and vocal collaborations with a number of dance music artists. He is most famous for his French hit " Ego" and his Latin hit " Mi Gent ...

. Beyoncé donated her share of the profit to disaster relief efforts in Mexico following the

2017 Puebla earthquake The 2017 Puebla earthquake, also known as 19S, struck at 13:14 CDT (18:14 UTC) on 19 September 2017 with an estimated magnitude of 7.1 and strong shaking for about 20 seconds. Its epicenter was about south of the city of Puebla, Mexico. ...

. Rodríguez said Beyoncé was "such a pro", insisting that the two spend more time at her studio in the Hamptons because she knew she could improve her Spanish pronunciation with a little more coaching and personal effort. Coastcity signed with talent agents Atomic Music Group in October 2017. Coastcity released the singles "Desconocidos" in October 2017 and "Besos Pesos" featuring Girl Ultra in April 2018. Both of these were included on the duo's first album, ''Coastcity'', released in 2018. Other songs on the album include the single "Noche y Manaña" and the

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

-inspired "Countach". Further singles from the duo include the Father's Day special song "Lullaby" in 2018, and the 2019 singles "Salvaje", "Nadie Es Santo", "Juicio Criminal" and "Contigo" – the latter song featuring Fuego and Nat'Lee. Coastcity's EP ''1190'' was released in 2019. One more single came out of the EP: "Circulo", featuring Cierra Ramirez. Coastcity released a single in September 2018, "Pa La Calle", featuring

, Rodríguez's brother. A video of the song shows the brothers having a stylish evening out while Flores drives them around, joining the party. On

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

, the video attracted more than two million views. "Pa La Calle" was the first time that Rodríguez and Fonsi released a song together.

References

External links

"Smooth Criminal" – Tony Succar, Jean Rodriguez
on YouTube
"Me Enamoro Más De Ti"
on YouTube. Studio video with Tony Succar, Rodriguez and Jorge Luis Piloto.
Coastcity official websiteCoastcity on SoundCloud
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Jean 1980 births Living people Dr. Phillips High School alumni Latin pop singers 21st-century Puerto Rican male singers 21st-century Puerto Rican singers Puerto Rican male singer-songwriters Singers from San Juan, Puerto Rico Latin music songwriters