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

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

, and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, known for working with many famous performers of

salsa music Salsa music is a style of Latin American music, combining elements of Cuban and Puerto Rican influences. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most ...

, 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 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 ...

, DLG,

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

Tito Nieves Humberto "Tito" Nieves (born June 4, 1958; also known as "El Luciano Pavarotti, Pavarotti de la Salsa") is a Puerto Rican musician who became one of the leading Salsa music, salsa singers of the 1980s and the early 1990s. Early life Humberto "Ti ...

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

, Frankie Negrón, Johnny Rivera, Ray Sepúlveda,

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...

, Thalia,

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 w ...

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, Celia Cruz, La India, Jerry Rivera, 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 H ...

, Toby Love,

Cheo Feliciano Cheo Feliciano (3 July 1935 – 17 April 2014) was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of salsa and bolero music. Feliciano was the owner of a recording company called "Coche Records". He was the first tropical singer to perform at the "Amira ...

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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, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

. 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 (genre), 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 pri ...

, 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 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 ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, 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 terrestrial television, 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 L ...

. During the 2008 Latin Grammy Awards, Sergio George won Producer of the Year for his work on "Historia De Taxi" by

Ricardo Arjona Edgar Ricardo Arjona Morales (born 19 January 1964), known as Ricardo Arjona (), is a Guatemalan singer and songwriter. He is one of the most successful and best-selling Latin American artists of all time, with more than 20 million records sold ...

featuring

, "La Vida Se Va" by

Gloria Trevi Gloria de los Ángeles Treviño Ruiz (born February 15, 1968), known professionally as Gloria Trevi, is a Mexican singer, songwriter and actress. She is known for her emotional lyrics, performances, and lasting influence on Latin music, being ...

, "Mi Mayor Sacrificio" by

featuring

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

, "Quiero Decirte Que Te Amo" by DLG featuring Ness, "Toro Mata" by DLG featuring Napoles and Ness and the album '' El Cantante'' by Marc Anthony. In 2009, George founded Top Stop Music, 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, La India 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" (transl. "Love is Blind," literally "Heart Without a Face") is a Bachata (music), bachata song by American singer-songwriter Prince Royce. It was written and composed by Prince Royce, and produced by Andrés Hidalgo and Sergio ...

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

, " Estúpida", "Si Él Te Habla De Mi", "Smile" and "Te Vas a Arrepentir" by La India. 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." In 2023, George released “¡ATACA SERGIO! INQUEBRANTABLE,” on Amazon. George gives fans a behind the scenes look at his life and his 43 year career in the music industry. ''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 RMM Records artists Sony Music Latin artists