Santos had a humble upbringing and was born to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. At the age of 12 he joined his church's choir and developed a passion for bachata music before it became popular around the world. In 1993 Santos formed his own bachata band with three of his friends and called themselves Aventura. The band made it big by 1999 by fusing bachata music with mainstream genres like pop and hip-hop.
Santos left the group in 2011 to embark on a solo career. The Latin star's career has since taken off. His popularity is widespread and he may be the biggest star no one has ever heard of. Here are five things you need to know about the "King of Bachata."
1. He has more YouTube views than Taylor Swift.
Yes, that is correct. Santos has an astonishing 5 billion views on his YouTube account while Swift only has 4.3 billion. Swift is currently the "global welcome ambassador" to New York City, but by breaking down YouTube hits by city, Santos has way more in his native NYC. Santos has 57 million views in the big apple alone while Swift has 5 million less views than that. The Dominican American heartthrob is also the most popular artist in over 50 neighborhoods in New York City alone, according to Billboard.
Swift is not the only mainstream star Santos beats in YouTube views. He also towers over Beyonce, Katy Perry, Rihanna and another famous Latin star, Shakira. His biggest hit, "Propuesta Indecente," has garnered just fewer than 700 million views on YouTube alone. What separates Santos from other acts is the fact that his hits and views are coming from all over the world. Santos is most popular in Colombia, followed by Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador and finally the U.S.
2. He's sold out Yankees Stadium... TWICE!
Last year, the Bronx-born singer sold out Yankee Stadium two nights in a row in less than 48 hours! The two-night event was the first time a Latino headlined a solo performance at the stadium. In 1973 the legendary salsa group Fania All-Stars preformed at the stadium, but that was more than 40 years ago.
"It's a huge responsibility: This is where all my family and all my friends and all my fans come together, so I want to make it a historic event. I wouldn't be able to tell you when it will happen again, but I can tell you that it's the first time that it's happened, and I'm just really amazed at what's really happened in my career," Santos told Rolling Stone last year about the shows.
Santos joined legends like Paul McCartney and Madonna as one of only a handful of artists who sold out the stadium, which holds roughly 50,000 people. The singer also surprised fans who attended the concert by reuniting with former band Aventura for the first time in four years.
"When I started getting compliments and realizing that I was good at it, then I started to take it a little more serious, you know? But Yankee Stadium, that was far from what I even imagined I could accomplish," the singer said.
3. He is an aspiring actor.
Santos made his acting debut earlier this summer in "Furious 7." Vin Diesel announced the exciting casting news during Santos' sold-out show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
"I came here tonight to tell you that Romeo is in Fast and Furious 7," the actor said as the crowd went insane.
In the film, Santos plays the character of Armando, who shared a great relationship with Diesel's character of Dom.
"I must confess I was a bit nervous. This is not my lane. I'm always onstage, and everyone there already loves me, so I go with this certain confidence. Here, it's a different world so when I began, Jordana [Brewster] made me feel so comfortable. I told her I was a bit nervous and she said, 'Look, sometimes I mess up on my lines; it's just part of the game,'" the Latin star said in an interview, according to Billboard.
He enjoyed his experience on the set of "Furious 7" and plans to continue acting.
"Oh, absolutely, yeah. I would love to as long the project makes sense. For me it's more of a time-frame. With a movie you can be there for months. And most of the time I'm either touring or recording an album," Santos said, according to CBS News.
4. He has a son.
When Santos was 20-year-old he had a son named Alex with an ex-girlfriend. Santos received the life-changing news just as his music career was taking off and he was not ready to be a father.
"I thought, I'm not ready to have a kid," Santos told Latina magazine. "We were about to get a record deal. I didn't know what was going to happen with me professionally. In retrospect, I was being selfish and not taking into account the real priority: my son."
The musician kept his son out of the public eye as much as he possibly could and said Alex makes it easier to concentrate on music because he does not have time for anything else. Santos and Alex did appear on the cover of People en Espanol together where he talked about his decision to let his son be on the cover with him.
"When he got to an age where he personally could decide 'I want to be on a cover.' I wanted to show him, 'I'm proud of you.' I wanted my son to understand that I wasn't hiding him. I was protecting him," Santos told the magazine.
5. He has collaborated with some of the biggest names in mainstream music.
Santos might be one the biggest stars in Latin music, but he has collaborated with many mainstream artists like Usher, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj and most recently Drake. On the collaboration tracks Santos always sings in Spanish, while the others artists record in their native tongue, which make the tracks genre crossovers. His first album, "Formula Vol. 1" featured R&B artist and rapper Lil Wayne on two separate tracks. His hit song with Usher, "Promise," has been watched more than 116 million times on YouTube.
Santos' second studio album, "Formula Vol. 2" featured collaborations with Drake and Nicki Minaj. Minaj even rapped part of the song in Spanish alongside Santos. The volume of mainstream talent Santos has been able to recruit to his purely Spanish sung albums is incredible and speaks to the popularity of the artist and his expanding fan base. Santos' song that features Drake, "Odio" (hate in English), went to number one on Billboard's U.S. Hot Latin Songs chart, reported Billboard.
Up next, Santos lends his voice to the upcoming "Angry Birds" film from the popular video game of the same name, which comes out next May. The singer finished touring from his previous album last month and is already rumored to be back in the stuido working on the follow up. His new projects are sure to propel the "King of Bachata" to an even higher level of fame in the U.S. and worldwide, if that is even possible!
