Victor Manuelle

With dozens of hits to his name, Puerto Rican salsa singer Victor Manuelle has been topping the Latin charts since the mid-’90s. ∙ Salsa legend Gilberto Santa Rosa was so impressed by the teenaged Manuelle’s talent that he got the young sonero a gig singing backup for bandleader Don Perignon. ∙ Manuelle has reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart 28 times, beginning with 1996’s “Hay Que Poner el Alma”—one of several hits from his breakthrough self-titled LP. ∙ At the 2003 funeral of Celia Cruz at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he paid tribute to the beloved Queen of Salsa with an a cappella rendition of one of her signature songs, “La Vida Es un Carnaval.” ∙ Acting alongside Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Manuelle portrayed salsa icon Rubén Blades in the 2006 Héctor Lavoe biopic El Cantante. ∙ A frequent collaborator, he’s recorded with Latin music pioneers Eddie Palmieri and Don Omar, as well as such contemporary artists as Bad Bunny and Farruko, who featured on 2018’s 25/7. ∙ In 2018, he won his first two Latin Grammy awards: Best Salsa Album, for 25/7, and Best Tropical Song, for “Quiero Tiempo,” with Juan Luis Guerra.