Luis Fonsi is a popular American singer and songwriter of Puerto Rican origin. The composition Despacito, performed together with Daddy Yankee, brought him worldwide popularity. The singer is the owner of numerous music awards and prizes.
Childhood and youth
The future world pop star was born on April 15, 1978 in San Juan (Puerto Rico). The real full name is Luis Alfonso Rodriguez Lopez-Cepero.
In addition to him, the family had two more children - sister Tatyana and brother Jimmy. Since childhood, the boy was fond of singing, and the parents, seeing in their child the undoubted inclinations of musical talent, at the age of 6 they sent him to the local children's choir. Louis studied in the team for four years, having received the basics of singing skills.
When the boy was 10 years old, his family moved from the island to the continental United States, to the state of Florida. The tourist town of Orlando, known throughout the world for its Disneyland, was chosen as the place of residence.
By the time he moved to Florida, Louis knew only a handful of English words, as he belonged to a Hispanic family. However, already in the first few months, he managed to master spoken English at a level sufficient to communicate without problems with his peers.
After the move, the boy did not leave his passion for vocals, and at the new place of residence he created the teenage quartet The big guys (“Big Guys”). This school musical group quickly became very popular in the city.
Louis and his friends performed at school discos and city events. Once the ensemble was even invited to play the national anthem before the game of the NBA Orlando Magic.
According to Luis Fonsi, it was at that moment that he realized that he wanted to connect the rest of his life with music.
The beginning of the great musical career of Luis Fonsi
After graduating from school, in 1995, the aspiring singer continued his vocal studies. To do this, he entered the music department of the University of Florida, located in the state capital, Tallahassee. Here he studied vocal skills, solfeggio and the basics of sound harmonization.
Thanks to his diligence and perseverance, the young man has achieved significant success. He was able to receive a state scholarship as an excellent student.
Also, along with other top students, he was selected for a trip to London. Here he performed on the big stage together with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
First solo album
While still a student, Luis released his first album, Comenzaré (Spanish for "Beginning"). All songs in it are performed in Fonsi's native Spanish.
This "first pancake" of the young artist did not come out lumpy at all - the album was very popular in his homeland, in Puerto Rico.
Also, Comenzaré "took off" to the top positions of the charts of a number of Latin American countries: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela.
A further significant stage in the singer's career was a duet with Christina Aguilera in her Spanish-language album (2000). Then Luis Fonsi released his second album Eterno ("Eternal").
2002 was marked by the release of two albums by a talented artist at once: Amor Secreto (“Secret Love”) in Spanish, and the first, performed in English, Feeling (“Feeling”).
True, the English-language album was not very popular with the audience and sold very poorly. In the future, the singer decided not to change the original direction and focused on music in the Latin style.
The artist recorded a number of joint songs with Emma Bunton (ex-Spice Girls, Baby Spice) for her solo album in 2004. In 2009, Fonsi performed at the President Barack Obama's Nobel Prize Concert.
Until 2014, Louis released 3 more albums and several separate singles. The song Nada es Para Siempre ("Nothing Lasts Forever") was nominated for a Latin American Grammy Award.
A number of other songs from the albums and individual singles during these years were nominated in various Latin American countries as "platinum" and "gold".
And the single No Me Doy Por Vencido for the first time in the singer's career entered the top 100 of Billboard magazine, taking 92nd place at the end of the year.
World popularity of Luis Fonsi
Despite all the successes, the singer's wide popularity was limited mainly to Latin American countries and the Spanish-speaking part of the US listeners. Luis Fonsi became world famous with the song Despacito (Spanish for “Slowly”).
The song was recorded in 2016 in Miami as a duet with Daddy Yankee. The single was produced by Andres Torres, famous for his work with another Puerto Rican celebrity, Ricky Martin. The video clip was released to the public in January 2017.
The success of the Despacito song was incredible - the single topped the national charts simultaneously in fifty states. Among them: USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden.
In England, this Fonsi hit lasted for 10 weeks at the first position of popularity. In the Billboard magazine rating, the song also took first place. No. 1 was the song Macarena by the Spanish band Los del Río.
The single set several other records at once, included in the Guinness Book of Records:
- 6 billion views of the video clip on the Internet;
- 34 million likes on YouTube video hosting;
- 16 weeks at the top of the US Billboard charts.
Six months later, Luis made a video for the song Échame La Culpa, which received over 1 billion views on the Internet. The singer performed this single in 2018 on the Sochi New Wave together with the Russian singer Alsu Safina.
Luis Fonsi's personal life
Fonsi tries not to advertise his personal life, preferring to avoid such questions asked by journalists and fans of his work.
In 2006, Luis married Puerto Rican American actress Adamari Lopez. In 2008, the wife gave birth to a daughter, Emanuela. However, the marriage was unsuccessful, and already in 2010 the couple broke up.
One of the reasons for the breakup, some media called Fonsi's romance with a Spanish fashion model, who, by coincidence, is the namesake of his ex-wife (with Agyuda Lopez).
A year after filing a divorce from Adamari, Lopez had a daughter, Michaela. The couple officially formalized their relationship only in 2014. And two years later, in 2016, Lopez and Agyuda had a son, Rocco.
Luis Fonsi posts all the latest news regarding his work on his personal website and Instagram. Here you can get acquainted with his creative plans, photos from tours and holidays, ask the singer questions of interest.
Luis Fonsi in 2021
In early March 2021, Luis Fonsi delighted fans of his work with the release of the She's BINGO video clip. Nicole Scherzinger and MC Blitzy took part in the creation of the song and video. The video was filmed in Miami.
The musicians' new track is a perfect rethinking of the classic disco of the late 70s. In addition, it turned out that the clip is an advertisement for the mobile game Bingo Blitz.
