Prince Royce is one of the most famous contemporary Latin music performers. He has been nominated several times for prestigious awards.
The musician has five full-length albums and many collaborations with other famous musicians.
Childhood and youth of Prince Royce
Jeffrey Royce Royce, who later became known as Prince Royce, was born into a poor Dominican family on May 11, 1989.
His father worked as a taxi driver, and his mother worked in a beauty salon. Jeffrey from early childhood showed a craving for music. Already at the age of 13, the future Prince Royce wrote poetry for his first songs.
He gravitated towards such areas of pop music as hip-hop and R&B. Later, compositions in the bachata style began to sound in his repertoire.
Bachata is a musical genre that originated in the Dominican Republic and quickly spread to Latin American countries. It is characterized by a moderate tempo and a 4/4 time signature.
Most of the songs of the bachata genre tell about unrequited love, life's difficulties and other suffering.
Prince Royce grew up in the Bronx. He has an older and two younger brothers. The first performance of the future star took place in the church choir. At school, the boy was noticed, he began to regularly perform at various local amateur competitions.
In addition to a naturally beautiful voice, Geoffrey also possessed inimitable artistry. He was not afraid of the stage and could quickly attract the eyes of the public.
Royce himself believes that it was his ability to stay on stage well that helped to achieve success. After all, even with the most beautiful voice, it is impossible to achieve recognition without the ability to present yourself to the public.
The first performances of Prince Royce took place with his friend José Chusan. The duet of Jino and Royce, El Duo Real was able to achieve local popularity. This inspired the musician to pursue a career in show business.
Carier start
Having reached his 16th birthday, Jeffrey began to collaborate with Donzell Rodriguez. Even before the joint releases, the musician and producer spoke well of each other's work and were friends.
Vincent Outerbridge joined their duet. They released reggaeton tracks but failed to achieve success.
Prince Royce believed that the decline in reggaeton contributed to this negatively. The transition to bachata was immediately justified. The first compositions made the singer recognizable, opened the possibility of recording them in well-known studios.
The next stage of the musician's work is associated with the name of Andres Hidalgo. A well-known manager in Latin music circles helped Royce's career take off.
The specialist accidentally heard the singer's composition on the radio and immediately decided to become his manager. Through his connections, he found Royce's coordinates and offered his services to him. He didn't refuse.
Andrés Hidalgo helped Prince Royce secure a record deal with Top Stop Music. Its head, Sergio George, listened to the singer's demo and selected the tracks he liked to record the first album.
The release took place on March 2, 2010. The album includes compositions written in the style of bachata and R&B.
First success
Prince Royce's first album peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Latin Albums Ranking. The title track Stand By Me reached the first position of the magazine's rating. On the Hot Latin Songs list, Royce's song peaked at number 8.
A year after the first album, which was noted not only by listeners, but also by critics, a new single was released. He increased interest in the singer's work, the first album managed to go platinum twice.
Such success did not go unnoticed, Prince Royce was nominated for a Grammy Award as the author of the most successful contemporary album of Latin American music.
The popular song Stand By Me, which has long been the hallmark of the musician, is a cover of the song of the same name by Ben King, recorded by him in 1960.
This well-known rhythm and blues composition has been covered over 400 times. Not every one of those who sang this song can boast that the author himself appeared on stage in a duet with him. Prince Royce was lucky - he sang a song with Ben King, increasing his popularity even more.
The year 2011 was fruitful for awards for the musician. He received prizes in six different categories at the Premio Lo Nuestro Awards and the Billboard Latin Music Awards.
In the same year, a contract was signed to record an English-language album. Prince Royce threw himself into writing the material. Simultaneously with the work in the studio, the musician agreed to work with Enrique Iglesias on his tour.
The second studio album, as planned, was released in the spring of 2012. It was called Phase II and contained 13 diverse tracks. There were pop ballads, compositions in the favorite genre of bachata and Mexican mariacha.
The songs were recorded in Spanish and English. Composition Las Cosas Pequeṅas reached the second position in Billboard's Tropical and Billboard's Latin.
Confession
The tour in support of the album began with an autograph session in Chicago. The music store that was used for this could not accommodate everyone, the queue of the singer's fans was across the street.
Six months after its release, Phase II went platinum and was nominated for a Grammy.
In April 2013, Prince Royce signed with Sony Music Entertainment to record a third album. Under the terms of the contract, the Spanish-language album was produced by Sony Music Latin, and the English version by RCA Records.
The first single was not long in coming and appeared on June 15, 2013. In autumn, a full-length album was released, which increased the popularity of the musician.
Prince Royce is married to actress Emeraude Toubia. They became close in 2011, and at the end of 2018 they formalized their relationship legally.
The musician is one of the most popular Latin American singers. He regularly records tracks that take off into the TOPs.
The artist participates in various children's talent shows and helps young singers start their careers. At the moment, the musician has 5 recorded albums and many prestigious awards.
