

“Romeo has crossed over without singing in English,” says Sony U.S. Since the release of its video two weeks ago, sales of the track doubled, reaching 49,000 this week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. 1 this week and also tops the Latin digital download chart. Current single “Promise,” featuring Usher, reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart earlier this summer. “You,” the album’s first single, spent seven weeks at No. 8 release of his solo debut album, the bilingual/bicultural “Formula, Vol. Aventura has sold more than 1.7 million albums in the United States, including “The Last,” which was the top-selling Latin album of 2009 (according to Nielsen SoundScan). But as lead singer and lead composer of urban/bachata group Aventura, he has arguably been the most successful. In the Latin realm, Santos isn’t the first U.S.-born artist to attempt reaching a young, bilingual demographic. And although this is going to be a story told through a Dominican family, it exists in all cultures and all races.


the second and third generation have much bigger goals and look at success in different ways. “So the idea is first generation versus second generation. right now who are 18 and under, 92% are born in the U.S.,” Santos’ manager Johnny Marines says. And that sits just fine with the growing contingency of producers, marketers, brands and record companies that want to reach that growing-but continuously elusive-younger, bilingual, bicultural, home-grown Latino who is fluent in English but keeps one foot firmly anchored in his or her roots, culture and language.
