Elvis Crespo

• Genre: Merengue
• Hometown: New York City

About

With his long hair and boyish good looks, Elvis Crespo has captured the tropical music crown with his multiplatinum "Suavemente" (Smoothly) in 1998. A Nuyorican (Puerto Rican born in N.Y.C.) who chooses to sing Merengue (which originates from the Dominican Republic), Crespo represents the new urban Latino who has transformed a traditional folk rhythm into a new, hip style. As the lead singer of the teen group Grupo Mania, Crespo was a Latino pop star by age twenty-two. Several years later he ventured off on his own, just as the tropical music scene was achieving unprecedented crossover success. His smooth, natural voice lends itself well to his catchy original compositions. A constant presence on Spanish-language television (often performing before large crowds of ecstatic Latina girls) this Latin Elvis will continue to dance across the tropical charts.

- Robert Leaver