Luis Enrique

Despite emigrating to California as a teenager, Luis Enrique Mejía Lopez is regarded as Nicaragua's most famous singer, thanks largely to the success of his 2009 hit single, "Yo Ne Sé Mañana" and Grammy-winning album Ciclos. Together, they exemplify the winning take on salsa romántica Enrique had developed over some dozen releases: beautifully intimate vocals urged on by exquisitely meshed percussion (which he also plays). The Prince of Salsa, as Enrique is known, was born in the small town of Somoto, Nicaragua, in 1962. He performed with salsa romántica group Sensation 85 prior to recording his debut album, Amor de Media Noche, in 1987. He recut much of it a year later in Puerto Rico for Amor y Alegría, which yielded six cuts that charted on Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks. Two commercially successful decades later, his 2019 collaboration with folky Venezuelans the C4 Trio, Tiempo al Tiempo, was a convincing pivot for a singer confident in his Latin bona fides.