Yotuel Romero

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yotuel Romero
Actor Yotuel Romero.jpg
Background information
Birth nameYotuel Omar Manzanarez Romero
Born (1976-10-06) October 6, 1976 (age 44)
OriginHavana, Cuba
GenresLatin rap
Occupation(s)Singer, actor, model
Years active1996–present
LabelsSony Music
Associated actsOrishas
Amenaza
Beatriz Luengo

Yotuel Omar Manzanares Romero (born October 6, 1976), mononymously known as Yotuel, is a Cuban singer, actor, and current lead singer and co-writer of the 2003 Latin Grammy Award-winning Platinum album-selling rap group Orishas. Among other recordings, Emigrante won the 2003 Latin Grammy Award for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Album. This same album was also nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album.

Romero in Warszawa in September 2009

Life[]

Yotuel was born in Havana into an Afro-Cuban family. His name is a combination of three Spanish pronouns yo, tú and él (I, you, and he). His parents could not agree on a name so they decided to combine all 3 pronouns. He has developed a performing arts career and is a Cuban expatriate.

Career[]

Yotuel began performing rap music early in life. When he was 18 years old he got together with his friend Hiram Riveri (aka Ruzzo) and Joel Pando and all three started a rap group called Amenaza (Menace). Having any success as a rap artist in Cuba proved difficult so he also started acting in theatre and television and doing some modelling work. During the year 1996 , a Cuban singer who lived in France, visited Cuba and told the struggling Amenaza group about his interest in recording some songs with them. In 1997 they won the first prize in the 3rd edition of the underground Cuban Rap Music Awards, later on that year they would record a demo produced by X Alfonso. This first group had a very good acceptance and a lot of radio play in Cuba and some national television appearances in Cuba. From all this found fame they meet Petra Morales a representative of a French non-profit organization called ADHESIF, she liked their work so she arranged for them to travel to France from Cuba to do a cultural exchange program and to promote them outside Cuba.

While in France very few things were being done regarding the group, they had very few events and shows planned and it seemed that they did not agree with the same special requirements they had for them, one thing led to another and the band ended up homeless in the streets of Paris for about a month, they would eat at friends homes and back to sleeping in the Paris Métro.

There was already a strong rap music scene in Paris and they took advantage of this, they got together with Livan and the producer Niko Noki introduced them to another singer named Roldan at a club called Cupol and from that moment the group Orishas was born. Right away they started writing lyrics and musical themes for the demo that would later become their first album titled A Lo Cubano.

Since then Yotuel has not stopped working. He has worked on three television series La Casa de los Lios and Cuando Yo Sea Grande (Peruvian TV) and in Spain Un Paso Adelante. Movies include the features Color Habana and Perfecto Amor Equivocado and Chico Nuevo en la Ciudad . He has also starred in ad campaigns for Ducados and Havana Club. His work with Orishas went on with Emigrante (2002), El Kilo (2005), Antidiótico (2007), Cosita Buena (2008) and again with Gourmet (2018).

Besides being a singer, actor and a fashion model, Yotuel has also done work as a composer and record producer. He has worked as a record producer on two songs El rey de la pachanga and Distinto from the recordings Emigrante and El Kilo respectively. On 2019, Yotuel released the song "Insomnio" [1] after receiving images of the struggles that Cubans in the island were going through.[2] "Tell me if sleeping is easy for you, tell me if waking up is not the way out," sings the Cuban group Orishas in "Insomnia," a song composed by Yotuel.

In February 2021 the song "Patria y Vida" was released by Yotuel, Descemer Bueno, Gente de Zona, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and . It was composed by all of them and Beatriz Luengo.[3] The song became a hit and the slogan "Patria y Vida" ("Homeland and Life") was associated with the July 2021 Cuban protests. It is an inversion of the Cuban Revolution motto Patria o Muerte ("Homeland or Death").[4][5][6][7]. The song and the artists, including Yotuel, were criticized in the Cuban mass media.[8][9]

In June 2021 the song "Juntos somos más" by Yotuel, and Beatriz Luengo was released as the anthem for the Spanish football tem during 2020 UEFA European Football Championship that wast postponed to summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[10]

Personal life[]

Yotuel Romero has a son, named Yotuelito (born in June 2000), from a previous relationship.

In September 2003, he started dating fellow Spanish actress and singer Beatriz Luengo. They both first met on the set of Un Paso Adelante earlier that same year. They secretly got married in November 2008. Luengo gave birth to their son, named Angelo, on 20 August 2015. In December 2020, the couple announced that Luengo is five months pregnant with their second child together, a baby girl. She was born in April 2021 and named Zoe after Yotuel's mother.[11]

Filmography[]

(2004) aka Love by Mistake (USA) as Leoncio

Television[]

Un Paso Adelante (2002–2005) TV Series (2003–2004) as Pavel

Discography[]

  • 2013 – Suerte

Singles[]

  • 2013 – Me Gusta
  • 2013 – Suerte

References[]

  1. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dCtuqJbjUo
  2. ^ https://adncuba.com/noticias-de-cuba/cultura/me-quitan-el-sueno-la-escasez-y-la-pobreza-de-cuba-dice-yotuel-de-orishas
  3. ^ https://www.cubanoticias360.com/descemer-bueno-crea-discordia-publicar-division-regalias-patria-vida/
  4. ^ Chappell, Bill (July 13, 2021). "The Hip-Hop Song That's Driving Cuba's Unprecedented Protests". NPR.org. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  5. ^ Cassady, Daniel (July 12, 2021). "'Patria y Vida': anti-government protests sweep Cuba, as artist-led movement gains ground". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  6. ^ San Martín, Nancy; Whitefield, Mimi (July 13, 2021). "'Your evil revolution': How a reggaeton anthem inspired Cuba protests". National Geographic. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  7. ^ "'Patria y Vida': la canción que enfurece y hace temblar a la dictadura de Cuba". Infobae (in Spanish). February 18, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2021.Janetsky, Megan (July 13, 2021). "'Patria y Vida' — Homeland and Life — Watchwords in Cuba's Protests". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  8. ^ http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2021-02-20/fidel-vida-para-ustedes-es-la-que-queremos-20-02-2021-01-02-36
  9. ^ https://www.elmundo.es/loc/celebrities/2021/02/23/6033ca3121efa02a658b466b.html
  10. ^ "UEFA postpones Euro 2020 by 12 months". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. March 17, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  11. ^ https://globelivemedia.com/people/beatriz-luengo-gives-birth-to-zoe-her-second-daughter-with-yotuel-romero/retrieved July 29 2021

[1]

External links[]

Yotuel Romero on Facebook

Referencias[]

Retrieved from ""