Ramón (Raymond) Ayala was born February 3, 1977, known as Daddy Yankee. He is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican reggaeton recording artist. Born in Río Piedras the largest district of San Juan, where he became interested in music at a young age. He then became involved in the underground rap movement that was in its early stages in Puerto Rico, later to be called Reggaeton. After receiving lessons from several artists within the genre, he developed an independent career; sending his first recording in a production titled Playero 37. His first solo album is entitled No Mercy. He then formed a duo with Nicky Jam, and then continued his solo career with the releases of El Cartel and El Cartel II. This led him be one of many pioneers of the reggaeton genre. On June 5, 2007, El Cartel Records released El Cartel: The Big Boss, which was ranked the top-selling album in Latin music genres in the year 2007. He promoted the album with an international tour which began in the United States and continued through Latin America, breaking attendance records in Ecuador and Bolivia. Daddy Yankee has made performances on more than 70 albums, including compilations such as Mas Flow 2 and Blin Blin Vol. 1.
