Genres: Rap/Hip Hop,Latin,Reggae/SkaWisin y Yandel are a Puerto Rican musical duo who make music in the genres of Reggaeton, R&B, Hip Hop and Pop. Juan Morera was born in 1977, and he later took on the stage name of Wisin. His eventual counterpart, Lladel Vegilla (known more frequently as Yandel) was born just a year after.
Wisin y Yandel
“To perform on this stage where such artists of the caliber of Frank Sinatra, Julio Iglesias, Santana and Marc Anthony have appeared, fills us with a sense of great pride and satisfaction. We know we are elevating the name of Puerto Rico and of Latinos everywhere to new heights and it is a responsibility we can’t ignore.” - Wisin y Yandel
Wisin y Yandel are a Puerto Rican musical duo who make music in the genres of Reggaeton, R&B, Hip Hop and Pop. Juan Morera was born in 1977, and he later took on the stage name of Wisin. His eventual counterpart, Lladel Vegilla (known more frequently as Yandel) was born just a year after. Their families are very close to this day. Yandel even served as Wisin's best man, and later become the godfather to his daughter. Keeping a quality friendship is important to both Wisin and Yandel as they strive to make great music together.
Though the duo had been making music together since 1995, they gained little to no fame outside the Spanish speaking community until the new millennium. Their first album, Reyes del Nuevo Milenio, was released in 2000. It went as high as #35 on the Top Latin Albums Chart. But their bigger successes would come later on in their more widely known albums such as De Otra Minera in 2002, and Mi Vida: La Pelicula in 2003. Wisin y Yandel released Pa'l Mundo in 2005 to wide acclaim. The album made its way up to #1 on the Top Latin Albums Billboard chart. As a result, they began gaining popularity outside their native Hispanic region.
2007 was a very busy year for Wisin y Yandel. They released a brand new studio album, Wisin y Yandel: Los Extraterrestres, as well as two compilation albums entitled 2010 Lost Edition and Tomando Control: Live. The Puerto Rican media awarded their studio album 4 stars out of 5. They wrote that the album continued to demonstrate the evolution in music that the previous albums had done.
Some of their more popular songs are actually collaborative remixes of songs with international stars, such as Stars are Blind with Paris Hilton, Burn It Up with R. Kelly, and Breathe with Lenny Kravitz, which was actually a promotional song for Absolut Vodka. They have collaborated with many other stars in their career as well, both in the recording studio and in person. The biggest individual hits are Rakata, Pam Pam, Gracias a Ti, and Sexy Movimiento among others.
In their careers, the popular duo has worked alongside other famous Hispanic musicians as well, such as Daddy Yankee, Don Omar and Hector "El Father" in addition to some popular Jamaican musicians including Inner Circle, Bounty Killer, Elephant Man, and Wayne Wonder. Also, over the course of their fifteen year music career, Wisin y Yandel have won several different awards, mostly confined to the genre of Latin American music. Their resume is impressive nonetheless. They certainly developed from a group with a very tight knit community of followers to a trademark Latin American musical duo.