Born in The Bronx but raised in Isabela, Puerto Rico, Victor Manuelle spent much of his childhood immersed in the culture of salsa. Following a successful performance at his high school’s graduation, he was introduced to singer Santa Rosa, and subsequently became a backup singer for Don Perignon. During his time with the band Manuelle honed his singing and performance skills and later secured a solo recording contract with Sony Tropical. The singer’s debut album “Justo a Tiempo” arrived in 1993 produced by Santo Rosa. Spawning two hit singles “Me Dará el Consentimiento” and “Estás Tocando Fuego” the album set the scene for what would prove to be an illustrious salsa career.
Manuelle’s sophomore album “Sólo Contigo” was issued in 1994, followed by the singer’s mainstream breakthrough. Aided by the talents of salsa production guru Sergio George, Manuelle’s self-titled third album peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, and produced seven hit singles. The salsa singer-songwriter went from strength to strength heading into the new millennium with the albums “A Pesar de Tobo” (1997), “Ironías” (1998), and “Inconfundible” (1999) spawning consecutive hits. Despite this, critics argued that the singer’s romantic formula had become too predictable and in a move designed to prove them wrong, Manuelle enlisted the help of producers José Lugo and Bobby Valentín. The fruit of this collaboration was the 2001 album “Instinto y Deseo”, arguably his most straightforward salsa album to date. The record shot to No. 1 on the Hot Latin Albums Chart and spawned a pair on No. 1 singles, “Me Da Lo Mismo” and “Cómo Se Lo Explico al Corazón”.
The singer’s eighth studio album “Le Preguntaba a la Luna” arrived in 2002, followed by the No. 1 Hot Latin Album “Travesía”, featuring Emelio Estefan and the Gaitán Bros on production duties. In 2005 Manuelle issued the live album “Dos Soneros, una Historia”, ahead of the 2006 album “Decisión Unámine” noted for its guest contributions from Don Omar, Eddie Palmieri, and Yuridia. Following the 2006 Latin Grammys which the singer co-hosted, Manuelle won the 2007 Premio Lo Nuestro award for Best Salsa Artist. A string of successful albums followed including “Una Navidad a Mi Estilo” in 2008, “Soy” in 2008, “Busco Un Pueblo” in 2011, and “Que Suenen Los Tambores" in 2015.
Victor Manuelle’s upbringing in Puerto Rico has permeated his salsa music to the very core; to this day he has yet to record in English, preferring instead to stick with Salsa’ traditional Spanish. Victor’s lyrics are romantic, red-blooded and full of flair, much like the country he was raised in.
Victor learned to sing and developed his improvisational skills as a young boy, where family and friends heavily encouraged him. He was discovered by chance at his high school’s graduation party and was then taken on by Puerto Rican bandleader Don Periñon to apprentice with him and perfect his craft. This hands-on approach to developing his musical style meant that Victor was able to test what did and didn’t work with audiences on a weekly basis.
All of this trial and error work as a budding performer means that Victor Manuelle is now one of the most prominent salsa performers of his generation, and he consistently bowls audiences over with songs such as “Ella Lo Que Quiere Es Salsa”, “Si Tú Me Besas” and “Por Ella.” Victor’s shows are all about big sound, big production and big seduction. His music will not only have you dancing in your seat, but it will have you falling in love with him. Don’t’ try to resist, he’ll win you over either way.
Zacarias Ferreira is originally from the cigar-manufacturing town of Amaceyes Tamboril near Santiago in the Cibao region of the North-Western Dominican Republic. He always had dreams of being a musician himself and worked ever so hard at his trade to achieve this. It’s no wonder that he reached his goals having a voice as well trained as his. He is a strong tenor, who sings in many languages, Spanish and Portuguese being his most frequent.
Tonight he performs some of his biggest hits to date. Songs that are all in fact on his “Mega Mix Hits” album released a couple of years ago. He is such a treat to see live with this fun flavour of music that he brings to the table, making everyone dance. He sings with a full band and audience backing him up, through songs such as “Dime Que Falto” and “Priesta Linda” making waves throughout this audience, all of which are partying from start to finish!