DADDY YANKEE on WorldStarLatino.com

Ramón Ayala (born February 3, 1977), better known by his stage name Daddy Yankee, is a Latin Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican reggaeton recording artist. Ayala was born in Río Piedras, the largest district of San Juan, where he became interested in music at a young age. In his youth he was interested in baseball, and aspired to become a Major League Baseball player and was going to the Major Leagues after trying out for Seattle. He was unable to continue this sport when he was shot in one of his legs, leaving him unable to walk correctly. After receiving lessons from several artists within the genre, he developed an independent career, first recording in a production titled Playero 37. After this he began to produce independent albums. Ayala released his first solo album, No Mercy (1995). He subsequently formed a duo with Nicky Jam, and then continued his solo career with the releases of El Cartel (1998) and El Cartel II (2001). This led him to be one of the pioneers of the Reggaeton genre. Daddy Yankee is the only Reggaeton singer to have a two song on the 24 and 32 positions of the Billboards no other artist of the genre has ever gona the far.

In 2002, El Cangri.com became Ayala's first album with international success, receiving coverage in the markets of New York and Miami. His third studio album, Barrio Fino (2004), received numerous awards, including a Premio Lo Nuestro and a Latin Billboard, as well as receiving nominations for the Latin Grammy and MTV Video Music Awards. In 2007, El Cartel Records released El Cartel: The Big Boss, which was ranked as the top-selling album in Latin music genres and also embarked on an international tour which broke attendance records in Ecuador and Bolivia. The tremendous success of Barrio Fino may have led to the Reggaeton explosion in the early 2000's which resulted in many Hip-Hop artists featuring Reggaeton artists. His performances have appeared on more than 70 albums, including compilations such as Blin Blin Vol. 1 (2003) and Mas Flow 2 (2005). Outside of his work as a musician, Ayala has also worked as an actor and producer. Throughout his career, he has been generally reticent to discuss his personal life, but has publicly expressed the importance of his wife and children to him.