1990s in Latin music
[3] Luis Miguel, whose early recordings consisted of soft rock and pop ballad tunes,[4] released Romance, a collection of bolero covers, in 1991.
[6] The album spawned the hit single, "María", which made the artist's popularity expand outside of Latin America, particularly in Europe.
[7] Ricky Martin's performance of the song at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards on February 24, 1999, was said to be a "game-changer for Latin music worldwide" according to Billboard's Leila Cobo.
[8] The popularity of Martin's performance was followed by the release of his song, "Livin' la Vida Loca", became an international success, and was credited with for the starting "Latin Pop Explosion" in 1999.
[10][11] Around the same time, artists from Italy such as Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini, and Nek successfully crossed over to the Latin music field by recording Spanish-language versions hits of their songs.
According to Janet Sturman's book, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture (2019): "The decade resulted in such a wide variety of styles that it became complicated to categorize all of them just as rock".
[19] In the late 1990s, Latin alternative bands emerged into popularity such as Aterciopelados, Gustavo Cerati, Illya Kuryaki, King Changó, and Los Amigos Invisibles.
[20] On January 10, 1990, EMI Latin bought Bob Grever's Cara Records, beginning the golden age of Tejano music.
[21] Mario Tarradell of The Dallas Morning News wrote that the singles from Amor Prohibido elevated Selena to success on Latin radio whose promoters had not previously taken the singer seriously.
[29] As a result of Selena's commercial success, female representation in Tejano music increased as record companies began investing heavily in that market, which historically had been inescapably male-dominated.
[40] By 1996, regional Mexican music genres such as banda, norteño, and ranchera, began experiencing explosive growth in the US and Mexico.
Vicente Fernandez, who was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame, filled seven stadiums to their capacity in Colombia, as well as one in Los Angeles.
[44] Artists who were backing vocalists such as Jerry Rivera and Víctor Manuelle gained attention as soloists and adapted their form of Puerto Rican salsa romántica.
[53] Former Grupo Manía member Elvis Crespo's song "Suavemente" became an international success and pushed the genre's popularity outside of Latin America.
[55] After Bachata Rosa, many other Dominican Republic artists have been recognized as important to the growth of the genre in the 1990s including Luis Vargas, Antony Santos, Raulín Rodríguez, and Elvis Martínez.
[7][57] Four years later, American musician Ry Cooder collaborated with Cuban musical group Buena Vista Social Club to release their self-titled album.
Despite the lack of promotion on radio stations the musicians being elderly, and the music in Spanish,[57] the album found international success and sold over 12 million copies.
[58] In a similar vein to Miguel's Romance, in 1993 Colombian singer Carlos Vives released Clásicos de la Provincia, a collection of classic vallenatos.
Although cumbia always had a following in the country, utilized keyboards and electric drums with the lyrics emphasizing on drugs, crime, and provocative sexual content.
[13] The success of hip hop in the Western world resonated with the poor working class of Latin America, especially within the Afro-Latino community.
