His entire family consists of musicians, including tropical recording artists Edwin Rivera [es] and younger sister Saned.

His second album, Abriendo Puertas ('Opening Doors'), produced the hit songs Esa Niña ('That Girl'), Dime ('Tell Me'), Nada Sin Ti ('Nothing Without You'), and Como un Milagro ('Like a Miracle') became number one hits first in Puerto Rico, then among the Hispanic populations in the United States and finally across Latin America.

His third album, Cuenta Conmigo ('Count on Me'), won three Platinum Record awards in the United States, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Colombia.

Its hit songs included the Cuenta Conmigo, Me Estoy Enamorando ('I'm Falling in Love') and Casi Un Hechizo (Nearly A Charm).

The number one hit for the album was Amores Como El Nuestro (written by Panamanian songwriter Omar Alfanno) (Love like ours) which is considered by some to be the best song by Rivera.

[6] The introduction of Amores Como El Nuestro has been sampled twice in hip hop, first by American East Coast hip hop duo Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, also used as the introduction for their 1997 song "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)", and by Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean in his 2004 song "Dance Like This" from the soundtrack of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights which would later become the worldwide number-one 2006 hit "Hips Don't Lie" by Wyclef and Colombian-singer Shakira.

The introduction of "Amores Como El Nuestro" can also be heard on MTV's animated series Daria episode "Fair Enough' of its second season.

Rivera played a small role in the movie I Like It Like That and appeared as himself in a Latin American soap opera titled Mi destino eres tu ('You are my destiny') which aired on Univision in the US during November 2005.

Rivera has performed in Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, the United States, Spain, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Sweden, France, and Japan.