Ricardo Montaner

One of Latin pop's steadier and more seasoned artists, Ricardo Montaner specializes primarily in romantic ballads, though over the years he proved himself unafraid to pursue divergent styles of music and write songs of various natures. In terms of popularity, the Argentine-Venezuelan singer benefited greatly from his association with telenovelas, several of which featured his songs as themes; however, he also recorded classy orchestral albums, in addition to other similarly thematic albums, and he was critically admired for his craftsmanship and reliably high standard of work. Initially, Montaner rose to fame in Venezuela during the late '80s, scoring numerous hits for Rodven Discos. In the mid-'90s, he moved to the major label EMI for a couple artistically ambitious albums fashioned after Italian pop: Una Mañana Y Un Camino (1994) and Viene Del Alma (1995). These albums were not received well by his fan base, though, because of his pretensions as much as because of EMI's failure to market the albums well. Ever restless, Montaner moved to Warner Music Latina with little hesitation and recorded a grand comeback album, Es Así (1997). Following this triumph, Montaner recorded a number of thematic albums for Warner, most notable among them an orchestral project, Con La London Metropolitan Orchestra (1999); a diverse collaboration with producer Bebu Silvetti, Sueño Repetido (2001); an album of boleros, Suma (2002); and a lyrically heartfelt collaboration with hitmaker Kike Santander, Prohibido Olvidar (2003). Then in 2005 Montaner returned to EMI, which released Todo Y Nada (2005), another acclaimed album; it earned 2006 Latin Grammy nominations for Album of the Year as well as Song of the Year ("Cuando a Mi Lado Estas").

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