Aventura

After more than ten years of sparring in the music business, these four young, dynamic musicians with a seldom-seen chemistry continue to auto-produce soulful, original music that gleams with excellence. They are the first “Bachata-boy band,” the first band to fuse the essence of bachata with R&B, hip hop and other American pop styles; the first Bachata band to perform in English, Spanish and “Spanglish.” Aventura is also the first bachata group to feature songs that address serious life situations, delighting fans in the process, such as buttonAmor de madre, buttonHermanita, buttonPapi Dijo and buttonLa Nina.

When Aventura performs its songs, Dominican/Caribbean culture fuses with the vivid tapestry of New York's dynamic melting pot.

Because the Santos boys are barely out of their teens, it seems incredible that they struggled for eight years before exploding on the scene in the summer of 2002. Their struggle was not merely the physical one marked by years of sleepless nights on the road; perhaps a greater obstacle was the traditional bachata audience, which tends to be conservative and one-minded as to how their beloved folk-based music should sound; this audience either “booed” them off the stage or refused to acknowledge them. After all, on a scene dominated by traditionalist stars such as Anthony Santos and rising romantic minstrels such as Zacarías Ferreira, Aventura's music was truly radical.

However, when buttonObsesion exploded on street level with little or no airplay, Aventura was catapulted to the forefront. The band's unique style was soon embraced fanatically by young Latinos in New York, much in the way rock & roll captivated teenage audiences in generations past. It also changed the face of Bachata forever. Like a super-cell storm spawns tornadoes, Aventura spawned sound-alikes. But there is only one Aventura!

If Aventura fever in the US and Latin America is a phenomenon, the band's impact in Europe has been utterly astounding. For 16 straight weeks the single “Obsesion” charted number 1 in Italy; the album We Broke The Rules topped the charts for months as well. From there Aventura charted number one in Spain, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Greece, Slovenia, Romania among others. In France, 20 days after release 400,000 singles had been distributed with 139,000 CDs. In Germany, “Obsesion” is currently at number 1 with 150,000 CDs shipped. “Obsesion” was covered by a German pop group Third Wish, and this version also appears on the charts a few slots below Aventura. In recent days, licenses have been entered into for the territories of Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Israel. “Obsesion” has penetrated the mainstream European market to the point that the “Smurfs” in Germany and Spain have created a parody of the song for inclusion in a future “Smurfs” record release.

Aventura has appeared on Top of the Pops, European MTV, and their equivalents in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. On three occasions they have taken the coveted Cassandra award in the Dominican Republic and Premio lo Nuestro in 2005.

In April, 2005 Aventura released God’s Project, its 4th studio production. It continues to be one of Sony's most important sellers having reached nearly 500,000 units sold.

Aventura's fifth album KOB Live (Kings of Bachata) was released on 2006.

The members of Aventura are Anthony Santos (lead singer and featured composer), Lenny Santos (musical producer and guitarist), Max “Mikey” Santos (bassist and rap artist) and Henry Santos Jeter (singer and composer).

Source: http://www.batanga.com/en/artists/aventura/bio