Christian Daniel

Hailing from Puerto Rico, where he grew up immersed in the island’s salsa traditions, Christian Daniel also absorbed the modern pop stylings of Ricky Martin and Shakira. His father urged a different route, favoring marketing or golf, a sport at which Daniel showed real talent, yet singing remained his true pull. At sixteen he covertly began vocal training and assembled material for a demo without his father’s knowledge. Upon finally hearing the recordings, his father was struck by their quality and accepted the choice as the right one. The demo soon landed with Emilio Estefan, then preparing to inaugurate Bad Boy Latino in partnership with Sean “Diddy” Combs. Daniel thereby became the label’s first signing, issuing his self-titled debut—a full set of Spanish-language ballads—in 2006.