Iván Ovalle

Colombian singer/songwriter Ivan Ovalle first built his reputation by crafting songs for leading figures in vallenato rather than by performing his own work. Diómedes Díaz, Jorge Oñate, Beto Zabaleta, Rafael Orozco, and numerous other stars scored hits with his material well before he launched his own recording career in 1991. International exposure for the style grew substantially in the late '90s after the Mexican group Los Traileros del Norte released a cover of his song "Ramiro de Leon." When the Latin Grammys introduced the category in 2006, his album Veinte Años Después earned a nomination for Best Cumbia/Vallenato Album.