Jose Mejias, better known as Chelo, is an American

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

and

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

based in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, signed with

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

Levin, Jordan (September 20, 2006). "Can you 'Cha Cha'?", ''

The News & Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...

'', p. E14. as a solo artist. His debut album is ''360°'', and fuses

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, go-go and

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

. The album is recorded in both English and Spanish. He is of Puerto Rican descent. His single "Cha Cha" was nominated for two

Billboard Latin Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards grew out of the ''Billboard'' Music Awards program from ''Billboard'' magazine, an industry publication charting the sales and radio airplay success of musical recordings. The ''Billboard'' awards are the La ...

. Chelo grew up in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

, the only child of an accountant and a secretary. His father put him in as a guest

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

player in his salsa band, and young Chelo also would sing at family events. Chelo was asked by

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

star

Daddy Yankee Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (; born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee (), is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor who rose to worldwide prominence in 2004 with the song "Gasolina". Dubbed the "Honorific ...

to assist him as a

while still in

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, which led to his joining the groups Jyve V and Mexican ATM, which both had songs in the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Latin Top 40. * Cha Cha (2006) * Yummy (2006) * Un Corazón (2007)

Discography

Other

Chelo sang at

Miss Universe 2006 Miss Universe 2006 was the 55th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States on July 23, 2006. At the end of the event, Natalie Glebova of Canada crowned Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico as Miss U ...

Zuleyka Rivera Zuleyka Jerrís Rivera Mendoza (born October 3, 1987) is a Puerto Rican actress, TV host, dancer, model, and beauty queen who won Miss Universe 2006 in Los Angeles. She was previously crowned Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2006. She made her debu ...

's homecoming in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

.Apaza Retamoso, Nelly (July 27, 2006). "Chelo, con la música en las venas", ''

La Opinión ''La Opinión'' is a Spanish-language daily newspaper and website based in Los Angeles, California. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and the second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles (after '' The Los Angeles Ti ...

'', p. 14 The song "Cha Cha" is a playable track in the rhythm game ''

Samba De Amigo is a 1999 rhythm game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for arcades. It later saw a port to the Dreamcast in 2000 and the Wii in 2008. Based primarily on Latin American culture, the game sees players shaking maraca controllers to ...

''.

References

{{Authority control American hip-hop musicians American musicians of Puerto Rican descent Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)