Ricardo Montaner

His latest album release is "Montaner" (Sony Music/May 2019) a refreshing recording with new collaborators and modern nuances offering a colorful vibrancy to a longstanding tradition of quality. "Montaner", the 24th studio album by the Argentine-Venezuelan singer and songwriter Ricardo Montaner, is now available in physical and digital format.

In October 2016, "Ida y Vuelta" was released, containing 20 songs, of which 11 were written by him. This album is different because he sang nine songs written by well known Mexican singers; in return, those Mexican singers sang some of Montaner's songs, all in the same album. A month later, Montaner received the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2008, he released Las Mejores Canciones Del Mundo II – Y Algunas Mías...! with the songs "Cuando Un Amigo Se Va", "Ansiedad", "Bésame (Featuring Pasión Vega)". His album "Viajero Frecuente" (Frequent Traveler) was launched on October 16, 2012, on iTunes, his first with Sony Music. The recording features a duet with his daughter actress and singer Evaluna Montaner, "La Gloria de Dios" (The Glory of God) whose video has more than 433 million views on YouTube/Vevo. Ricardo Montaner has sold over 65 million albums and keeps breaking records in arenas and theaters all over the world. One of the most remarkable was in Mar del Plata in Argentina where 220,000 people attended the concert that night. Montaner started his "Viajero Frecuente Tour 2013" in Mexico on January 24, 2013. The Special Edition of the "Viajero Frecuente" album released also in México featured a duet with Spanish singer-songwriter sensation Alejandro Sanz (Nostalgias).

In November 2007, UNICEF appointed Montaner Goodwill Ambassador for children. Since then, the singer-songwriter has increased his social work by meeting throughout the Americas with world leaders to realize his dream to help the neediest children. On February 23, 2011, he was named World Health Champion by PAHO in Washington, DC and in May of that same year he was appointed as a member of the board of directors of the International Special Olympics, an organization chaired by Dr. Thomas Schriver. Today he serves as Special Ambassador for the Special Olympics. Currently, he was appointed by the OEA and PADF organizations as Good Will Ambassador in the Migrants Campaign Against Xenophobia.

In 2007, Ricardo released Las Mejores Canciones Del Mundo produced by Argentinean producer Adrian Posse with the songs "Hoy Tengo Ganas de Ti", "Nostalgias (Argen Version)", "Échame A Mí La Culpa (Artista Invitado: Juanes)".

For his philanthropic work and dedication to children, in May 2007 the Billboard Awards honored him with his maximum recognition, the Hope Award. Today, his full commitment is to La Ventana de Los Cielos, a foundation he created with his wife Marlene in South Florida in 2005. This non-profit organization provides free alternative therapies to children with Down syndrome, autistic and cerebral palsy. Already in 1993 in Venezuela, he had founded Los Hijos del Sol, where he worked with orphans and street children.

2002's Suma (Bolero style songs) and 2003's Prohibido Olvidar (balada pop) had fair results in terms of sales. "Si Tuviera Que Elegir" in Suma was written for his daughter. In 2003, he broke the record for the most concerts on the same tour in the theater of Bellas Artes in Puerto Rico. He sold out 18 concerts breaking his past record of 12, which was held previously by Yolandita Monge and Ricardo Arjona. In 2004, he made another album with the London Metropolitan Orchestra named Con La London Metropolitan Orchestra Vol. 2 featuring his latest hits songs and two exclusive songs such as "Desesperado" and "Esta Escrito". In 2005, Montaner launched Todo y Nada which featured the songs "Cuando a mi Lado Estas" and "Nada". For this album, he was nominated in the Latin Grammys for Album and Song of the Year for "Cuando a mi Lado Estas". "Amarte es mi Pecado" and "Heridas de Amor" are non-album songs that have been chosen to be the theme songs on two very popular Mexican soap operas.

In 1999, Montaner recorded his greatest hits album of his well-known songs featuring the London Metropolitan Orchestra. This was also a hit upon release, selling over 1 million copies. Ricardo made another attempt in 2001 with Sueño Repetido that included the bolero-style song "Bésame" arranged by Bebu Silvetti. Again, the song enjoyed immense success all over the world. Succeeding collaboration with Juan Carlos Calderón, Kike Santander, and Silvetti further propelled Ricardo's career to new heights in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

By 1997, Montaner was already a well-established artist in the Spanish-speaking music world and could give himself the luxury of experimenting with other styles of music without forgetting the roots that made him so popular a decade earlier. He again worked with Pablo Manavello and was signed under a new record company, Warner Music. This yielded the unprecedented success that Ricardo was expecting for. Es Así brought Ricardo a lot of attention in the Spanish-speaking areas of the United States and allowed Montaner to tour more than 17 countries in Latin America making him even more popular in Spain. Songs like "La Mujer de Mi Vida", "Para Llorar" and "Es Así" became very popular all around.

Although Montaner has written most of his songs he has worked closely with other great songwriters in Latin America such as Pablo Manavello, Ilan Chester, and Oscar Gómez. But in 1994, Ricardo Montaner wrote and produced all the songs in his album Una Mañana y un Camino, which became popular only years after his release due to the lack of promotion by his new record label EMI Latin, with which Ricardo would also release Viene del Alma in 1995, an Italian pop music themed album. Also in 1995, he teamed up with Yolandita Monge to establish a Guinness World Record for performing three concerts in different cities on the same day in Puerto Rico. This was only possible by air transportation via helicopter from stage to stage.

In 1994, after Montaner fell out with his record label Sonorodven and he signed up with Sonográfica; this was the motive for a legal dispute between the two companies, which increased the struggle that has been fought between them for over 14 years.

By 1992, Ricardo decided to hit the Spanish Caribbean with Los Hijos del Sol, an album that contained songs like "Castillo Azul", "Honda" and "Piel Adentro". That year, he also recorded a duet with Michelle, which was the Latin American version for the Aladdin song "A Whole New World" titled "Un Mundo Ideal". In the same year, he performed his live concert in Madison Square Garden with more than 16,000 people who attended the concert. Additionally, he released singles such as "La pequeña Venecia" in which he demonstrates his immense love and appreciation towards his native country of Venezuela, in which he refers to Venezuela as his country. Montaner was nominated for three Lo Nuestro Awards in 1993: Pop Artist of the Year, and Pop Song and Video of the Year for the single "Castillo Azul".

In 1983, he released his first album titled Cada Día. Although the album was not a great success, it was a start for Montaner's career. It wasn't until 1987 when Montaner became widely popular in Venezuela with the singles "Yo Que Te Amé" and "Vamos a Dejarlo" belonging to his self-titled album.

In 1976, he recorded his first single named Mares. The same year he participated in the Ancon Festival (a Peruvian music festival from 1968 to 1984); where he gained some popularity after performing his song "Murallas".

Héctor Eduardo Reglero Montaner (born September 8, 1957), better known as Ricardo Montaner (Spanish pronunciation: [riˈkaɾðo montaˈneɾ] ), is an Argentine-Venezuelan singer and songwriter. Since starting his career in the late 1970s, he has already released more than 24 albums, with many successful singles and has sold over 65 million records worldwide.