Prince Royce
Geoffrey Royce Rojas, known professionally as Prince Royce, is an American singer. At an early age, Royce took an interest in music, and in his teenage years began experimenting with music and writing poetry. By age nineteen, Royce met Andrés Hidalgo, who became his manager. Hidalgo later introduced Royce to record producer Sergio George, who immediately signed him to his label after hearing three of his demos.
In March 2010, Royce released his eponymous debut studio album, which generated two commercially successful singles, "Stand by Me" and "Corazón Sin Cara". In the United States, both songs reached number-one on the Billboard Tropical Songs chart, while "Corazón Sin Cara" reached number-one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The album itself reached number-one on the US Billboard Top Latin Albums and Tropical Albums charts. Royce received three awards at the Billboard Latin Music Awards in 2011, which included Tropical Album of the Year. In 2012, Royce released his second studio album, Phase II, which reached number-one on both the US Latin Albums and Tropical Albums charts. The album featured the singles "Las Cosas Pequeñas" and "Incondicional" and was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Best Tropical Fusion Album.
His third studio album, Soy el Mismo, was released in 2013, preceded by the single "Darte un Beso". The album earned Royce his second nomination for the Latin Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Tropical Album. In 2015, Royce released his fourth studio album, Double Vision, his first primarily in the English language. The album included the singles "Stuck on a Feeling" featuring Snoop Dogg and "Back It Up" featuring Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, with both charting on the Billboard Hot 100.
Five was released as Royce's fifth studio album in 2017. It became Royce's fourth number-one album on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album's last single, "Déjà Vu", with Shakira, became its most successful commercially and was certified 9× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in the US.
Early life
Geoffrey Royce Rojas was born and raised in The Bronx, a borough of New York City. He is the second oldest of four children, born to Dominican parents. His father, Ramón Rojas, drove a taxicab and his mother, Ángela de León, worked at a beauty salon. When he was young, Royce participated in choir in elementary school, competed in talent shows and, at the age of thirteen, began writing poetry, which turned into songwriting. Recalling his first time performing before a crowd, he said: " elementary school, I was singing a Christmas song. I felt really comfortable on stage."Career
2004–09: Beginnings
At age fifteen, Royce had begun making music with a partner named José Chusán, better known as "Jino". The duo was also known as "Jino and Royce, El Dúo Real". At the age of sixteen, Royce adopted the stage name "Prince Royce" and started making music with longtime friend and record producer Donzell Rodríguez, and Vincent Outerbridge, known together as "L Snipe & Vinny". The duo eventually had a meeting with Atlantic Records in early 2007. With the decline of reggaeton music in the Latin music industry at the time, Royce made the ultimate decision to focus on making bachata music. At age nineteen, Royce met producer Andrés Hidalgo, who after hearing his demos, instantly became his manager. Hidalgo began helping Royce work hands-on with bachata music. That was the turning point that helped Royce decide that he wanted to pursue a musical career. Hidalgo later introduced Royce to record producer Sergio George, who immediately signed Royce to his label, Top Stop Music, after listening to three of his demos.2010–11: ''Prince Royce''
Royce released his eponymous debut studio album on March 2, 2010. The album was produced primarily by Hidalgo and Sergio George, with co-production duties by Royce. AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier credited Hidalgo for the "crisp production job, which is often spare but adds touches of urban beats here and there." Shortly after its release, the album debuted on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart at number fifteen. The lead single from the album, "Stand by Me" peaked at number-one on the US Billboard Tropical Songs chart, and also reached number eight on the US Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The album's second single, "Corazón Sin Cara", was released in February 2010 and peaked at number-one on both the US Hot Latin Songs and Tropical Songs charts. The album itself eventually reached number-one on the US Billboard Latin Albums chart and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In December 2010, Royce recorded a song with Sergio George called "El Campo de los Sueños", which was used as the theme song for the television program Domingo de Grandes Ligas on American TV sports network ESPN in its 2010 season.The album earned Royce a nomination for Best Contemporary Tropical Album at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2011. At the awards ceremony, Royce performed "Stand by Me" alongside the song's original performer Ben E. King. At the 2011 Premio Lo Nuestro Awards, Royce won three awards in the Tropical genre, including Male Artist of the Year, New Soloist or Group of the Year, and Song of the Year for "Stand by Me". Royce was also nominated for six awards at the 2011 Latin Billboard Music Awards. Ultimately, he won three of them: Tropical Airplay Solo Artist of the Year, Tropical Album of the Year for Prince Royce, and Tropical Albums Solo Artist of the Year. In April 2011, Royce collaborated with Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee on the song "Ven Conmigo", which was included on the latter's album, Prestige. The song became Royce's third top-ten hit in the US Hot Latin Songs chart, peaking at number nine. In May 2011, Royce signed with Atlantic Records to release English-language albums in a joint partnership with the Top Stop Music label. Royce then began working on his second studio album, which was said to be mostly in English with Latin music influences. That same month, Spanish pop star Enrique Iglesias announced that Royce and American rapper Pitbull would be joining him as special guests during a concert leg of his Euphoria Tour, which began in mid-September 2011. Then, in October, Mexican rock band Maná remixed their single "El Verdadero Amor Perdona" into a bachata version with Royce as a featured artist. The song, from the deluxe edition of the band's album Drama y Luz, topped the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in late 2011, becoming Royce's second number-one single on the ranking.
2012: ''Phase II'' and ''#1's''
On April 10, 2012, Prince Royce released his second studio album, Phase II. The 13-track album incorporated a variety of music styles, from bachata to mariachi. The album contained songs in both English and Spanish, as well as melodies atypical to traditional bachata music. "Las Cosas Pequeñas" debuted at number-one on the Billboard Tropical Songs chart, and eventually reached number-one on the Billboard Latin Songs chart. The week of Phase II release, Royce attended four autograph signing events in the United States. His appearance at a f.y.e. location in Chicago broke an attendance record for most visitors to an in-store music event. Later in 2012, he was featured as one of People en Español "Sexiest Men Alive". Royce's second album was certified platinum in the US six months after its release. It was later nominated for Best Tropical Fusion Album at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2012, making Royce a three-time Latin Grammy-nominated artist.In November 2012, Royce's label decided to release a collection of his hits thus far; titled #1's, the compilation album was released on November 19, 2012, and debuted at number three on the Billboard Latin Albums chart. Included on the album are the songs "Stand by Me", "Corazon Sin Cara", "Las Cosas Pequeñas", "Incondicional", and "Te Me Vas". It peaked at number three on the Billboard Latin Albums chart and was certified platinum by RIAA. The album was later nominated for Tropical Album of the Year at the 2014 Latin Billboard Music Awards.
2013-14: Signing with Sony and ''Soy El Mismo''
In April 2013, it was announced that Royce had signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment to release his third Spanish-language studio album under Sony Music Latin and debut English-language recording under RCA Records. This came after the fizzled relationship between Royce and Top Stop that ended in two lawsuits, in which Royce was sued by the label for breach of contract. In a statement, Peter Edge, the CEO of RCA Records, said: "We are thrilled about the opportunity to work with such a dynamic Latin artist on his first English album. Prince Royce's early successes have paved the way for the next generation of Latin music and we are eager to join forces with our partners Sony Music Latin to fully maximize his music and career." That same year, Royce was honored with the BMI Latin Songwriter of the Year. Royce was also one of the three coaches on Telemundo's La Voz Kids, a singing competition featuring children aged 7–15 with a $50,000 prize for their education. He became the winning coach for the first season with his team member Paola Guanche, and again in the second season with Amanda Mena. He was replaced by Daddy Yankee for season three.On July 15, 2013, the lead single from Royce's next studio album was released, "Darte un Beso". It reached number-one on multiple Latin charts and was certified three-times platinum in the Latin field. His third album, Soy el Mismo, was released on October 8, 2013, and reached number fourteen on the Billboard 200. The album earned Royce his second nomination for Best Contemporary Tropical Album at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2014. He was then nominated for three awards at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, for Top Latin Artist, Top Latin Album for Soy el Mismo, and Top Latin Song for "Darte un Beso". The latter won the award for Streaming Song of the Year at the 2014 Latin Billboard Music Awards.