Biography:

“Cha Cha” isn’t a song that needs a few dozen spins to sink into the brain; it’s not a track that reveals its charms gradually – the first time the beat, the brass, and CHELO’s cool delivery grab hold, there’s no doubt that you’re listening to something captivating.

Recorded in both English and Spanglish, “Cha Cha” is being prominently featured on Mexico’s TV coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In the U.S., Chelo has already performed the song on the top live Hispanic TV shows, including Don Francisco Presenta, Sabado Gigante’s 20th Anniversary Special, Despierta America and Escandalo TV. The single is climbing on Billboard’s Latin charts, building momentum for a push into English crossover.

“Cha Cha” brings together many elements, bridging musical styles, generations and cultures. In addition to being a perfect dance song in the classic sense, there’s a hip-hop undercurrent and a bicultural savvy.

When CHELO debuted “Cha Cha” on a Spring airing of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, he was instantly the subject of “Who was that and where can I get his song?” message-board buzz. That reaction is likely to repeat when Chelo performs as the only music artist on the Live Broadcast of the MISS UNIVERSE pageant in July.

During the rush to capitalize on the “Latin crossover explosion”, there was a flood of awkward, pro forma multilingual versions of hits, performed by artists who struggled through poor phonetic translations. CHELO, however, showcases the seamless fluency with English, Spanish, and bilingual slang that is the reality of today’s urban Latino.

Hailing from a musical family, CHELO was known as a showman to friends and teachers as early as third grade. In his teens, he thought he might one day become a choreographer to the stars – when CHELO was a high school junior, future reggaetón superstar Daddy Yankee asked him to choreograph for him. In fact, dancing helped CHELO get what he considers his first big break – when he was with Jyve (originally a dance group which became Jyve V), they won a dance competition in Miami Beach. Record labels wasted no time in approaching with contract offers.