Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago, whose stage name is Anuel AA, is a Puerto Rican singer of reggaeton and Latin trap born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on November 27, 1992.
Despite having only five years of popularity and facing several legal issues that have led the singer to serve time in prison, temporarily halting his artistic activities, Anuel AA has managed to collaborate with some of the most prominent figures in reggaeton and trap, successfully steering a career that continues to rise toward fame.
In 2015, he released his single "Nacimos pa' morir" featuring Jory Boy, and in 2016, he gained worldwide recognition with the song "La ocasión," which included collaborations with Ozuna, Arcángel, and De La Ghetto.
On April 3, 2016, he was arrested and sentenced to 30 months in prison for possession of firearms. He resumed his career in 2018.
He has shared stages with Puerto Ricans Ozuna and Ñengo Flow, who helped launch him to fame in his homeland. In 2019, he co-wrote the song "China" with Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, and Karol G (his current partner), which debuted at number 2 on the Spotify Global Top 50, amassing over 5,000,000 streams.
In Spain, the song reached number 1 on the Top 50, breaking the record for streams in 24 hours (724,000), and became the most successful song of the genre in that country for 2019.
In January 2020, he released "Me Gusta" featuring Shakira through Ace Entertainment and Sony Music Latin. The song includes a sample from "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" by the Jamaican band Inner Circle. Anuel is a co-writer of the track, which currently has over 100 million views on YouTube.
On May 13, 2020, he released the track "La Bebe (Remix)" along with Black Jonas Point, Secreto, Liro Shaw, and Cardi B. On the same day, he launched the song "Sur y Norte" with his partner Ñengo Flow for his album "The Goat."
For his second album "Emmanuel," released in 2020, he features collaborations with Karol G, Daddy Yankee, Kendo Kaponi, Tego Calderón, Enrique Iglesias, Bad Bunny, among others. He also has another album from 2018 titled "Real hasta la muerte."
In October 2019, at the fifth edition of the Latin American Music Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, he was the big winner, taking home five awards in the most notable categories: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Favorite Male Artist, Urban Artist, and Urban Album.
In December 2019, together with his partner Karol G, he was in charge of entertaining the evening with his music during the party that took place after the vow renewal ceremony of Uruguayan footballer Luis Suárez and his wife Sofía Balbi. He was joined there by Leo Messi, Neymar Jr., Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, among others.
In June 2020, the music video for the song "Reggaetonera," which pays tribute to many Latin American countries through their flags and the dancers' outfits, also includes a reference to Cuba.
