Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago, whose stage name is Anuel AA, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton and Latin trap singer born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on November 27, 1992.
Despite having only gained popularity in the past five years 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 the most significant figures in reggaeton and trap, steering a career that continues to rise towards fame.
In 2015, he released his single "Nacimos pa' morir" alongside Jory Boy, and in 2016, he gained worldwide recognition with the song "La ocasión," which featured 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 propel him to fame in his homeland. He collaborated with Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, and Karol G (his current partner) on the song "China" in 2019, for which he is a co-author, and it reached number 2 on Spotify's Global Top 50, amassing over 5,000,000 streams.
In Spain, the song reached number 1 on the Top 50, breaking the record for listens in 24 hours (724,000), and became the most successful song of the genre in that country in 2019.
In January 2020, he released "Me Gusta" featuring Shakira through Ace Entertainment and Sony Music Latin. The song includes a sample of "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" by the Jamaican band Inner Circle. Anuel is a co-author of the track, whose video currently has over 100 million views on YouTube.
On May 13, 2020, he released the song La Bebe (Remix) featuring 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 prominent categories: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Favorite Male Artist, Urban Artist, and Urban Album.
In December 2019, along with his partner Karol G, he was responsible for 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. There he coincided with Leo Messi, Neymar Jr, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, among others.
In June 2020, in the music video for the reggaeton song that pays tribute to many Latin American countries through their flags and the dancers' outfits, there is also a reference to Cuba.
