Yosdany Jacob Carmenates, better known as Jacob Forever, is a popular Cuban singer of genres such as ballads, reggaeton, and other urban styles, born in Camagüey on December 21, 1981.
His beginnings in the music world showcased his restless personality on stage and his desire to innovate and succeed: he started off by dancing on roller skates for a company where he imitated the style of groups like the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync. He traveled with this dance company to Spain, where he stayed for a year. Upon his return, he founded Made in Cuba.
In 2005, he joined the group Gente d'Zona. With them, he recorded Lo mejor que suena ahora vol II and gained national and international popularity with several songs that climbed to the top of the charts.
After eight years of success, several albums (Lo mejor que suena ahora, Full), collaborations with artists such as Orishas, La Charanga Habanera, El Micha, among others, and a Lucas Award, Jacob and Alexander Delgado (founder of Gente d'Zona) announce their separation. Gente d'Zona would continue its journey with Randy (former singer of La Charanga Habanera), while Jacob would embark on his solo career that same year, 2013, alongside El Dany, a former member of the group DpuntoD, and Nando Pro. Together they found Los Inmortales. Más duro and Son muchas cosas are the first two albums of this reggaeton group, one of the most followed and successful in Cuba.
In 2015, Jacob made a significant leap to fame with his single "Hasta Que Se Seque el Malecón", featured on his album El Inmortal. The song, which has nearly 78 million views on YouTube, solidified his position as one of the leading figures in the urban genre on the island and introduced him to the world.
The music video, with a 90s aesthetic and featuring stunning aerial views of the northern coast of the Cuban capital, highlighting the Morro Lighthouse, the area's architecture, and the famous Malecón, was very well received by the audience. It premiered on November 8, 2015, on Jacob Forever's YouTube channel and was created by the Cuban audiovisual director Freddy Loon. Forever later reinterpreted his song with the famous Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Farruko.
This success was followed by La Dura, also from 2015, and the 2017 Remix featuring Enrique Iglesias and Descemer Bueno of Súbeme la Radio. The single received 4 Platinum Discs, a certification for record sales awarded for surpassing 200,000 copies sold, at least in the United States. The song La Dura was censored in 2016 by Cuban Television due to the fact that a car is gifted to the protagonist of the story in the video, which was deemed “speculative” and “ostentatious” by the officials who made the decision.
Among his collaborations with other artists in the industry is the remix of No debí dejarte sola alongside Descemer Bueno and El Micha (2020). In August 2020, he released Pa mi gente, which features the single Dile, presented as a gift for his 39th birthday, and whose music video has nearly 14 million views on YouTube. This same album, consisting of 15 tracks filled with collaborations, includes Papelacera with El Taiger, Amor with Álvaro Torres, among others.
Jacob resides in Miami with his wife Diliamne Jouve, better known as La Dura, with whom he has a daughter named Saisha. Additionally, the singer has two other children from two previous relationships.
