Victor Manuel

Manuelle - TA: salsa music singer from New York - Artículo Breve

Latin Beat Magazine,  May, 2001  by Nelson Rodríguez

For many music labels in the early nineties, a pretty image and presence in the artists took priority over actual vocal talent, but as the decade progressed, some of the new talent also came equipped with a distinctive voice, plenty of "sabor" and intuitive phrasing of the lyrics.

 

That is the best way to describe Víctor Manuel Ruiz Velásquez, better known as Víctor Manuelle. His success, since he began his solo career in 1993, has been a steady climb and he shows no sign of peaking any time soon.

Born in Manhattan, New York on September 27, 1970 to Juanita Velásquez and Víctor Ruiz, the younger Víctor moved to Puerto Rico with his family at the age of two and was raised in Isabela, a beach town with beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean that is located in the northwestern part of the island, a section noted for its Karst hills and caves (Guajataca), an indigenous park (Utuado), and an astronomical center (Arecibo). By the age of 14 he was singing with his father in parrandas (singing groups that go from house to house in the holidays), and singing with local bands such as La Banda Escolar de Isabela and La Banda Estatal Juvenil, where he played trumpet.Víctor Manuelle began his professional career at the age of 18 when he joined Gilberto Santa Rosa on stage during the latter's performance at El Salón Punta Borínquen in Aguadilla in 1986. Santa Rosa loved what he saw and heard and called Víctor, who was working on Don Perignon's LP, La Buena Vida.


 Soon after, Manuelle was singing chorus for Pupi Santiago, Ismael Miranda, Tito Allen, Camilo Azuquita and Mario Ortiz, and toured with Cheo Feliciano, Rey Ruiz and Domingo Quiñones.His alliance with Domingo Quiñones helped him gain confidence and gave him the opportunity to sing more. This was also the time when Victor Manuelle was weighing his options about going solo and commented that his time would eventually come, and that in the meantime he would absorb and develop himself.

That opportunity arrived in 1993, when Sony Discos signed him to his first contract and, with Gilberto Santa Rosa producing, introduced the world to Justo a Tiempo. His foresight about waiting for the right time was on the money, since Estás Tocando Fuego (a huge hit by La Mafia) became an instant salsa hitas soon as he recorded it.