'Furious 7' & 'McFarland USA' News: Romeo Santos, Juanes Rock the Billboard Latin Music Awards
"The King of Bachata," Romeo Santos, and Colombian rock star Juanes have been sharing their talents with the big screen lately.
The Dominican singer recently made his acting debut in "Furious 7," and Juanes lent his voice to Disney's just-released film "McFarland, USA." Now, they are bringing it back to the music and are gearing up to perform at The Billboard Latin Music Awards, "the longest-running and most prestigious awards show in the Latin music world."
In addition to Santos and Juanes, The Billboard Latin Music Awards is showcasing yet another stellar line-up this year for the April 30 awards show, which also includes Spanish singer and "La Voz Kids" coach Natalia Jimenez and world-renowned EDM DJ Afrojack.
Also rounding out the line-up will be Wisin, Daddy Yankee, Carlos Santana, J Balvin, Carlos Vives, Julion Alvarez y Su Norteño Banda, Ana Gabriel, Lucero, Alejandro Sanz and Roberto Carlos, among others.
According to Billboard, Santos tops the list of Billboard Latin Music Awards finalists this year with 21 entries. Santos has had seven No. 1s on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. His single, "Odio," featuring Drake, spent 13 weeks atop the list -- his longest running No. 1 song. On the Billboard Hot 100, "Odio" was the highest debut for a Spanish-language song in the 55-year history of the chart when it arrived at No. 45.
Santos's album Formula, Vol. 2 debuted at No. 1 on the Top Latin Albums chart and spent 11 weeks atop the list.
In "Furious 7," the latest installment of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, Santos plays Armando, aka "Mando," who plays "a helpful friend of Dom and Brian's in the Dominican Republic." He helps Mia Torreto (played by Jordana Brewster) by providing her safety at his mansion in the Dominican Republic.
Juanes, who "has seven solo albums and multiplatinum sales exceeding 16 million copies, is one of the biggest Spanish-language artists in the world." He holds 16 top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The song "La Luz," from his latest studio album, Loco De Amor, reached No. 1 on the Latin Airplay chart in March 2014, one of nine career No. 1s on the chart. Loco De Amor also debuted at No. 1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart, Billboard adds.
Juanes rocked the 57th Annual Grammy Awards with his theme song for Disney's "McFarland, USA." In addition to Maroon 5, Juanes also performed "Juntos" during the first-ever "Victoria's Secret Swim Special" on CBS.
He will bring his critically praised "Loco De Amor Tour" across the U.S. this summer, which will include stops at Madison Square Garden, Multiple Nights At Nokia Theatre LA LIVE, and a special year-end show at Miami's American Airlines Arena. The tour will also feature a special guest opening performance by Ximena Sariñana.
Jimenez returned as Coach on Telemundo's reality music competition La Voz Kids, now in its third season. She released her latest solo album, "Creo En Mi," last month.
DJ Afrojack reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 2011 as a featured act on Pitbull's "Give Me Everything," also featuring Ne-Yo and Nayer. His 2014 album Forget The World debuted at No. 2 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
The Billboard Latin Music Awards will be produced and broadcast live by Telemundo on Thursday, April 30 at 7pm/6c from the Awards BankUnited Center at the University of Miami in Florida.
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