An urban-based Dominican boy band that fuses traditional bachata music with today’s R&B and Hip Hop sounds,
Aventura continues to define the essence of hybrid music. Formed in 1994 in the Bronx, New York, the band includes Anthony "
Romeo" Santos (singer and composer,) Lenny Santos (guitarist and producer,)
Max Santos (double bass), and Henry Santos Meter (singer and composer).
While
Aventura self-produced at first, their real break came in 1999, when they were signed by BMG, and released their debut -- with an outside producer. The material, however, was their
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own, and the group resisted the attempt to turn them into just another boy band ala the
Backstreet Boys and *N'Sync, by ensuring the bachata element remained dominant. Without classification, however, the album fell between the cracks of both the growing Latin movement, and the evolving pop/R&B stars. Three years later, Aventura released We Broke the Rules, an album which featured a refined direction that, led by the single, “Obsession,” resulted in its being a hit with both Latin youth and hip hop lovers. As the album's title promised, Aventura did break all the bachata rules, bringing the style very much into the new Millennium without sacrificing the roots. Other great Aventura songs on the album included “I Believe (Yo Creo),” “Gone,” and “Amor De Madre”
With the release of We Broke the Rules, Aventura began to find a growing fan base in the U.S., and they also started to become popular in
Europe, thanks to frequent touring and the unique niche they had carved for themselves. In 2003, they returned with Love & Hate, which saw them progressing even further with their sound, adding merengue into the mix, and upping the R&B/hip-hop quotient without losing touch with their background, singing in Spanish, English, and Spanglish. God's Project, released in 2005, was widely regarded as the group's best album to date, and it was followed with the stop-gap release K.O.B.: Live. If there are kings of bachata –ish music, then certainly the title would apply to Aventura.