Andy Montañez

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Andrés Montañez (born May 7,1942), better known as Andy Montañez, is a famous salsa singer from Puerto Rico. Montañez, like singer Daniel Santos and boxer Ossie Ocasio, is a native of the Tras Talleres (Spanish for "Behind Workshops") area of Santurce San Juan. He is known by the nickname "El niño de Tras Talleres" (the boy from Tras Talleres). He is the first born out of 17 children.

Montañez first gained fame as a member of the internationally successful El Gran Combo group, with songs like "Hojas blancas" (White Leaves), "Un verano en N.Y." (A Summer at NY), "El barbero loco" (The Crazy Barber), "Julia", "Ponme el alcoholado, Juana" (Rub Me With Alcohol), "Vagabundo" (Bum), "El Swing", etc. He stayed for aprox. 15 years, producing 37 LPs. After leaving El Gran Combo, he enjoyed considerable success on an international scale with his own orchestra, touring Latin America and the United States several times. He represented Puerto Rico at the 1992 World's Fair in Barcelona, Spain.

Two of Montañez's sons have also gone on to become salsa singers.

In recent years he had teamed up with fellow salsa singer Ismael Miranda to produce some boleros and bohemian music. By 2005-06 he's creating a new blend between salsa and reggaeton, called salsaton, along with rappers like Daddy Yankee and Julio Voltio.

In November 2, 2006, Montañez won his first Latin Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Album, together with Pablo Milanés.

[edit] Discography

El Clan de Víctor y Dimensión Latina (1972)
Triunfadores
En La Dimensión Latina (1974)
Dimensión Latina (1976)
Dimensión Latina en Nueva York (1977)
Tremenda Dimensión
Dimensión Latina (1979)
Para Siempre... Velvet
El Número Uno con la Número Uno Velvet
Cuerda para rato
Producto de Exportación
Salsaton-Salsa con reggaeton- 2006 (one of the pioneer albums to use Salsaton, with singers like Daddy Yankee and Crooked Stilo)