Aventura (band)


Aventura is an American bachata group that broke into the mainstream with their 2002 hit "Obsesión ". With a line-up comprising Romeo Santos, Lenny Santos, Henry Santos and Max Santos, they are regarded as one of the most influential Latin groups of all time. The group were integral to the evolution of bachata music and are the pioneers of the modern bachata sound. Aventura released five studio albums in a decade, spawning many top 10 hits like "Cuando Volverás", "Un Beso", "Mi Corazoncito", "Los Infieles", "El Perdedor", "Por Un Segundo", "Dile Al Amor", among others. They have sold out many arenas including the world famous Madison Square Garden. Aventura has been nominated for awards such as American Music Awards, the Latin Grammy Awards, Billboard Latin Music Awards, and Premio Lo Nuestro. Aventura is one of the most internationally recognized Latin groups of the last two decades and frequently refer to themselves as "K.O.B.", or "Kings of Bachata".

History

Formation, Los Tinellers and Aventura

Lenny Santos and his brother Mikey "El Trueno" form La Banda Sueno in the early 90s. They had a singer in the band, but were looking for a replacement because he wasn't very good. Lenny is later introduced to Anthony Santos via a mutual friend who attended the same school as him. Lenny and Anthony clicked instantly, and worked on songs together. Anthony introduces his cousin Henry to Lenny and Max, and they all formed the group Los Tinellers in 1995. The group was discovered by Elvin Polanco at a local parade in the Bronx when Lenny and Romeo asked him if they could perform in the parade. Elvin became their manager and helped them record their first studio album. They released their debut album in 1995 titled "Trampa de Amor" under Elca Productions.The album did not do well commercially. Elvin Polanco ran into some health problems and the group was left without a manager at that time.
In 1996, with the help of new manager Julio César García, the group created a new image. Julio added Max and Henry and made the group to resemble popular American boy bands. They renamed the group to Aventura and signed with Premium Latin Music, Inc. They made their big break in 1999, with the hopes of breaking bachata music into the mainstream from its traditional base. The group was the first to experiment with bachata by fusing the genre with R&B music, hip hop, rap and rock. Aventura broke bachata rules. They were the first bachata act to sing a whole bachata song in English. Romeo innovated bachata with fresh lyrics that incorporated songs with different themes, instead of just singing about heartbreak. Lenny innovated bachata guitar with his use of electric guitars. He also innovated the tone of bachata guitar by adding guitar effects such as wah, phaser, distortion, tremolo and harmonizer. Max innovated the bachata bass with his use of bass techniques such as slapping and bass slides. Max incorporated a lot of rock bass riffs into bachata. Their sound helped make the genre mainstream, as showed with the success of their 2002 hit song "Obsesión". The song achieved huge success in many countries, topping many international charts like France, Germany and Italy. Since then they have blown up internationally with hits such as "Su Veneno", "Todavia Me Amas", "El Malo", "Te Invito", "Por Un Segundo", among others. Toby Love began his music career with Aventura and left in 2005 to pursue a solo career in bachata. They have been inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame.
Aventura faced their biggest performance yet when they completely sold out the Madison Square Garden on September 1, 2007. They sold out the arena 360 degrees. They are the first bachata group to have done this. They were accompanied by Don Omar, Antony Santos, Wisin y Yandel, Miri Ben-Ari, Toby Love, and El Torito.
In 2009, Aventura was invited to perform their hit single "Su Veneno" "In Performance at the White House: Fiesta Latina" for the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama at the White House. They are the first bachata act to ever perform at the White House.
In February 2010, they sold out the Garden once again, but for a legendary four nights in a row. They surpassed american artists such as Lady Gaga and Madonna in ticket sales, being one of the first Latin groups to do so. At one of the concerts they paid homage to Juan Luis Guerra, and even sang some songs with the iconic Dominican singer.
Aventura stated in 2011 that the group would be taking a hiatus to do individual projects.

Hiatus

After the group announced their hiatus in 2011, Henry embarked on a respective solo career, looking to be accepted without the group. Romeo took the opportunity to sign with Sony Music Latin, and embarked on his solo career as well. Although Max wanted to focus more on his rap career, he joined his brother Lenny and formed their new group called "D'Element." under Lenny's record label Element Music Group. They then joined Steve Styles from the bachata group Xtreme and renamed the group Vena.

Reunion and tour

Romeo, alongside the members of Aventura reunited to close out the second night of his sold-out Yankee Stadium concert on July 12, 2014.
On December 1, 2015, it was announced on the band's website and social media that they would have a reunion tour for the whole month of February at the United Palace theater in New York City. Their first concert since their split started with a sold-out crowd on February 4, 2016 with the final concert ending on February 28, 2016. They would've continued on with the tour, but Romeo had to finish the second leg of his Formula Vol. 2 tour.
On April 1, 2019, Romeo, Lenny, Henry and Max posted an image on their Instagram accounts teasing a new Aventura single called "Inmortal" slated to be released at 9PM, captioning it "#UTOPIA". At 9PM, Romeo uploaded a video saying that their new song would not be released at 9PM after all, and that it was intended to be an April Fool's joke which led the fans to become upset and lash out on social media. The following day, however, the group apologized and announced that the April Fool's joke was not the song, but was the release date. They then previewed the new single "Inmortal" and its music video, stating that it was being released Friday, as a part of Romeo's fourth upcoming studio album, Utopia. It is their first single in 10 years, and debuted at number 5 on the Hot Latin Songs chart, and at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Aventura won for Tropical Duo/Group of the Year for the Billboard Latin Music Awards on April 25, 2019. That same night they performed "Inmortal" alongside Raulin Rodriguez.
On September 21, 2019, the group reunited for Romeo's Utopia concert at the MetLife Stadium. They performed hits such as "Dile al Amor", "Todavia Me Amas", and "Inmortal". The group performed "Obsesión" alongside Cardi B and also performed her hit song "I Like It". On December 8, 2019, an announcement was made regarding the band's upcoming US tour, La Gira Inmortal. It will be their first tour since splitting in 2011, and began in Los Angeles on February 5, 2020.
Concert Tours

Members

Principal members

They weren't really members of the group, but happened to work with or for them in some of their songs.

Studio albums

As Los Tinellers
As Aventura

Concert Tours

American Music Awards

Billboard Latin Music Awards

Latin American Music Awards

Latin Grammy Awards

Premios Juventud

Premio Lo Nuestro