Daddy Yankee

While he treasures the secrecy of his private life, he opened up to the media for the first time during an interview with María Celeste Arrarás on Al Rojo Vivo. He mentioned that friendship has kept his marriage strong over the years and that he avoids temptation witnessing the downfall of many fellow artists.

Daddy Yankee and Mireddys Gonzalez have three children together: Yamilette, Jessealy and Jeremy. He is a devoted father who shares a very close bond with his children and often enlightens them against drugs and other social evils.

Daddy Yankee was born as Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez on February 3, 1977, in Río Piedras, the largest district of San Juan, Puerto Rico. His father was a salsa percussionist, otherwise known as bongosero, and while his mother was a manicurist, she came from a family of musicians.

Daddy Yankee and his brother, Nomar, had been exposed to music since they were children, as their father would often perform in front of them. Daddy Yankee started singing and rapping at the age of 13, with special focus on lyrical improvisation.

He later became interested in reggaetón, Spanish-language dancehall reggae, and was immensely influenced by the style of Vico C, and often imitated artists like DJ Playero, DJ Nelson, and DJ Drako. While this type of music was not widely popular at that time, San Juan DJs used to mix hip-hop, dancehall, and freestyle rap, which was particularly loved by the local audience.

As a teenager, he aspired to be a professional Major League Baseball player and was all set to get signed by the Seattle Mariners. However, his baseball dreams were shattered after he sustained two bullet wounds from an AK-47 after being caught in the crossfire of a barrio gun battle.

While recovering from the bullet wounds, Daddy Yankee got the opportunity to fully focus on his music career. By the time the accident happened, he was already collaborating with DJ Playero and was a featured artist in his 1992 mixtape 'Playero 37'.

On April 2, 1995, with the help of Playero, he released his first mixtape as a solo artist, 'No Mercy', from White Lion Records and BM Records. The politicians imposed a ban on him as the album contained rebel lyrics, but the local audience were able to relate to the language which made it a moderate success.

In August 1997, he released the compilation album 'El Cartel' independently, and later that year collaborated with fellow rapper Nas in the song 'The Profecy'.

In 2001, he followed up with another independent release, 'El Cartel II'; while both the albums were successful in Puerto Rico, they failed to make an impression in Latin America.

He earned recognition from urban music fans in Miami and New York with his second studio album 'El Cangri.com', which released on June 20, 2002 and touched on issues like terrorism, corruption and religion. The single 'Latigazo' was played at Spanish-language radio stations in the US, while the album peaked at 43 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart.

Daddy Yankee's first international release, 'Barrio Fino', became immensely successful and is considered as one of the best albums for introduction into the reggaeton style. The album stayed on top of the Latin albums chart for about a year and sold over a million copies in the US alone.

His much awaited album 'El Cartel: The Big Boss' was successful both commercially and critically. It debuted at No.9 on the 'US Billboard 200' and received a Latin album triple platinum certification from RIAA.