LAS VEGAS, (Reuters) – Two U.S.-born Puerto Rican artists, Marc Anthony and Draco Rosa, and the Colombian singer Carlos Vives yesterday won the top Latin Grammy music awards in a night that rewarded comebacks and long careers.
Top-selling salsa artist Anthony won record of the year for “Vivir Mi Vida” or “Live My Life,” a song that talks about moving on from life’s difficult moments. It is the fourth career Latin Grammy for the 45-year-old, who has also won two Grammys.
“This means more to me than ever because I am in a very special time of my life and the words ‘live my life’ say it all,” Anthony told the crowd in Las Vegas where the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences held the 14th edition of the Latin Grammys.
Anthony’s recent album “3.0” was his first since 2010 and follows his high-profile divorce from actress and singer Jennifer Lopez last year.
Rosa, a pop singer and composer who started out with 1980s boy band Menudo, won the coveted album of the year for “Vida,” an album he recorded after receiving a cancer diagnosis in 2011 and undergoing treatment.
The album includes a collaboration with fellow Menudo member Ricky Martin. Rosa, 44, thanked people for “for all being there to support me in the difficult moments.”
Vives, a singer of Colombia’s tropical Vallenato style who is making a comeback at the age of 52, won song of the year for the appropriately named “Volvi A Nacer” or “Born Again.”
Vives picked up three Grammys in total and had led Latin Grammy nominations with five nods, tied with Argentine fusion group Illya Kuryaki & the Valderramas, which took home the Grammy for best urban song.
Even the best new artist was on the older side compared to recent years.
Guatemalan pop singer and songwriter Gaby Moreno, 31, was recognized as best new artist and thanked her famous fellow Guatemalan Ricardo Arjona with whom she sang the duet “Fuiste Tu” that launched her career.
Spanish pop singer and actor Miguel Bose, 57, was named person of the year, the top honor from Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Bose accepted the award from the hands of Ricky Martin and thanked the Academy for the recognition not only for his 35-year career in music but also his activism, including his efforts to bring peace to Colombia in the last decade.
On another note of nostalgia, best record and album nominee Natalie Cole again performed a virtual duet with her late father Nat King Cole, only this time in Spanish.
