Latin Pop

Latin Pop became the most popular form of Latin music in the United States during the '80s and '90s, even achieving massive crossover success among non-Latino listeners during the late '90s. While not restricted to America by any means, Latin pop was profoundly affected by production techniques and other styles of music -- both Latin and otherwise -- that originated primarily in the United States. Tejano music, centered in Texas and the U.S./Mexico border region, had begun to introduce synthesizers, slicker production, and a more urban sensibility to formerly rootsy styles like norteqo and conjunto. Moreover, New York and Miami were home to thriving Latin club scenes, which during the '80s led to the rise of Latin freestyle, a club-oriented dance music that was rooted in Latin rhythms but relied on synthesizers and drum machines for most of its arrangements. Both of these sounds influenced the rise of Latin pop, which retained Latin rhythms in its uptempo numbers but relied more on mainstream pop for its melodic sense. Latin pop's first major crossover star was Gloria Estefan, who scored a succession of non-club-oriented dance-pop hits during the mid- to late '80s, but who eventually became known more as an adult contemporary diva with an affinity for sweeping ballads. This blend of Latinized dance-pop and adult contemporary balladeering dominated Latin pop through the '90s; most of its artists sang in Spanish for Latino audiences, although Latin pop's similarity to the mainstream helped several performers score crossover hits when they chose to record in English. Jon Secada landed several pop hits during the mid-'90s, and Tejano pop star Selena's album Dreaming of You actually debuted at number one on the album charts upon its 1995 release (although, sadly, her success was posthumous). However, that was nothing compared to Latin pop's commercial explosion in 1999, thanks to well-crafted, mostly English-language crossover albums by ex-Menudo member Ricky Martin (already a star among Spanish-speaking audiences) and actress Jennifer Lopez.

 Tejano is a modernized, hybrid Latin style strongly rooted in the conjunto and norteqo music popular in the region near the U.S./Mexico border, although it isn't quite the same thing. It was developed by working-class Mexican-Americans living in Texas -- hence the name, which is the Spanish word for "Texan" and became the accepted term for the music in the early '80s. Bandleader Beto Villa was a pivotal figure in the music's birth, adding instrumentation and song structures (i.e. ranchera, cumbia, polka, etc.) from conjunto/norteqo music to his orchestra, which drew upon a regional synthesis of Mexican folk music and big-band swing. The most important contributor, though, was Isidro Lspez, who added vocals, mariachi style, and early rock & roll rhythms while aggressively playing up his conjunto influences. The result was a combination of rural folk and urban sophistication that appealed mightily to young Mexican-Americans in search of a music to call their own, just as rock and R&B were taking over other youth markets during the mid-'50s. During the early '60s, the Tejano ensemble shrank from a large orchestra to a medium-sized group more reliant on electric instruments, although horn sections and accordions remained important parts of the music. Many of these groups played English-language Top 40 rock & roll covers in addition to their Spanish repertoire. In the early '70s, Tejano music (then known as la onda chicana) really came into its own, borrowing freely from other musical traditions present in Texas -- blues, country, R&B, pop, rock, jazz -- and blending them with Mexican folk as it saw fit. The most important artist of this period was Little Joe (aka Josi Marma DeLesn Hernandez) Y La Familia, whose music reflected the emerging political consciousness of disillusioned Chicano youth. During the mid-'70s, Tejano lost much of its audience to more traditional Mexican music, but staged a comeback in the mid-'80s thanks to a new infusion of mainstream musical hybrids, as well as major-label interest in the growing Latino market. Bands like Mazz and La Mafia expanded their stage shows to reflect the glitz and excitement of English-language performers, and Selena's pop sensibilities helped make her a superstar in the Latin community. The early '90s saw the greatest creative fertility and diversity of Tejano music to date, but just as those qualities were beginning to wane, Selena was murdered in 1995, touching off a mass media explosion that brought Tejano to the top of the album charts with her posthumous smash Dreaming of You. When the Selena phenomenon leveled off, revitalized norteqo had once again captured much of the Mexican-American audience heading into the next millennium.