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Don Omar, also known as El Rey (born William Omar Landrón Rivera; February 10, 1978,^[1] is a Puerto Rican reggaeton singer-rapper and actor.

Early life

William Omar Landrón Rivera is the oldest son of William Landrón and Luz Antonia Rivera. He was raised in Santurce, a barrio of San Juan, Puerto Rico, specifically in the Villa Palmeras area. From an early age, he showed interest in the music of Vico C and Brewley MC, but never actually followed it. During his youth, he became an active member of a Protestant church, Iglesia Evangélica Restauración en Cristo, in Bayamón where he occasionally offered sermons. However, after four years, he left the church to dedicate himself to singing.^[2]

Several months later, he had his first public presentation in a night club, accompanied by disc jockey Eliel Lind Osorio. Afterwards he appeared regularly on compilation albums from popular DJ's and producers like Luny Tunes, Noriega, and DJ Eric. He also started working as a backup singer for the duo Héctor & Tito. One of the members, Héctor Delgado, helped him produce his first solo album.^[2]

Career

2000–2005: The Last Don

Don Omar's career catapulted to stardom with the release of his first studio album, The Last Don. Both the studio version and its live edition have been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Worldwide, The Last Don: Live [CD & DVD] has sold over one million copies, according to his official website. He earned awards for “Latin Pop Album of the Year” and "New Artist & Latin Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year” by the Billboard Latin Music Awards in 2003. The Last Don: Live [CD & DVD] was also nominated for "Urban Music Album" at the 2005 Latin Grammy Awards.

2006–2008: King of Kings

Omar's May 2006 album King of Kings, became history's highest ranking reggaeton LP in the top 10 US charts, with its debut at #1 on the Latin sales charts and the #1 spot on the Billboard Latin Rhythm Radio Chart with his single “Angelito”.^[3] Omar was also able to beat the in-store appearance sales record at Disney World's Virgin music store previously set by pop star Britney Spears.

With the highest charting debut by a reggaeton artist, Don Omar's "King of Kings" entered at No. 7 with 74,000, beating Daddy Yankee's No. 24 entry with 2005's "Barrio Fino En Directo". In April 2007, Don Omar received the Latin Billboard award for "Reggaeton Album Of The Year" for King of Kings.^[4] The songs "Los Bandoleros" and "Conteo" were featured in the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in the ending credits.

On September 18, 2007, Landrón was briefly under police custody in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, when a local company sued him after he canceled a concert scheduled for earlier that year in La Paz, Bolivia as part of an international tour titled "Up Close".^[5] The organization claimed that he had stolen $70,000 due to the cancellation.^[5] Landrón responded that he canceled the concert because the company did not provide air tickets in time.^[5] After the case was presented before a local judge, both parts reached an agreement.^[5] Landrón was allowed to leave the country in order to comply with a previously scheduled appearance in Buenos Aires on Argentine television and returned the next day to hold his concert in Santa Cruz's Tahuichi Aguilera soccer stadium. ^{[citation needed]}

Landrón participated as in Gilberto Santa Rosa's presentation in an event titled "Concierto del Amor", presented in the Madison Square Garden on February 9, 2008. Where he closed the event and performed reggaeton themes.^[6]

In late 2009 Billboard recognized that this was the most successful album of the decade (since 2000) in Latin America, besides being the most successful in the history of the genre of Reggaeton and Latin music, Don Omar ended in 2009 devoting even more over its rivals as the best of this genre and urban music. It is estimated that the album until the end of 2009 according to Billboard recount has sold just over 4.1 million copies.^[7]

"Salió El Sol" is featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.

2009: iDon

Don Omar's third studio album titled iDon was released on April 28, 2009. This album was dedicated to his cousin Cordell Brown. He misses his family in St.Louis, that's why the first single from this album titled "Virtual Diva" was performed on MTV's Tr3s variety show, Virtual Diva. iDon's Virtual Diva became the most requested song on Latin radio stations.^[8][9] The second official single, titled "Sexy Robotica", was released on July 6, 2009. 2009

2010–present: Meet the Orphans

The album Don Omar Presents: Meet The Orphans was released on November 16, 2010. The album features the artists under the Orfanato Music Group label and other reggaeton artists. The album includes the promotional single Hasta Abajo and the album's lead single Danza Kuduro featuring Portuguese-French singer Lucenzo, as well as collaborations from Don Omar’s Orfanato Music Group artists including Kendo Kapponi, Syko, Plan B, Zion & Lennox