As Salsa’s greatest icon, Cruz garnered all sorts of respect, from a Smithsonian lifetime achievement award to her own street in Miami, to the title “The Queen of Salsa.” Her singing is deep and soulful, with expressive improvisations influenced by her Cuban upbringing. You’re expected to dance to her music, with its jumping piano chords twinkling over tight conga rhythms, spicy percussion, blazing horn sections, and, atop it all, Cruz’s searing vocals. Cream-of-the-crop Afro-Cuban ensembles such as the Fania All-Stars, Willie Colon, Ray Barreto, Johnny Pacheco and Tito Puente always had to work with Cruz. Her popularity reached its peak with the movie Mambo Kings. Cruz died in 2003.

Aventura are bachata’s first boy-band. This renegade group of Dominican-American teenagers toured relentlessly through the 1990s, trying to gain acceptance for their unconventional mix of bachata, hip-hop and R&B. By the time 2002’s We Broke the Rules released, nobody seemed to mind that they broke the rules anymore. “Obsession” became a huge hit, and the group has continued to experiment with bachata’s boundaries.
- Sarah Bardeen

Considered the king of the rancheros, Fernandez’s romantic, nostalgic sound typifies old Mexico. He wields exquisite control over his voice, surging from intimacy to drama at the drop of a hat. Fernandez is heir to singers like Jorge Negrete and Pedro Infante, but his story is also bound up with the rise of television. Born in Jalisco in 1940, Fernandez had his first brush with musical success when he won a Guadalajara singing contest. But it wasn’t until he won a small role on a television show called La Calandria Musical that his career really got moving. He began singing for many of the major mariachi groups of the 1950s, and famously gave an impassioned concert in Mexico City just after learning his father had died.
- Sarah Bardeen

Latin pop diva Shakira has achieved phenomenal success and become a genuine pop icon. Born to humble beginnings in Barranquilla on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, she left for the capital city of Bogota as an aspiring model at age 13. Ironically it was her music that garnered attention. Singing and writing lyrics since she was 8, her first album for Sony was released when she was 14. Although sales were meager, the album helped launch her career as a soap opera actress. Then came Pies Descalzados (1995), an album which showcased her bold, flexible voice and yielded a string of huge hits. Her mixture of rock ballads and Dance Pop (with an occasional tropical touch) is filtered through her image as a talented, beautiful and headstrong young woman. Departing from the traditional image of Latin American women, Shakira’s music and persona aroused controversy when her multiplatinum records put her in the spotlight. Following in the footsteps of Selena, she represents a bold new Latina who will be neither obsequious nor silent. As Shakira has matured, so has her music, as demonstrated in songs such as the Arabic-inflected “Ojos Asi” as well as in her live performances.
- Robert Leaver