Prince Royce to Serve as Judge on Univision’s “Pequeños Gigantes USA”

Forget the jury, Prince Royce is ready to be the judge…

The 27-year-old Dominican American urban bachata star will serve as a judge on Univision’s childrens’ talent competition show Pequeños Gigantes USA.

Prince Royce

Prince Royce will be joined on the panel by young regional Mexican heartthrob Luis Coronel.

The two singers, both bilingual and bicultural and born and raised in the U.S., will be joined in the judge’s podium by Mexican-born, U.S.-raised actress Bianca Marroquín, who played Roxi Hart in the Broadway production of Chicago.

Pequeños Gigantes USA, produced entirely by Univision, is a spin-off the popular Mexican version of the show, which aired in 2011. The new, U.S. version, which premieres February 6, is specifically looking for U.S.-based talent and is open to children 6-11 years old who are U.S. citizens or residents.

In naming Prince Royce and Coronel as judges, the production is also making a major effort to appeal to a younger, bilingual demographic.

“This is the kind of show I would have wanted to have as a child so it is awesome to be able to work with kids with so much talent and help guide them,” said Royce. The singer was also previously a judge on another kiddie competition, La Voz Kids, which aired on Telemundo.

Unlike La Voz Kids, which had a Sunday night slot, Pequeños Gigantes will be broadcast Monday through Thursday at 8:00 pm. Judges will give out scores after each presentation in categories divided in singing, dancing and talent, which includes actors, magicians and comedians.

Rivera Named Winner of Telemundo’s “La Voz Kids”

Christopher Rivera has La Voz… and the title to go with it.

The 14-year-old Puerto Rican singer has been named the winner of the fourth season of Telemundo’s La Voz Kids.

Christopher Rivera

Rivera, who auditioned for the show for the first time in 2013, but back then none of the coaches turned their seat, walked away with the winning vote during the season finale.

With his win, Rivera’s coach Natalia Jimenez earns her second victory on the show.

Daddy Yankee to Receive People En Español’s 20th Anniversary Award

Daddy Yankee is celebrating a career milestone…

The 39-year-old Puerto Rican reggaeton star will be honored with People En Español‘s 20th Anniversary Award at its annual festival during Hispanic Heritage Month.

Daddy Yankee

Daddy Yankee will receive the special award to celebrate over two decades in the music industry — his first album, No Mercy, was released in 1995.

“His influence on our culture and on millions of people across the globe is emblematic of our brand’s mission to unite and inspire,” said People En Español‘s publisher, Monique Manso.

“Festival People en Español is a truly unparalleled experience in Hispanic culture,” Manso adds. “Celebrating the brand’s 20th anniversary during the culmination of Hispanic Heritage Month will make this a momentous occasion for our community.”

The fifth edition of the two-day festival, which falls this year on October 15 and 16, will feature music performances, meet-and-greets with Latin stars and panel discussions — all at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

Currently a judge on Telemundo‘s La Voz Kids, Yankee is also performing across the U.S. this summer with Don Omar on the pair’s Kingdom Tour.

Daddy Yankee Returning as a Coach for Telemundo’s “La Voz Kids”

Daddy Yankee is ready to kid around…

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican singer is returning as a coach for the fourth season of Telemundo’s La Voz Kids alongside fellow returning coaches Natalia Jimenez and Pedro Fernandez.

La Voz Kids Daddy Yankee

La Voz Kids, scheduled to air this spring, features the young voices of the nation.

The new season, filmed at Universal Studios Orlando, offers the audience the opportunity to witness the development of future stars.

Last year, Jimenez’s team had the victory, when Jonael Santiago was selected the winner of the third season. Winners are determined by the audience and Santiago got votes from more than 1.2 million viewers.

Like The Voice, La Voz features three rounds: Blind Auditions, Battle Rounds and the Final Stage. This season, the coaches will have the opportunity to save a contestant from the audience during the Battle Rounds with a new “Wild Card” system. During the final stage, viewers have the opportunity to vote for their favorites and, with the coaches, will decide who continues in the competition, who will go home and who will be the winner of La Voz Kids for the grand prize: a recording contract with Universal Music Latino.

Santiago Wins the Third Installment of Telemundo’s “La Voz Kids”

Jonael Santiago is the pint-sized voz of the season…

The 11-year-old Puerto Rican dynamo with an outsize personality was declared the winner of the third installment of La Voz Kids, the Spanish-language kiddie version of The Voice on the Telemundo network.

Jonael Santiago

Santiago’s win — determined by audience voting from more than 1.2 million viewers — was not a slam dunk by any means. This third season boasted a particularly talented lineup of finalists, including 11-year-old Shanty Sumaya, a Mexican American from Texas who already plays gigs in her home state and is particularly good at grupero; and 14-year-old Franser Pazosa, a Cuban-born 14-year-old from Portland, Oregon, with a stunning, versatile voice.

Santiago, a diminutive boy who looks younger than his years, couldn’t match their vocals, but he made up for it with stage presence, attitude and dance moves that evoked Bruno Mars and Michael Jackson. His grand finale was Mars’ “Treasure,” a song chosen for him by coach Natalia Jimenez.

“He’s an amazing package,” Jimenez told Billboard after the win. “He can dance, he can sing, he can act. I wanted him to sing something he can move with. He’s really good at singing ballads, but the most impressive thing is seeing him dance and sing at the same time.”

Even Daddy Yankee, a competing coach, agreed. “It’s so entertaining to watch Jona onstage,” he said after Santiago’s final performance.

Santiago competed against contestants coached by Jimenez, ranchera singer Pedro Fernandez and reggaeton star Daddy Yankee, who shared the stage as coaches for the first time in this third season of La Voz. The show, whose previous coaches have included Paulina Rubio and Prince Royce, has become a ratings success for  Telemundo.

La Voz Kids is a variation on The Voice’s format that features kids as contestants, major music stars as coaches and big-name guest performers. For the Sunday night finale, held — as the entire season was — at Universal Orlando, featured performers for the evening, beside the contestants, were Marc Anthony and Gente de Zona, Mexican singer Lucero and La Voz coach Fernandez.

The winner of La Voz Kids gets a $50,000 cash prize from AT&T that goes toward their education, and a recording contract from Universal Music Latino for the production of a song and video. That could go in different directions for Santiago, who moved from Puerto Rico to Miami two years ago to further his training in music and dance and sings equally well in both languages.

“I felt comfortable with ‘Treasure,’” he said of his final performance. His favorite acts, he says are “Demi Lovato — I love her — and Tori Kelly. I really want to record in the studio ‘All In My Head’ by Tori Kelly; she’s awesome.” However, he added, “Spanish is my first language and I came to Miami two years ago and I’m not perfect [in English yet]. I’m Puerto Rican and I always will be and I’ll talk Spanish forever.”

Daddy Yankee to Serve as a Coach on Telemundo’s “La Voz Kids”

Daddy Yankee is ready to kid around with the next generation of Latin singers.

The 37-year-old Puerto Rican reggaeton singer will serve as the newest coach on La Voz Kids, Telemundo’s singing competition for children that has soared in ratings in the past two years.

Daddy Yankee

Yankee, whose stint in the judge’s chair begins in spring 2015, will be joining last year’s returning coach, Spanish singer Natalia Jiménez, to judge singers between 7 and 15 years old.

“I’ve been a coach in the studio all my life,” Daddy Yankee tells Billboard.com. “As a producer, I have to create music and direct talent. It’s just something people have never seen me do publicly. Now they will.”

The “Gasolina” singer-songwriter may be seen as more of a rap artist, but he also knows music, making him an ideal coach.

“I know about registers, scales, tone,” says Daddy Yankee. “The fact that I rap doesn’t mean I don’t understand what needs to happen vocally. That’s what makes me a producer. What we’ll be doing in the show is guiding these kids in a coherent and intelligent fashion and maximizing their talent.

The winner of La Voz Kids gets $50,000 and a recording contract.

Sanchez to Co-Host This Year’s Billboard Latin Music Awards

Expect a little deviousness at this year’s Billboard Latin Music Awards

Roselyn Sanchez, one of the stars of Lifetime’s Devious Maids, will co-host this year’s awards show alongside television personality Raul Gonzalez and singer/TV host Laura Flores.

Roselyn Sanchez

Broadcast live from Miami on Telemundo on April 24, the awards show will air at 7:00 pm ET and feature some of the biggest names in Latin music.

Sanchez, a singer/songwriter/producer/model who hails from Puerto Rico, returns as host for a second time after co-hosting the show in 2003.

On TV she appeared as a regular on Without a Trace before joining the cast of Devious Maids. In 2003, Sanchez was nominated for a Latin Grammy for “Amor, Amor,” the first single from her debut album.

Gonzalez, who recently joined Telemundo to develop and host a new variety series, is making his debut on the network as co-host of the awards show, which this year is celebrating its 25th anniversary. With a career that spans more than 30 years, the Venezuelan host spent 13 years as one of the hosts of Univision‘s Despierta America in addition to writing, producing and starring in several award-winning plays such as Visa por un Sueño.

After appearing on the Mexican telenovela En Otra Piel, Flores joined Reina de Corazones. The Mexican actress has worked in TV, theater and cinema and has hosted several television shows. Musically, the entertainer has recorded 16 albums and the most recent project, Desde mi Corazon, celebrates her musical career.

Prior to the awards show, stars will walk the red carpet and will be seen on the special La Alfombra de los Premios Billboard, which will be hosted by Telemundo personalities Monica Noguera and Rashel Diaz with Jorge Bernal of La Voz Kids and Suelta la Sopa. Guadalupe Venegas of Telemundo and Karim Mendiburu, Christian Ramirez and Kika Rocha will also be featured on the special.

Guanche Named the Winner of Telemundo’s “La Voz Kids”

Paola Guanche is living a tweenage dream…

The 12-year-old Latina singing sensation has been declared the first winner of Telemundo’s La Voz Kids, the Spanish-language version of NBC’s The Voice for contestants ages 7-14.

Paola Guanche

But Guanche, who has visions of acting in a Broadway musical, plans to put school before music. She’s even ready to “go back to school with my friends.”

“They’re very happy and proud. They always told me I was going to win. But now I want to go back to school, because for me studying comes first,” said Guanche in an interview with Efe.

“The truth is I never thought I was going to win, because the competition was very tough and there were some really good singers,” she said, adding that she feels very grateful to the singer who was her coach during the competition, Prince Royce, “and to all the people who voted for me.”

Paola, who was born in Mexico, comes from a family of outstanding Cuban musicians.

She inherited the voice of her mother, songstress Lourdes Nuviola, and the stage presence of her father, musician Orlando Guanche, who often accompanies her on the piano during her performances.

At the moment, Guanche is full of goals and dreams.

“I want to work on Broadway. That’s one of my goals,” said the singer who is also a dancer and who attends a performing arts magnet school in Florida.

“I’m not afraid, I go onstage to win over the audience and I do whatever it takes,” Guanche said, adding that after appearing in La Voz Kids she feels more certain about the path she wants to follow.

Besides returning to class, Paola and her parents are already planning her first album.

“We’re working on it. I don’t know what style my disc will be, but that doesn’t bother me, because during the competition I learned that I feel comfortable with all styles. What I do know is that I would like to sing with Christina Aguilera,” she said.

Prince Royce: The Big Winner at the Premios Juventud Awards

Prince Royce has a handful of reasons to celebrate…

The 24-year-old Dominican American singer and La Voz Kids coach was the big winner at the 10th annual Premios Juventud, taking home five awards.

Prince Royce

It’s the second year in a row that the Royce has led the pack of winners at the awards show. Last year, he won eight awards, including Voz del momento.

This time around, Royce won in five of the 10 categories where he was nominated, including Red Hot Artist, Catchiest Tune, and My Favorite Video.

Meanwhile, the late Jenni Rivera, who died in a plane crash in December, posthumously earned four awards, including My Regional Mexican Artist and My Ringtone.

Meanwhile Bruno Mars and Mexican duo Jesse & Joy each took home two statuettes from the gala held at Miami’s BankUnited Center.

The show opened on a high note as two-time winner Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull sang a medley of their massive hits including new single “Live It Up” in a performance that ended with the two singers diving into an onstage swimming pool.

Other winners include Sebastián Rulli, Blanca Soto, Shakira and Vicente Fernandez.

Launched 10 years ago as a fan show that aimed at a younger audience, Premios Juventud presents awards in 27 categories in music, film soap operas, sports and pop culture. Winners are decided by popular vote over the Internet.

Click here to see the complete list of winners.

Rubio Takes Her Seat at “The X Factor” Judges’ Table

Paulina Rubio has taken the hot (pink) seat on Fox’s The X Factor.

Following Monday’s announcement that the 41-year-old Mexican singer has joined the judges’ team on the network’s singing competition, Fox has issued the first photo of Rubio and her fellow judges.

Paulina Rubio and Demi Lovato on The X Factor

Dressed in a hot pink Roland Mouret dress paired with Valentino shoes and Piumelli gloves, Rubio is seated in L.A. Reid‘s former chair. To her right, in Britney Spears‘ old spot, is Demi Lovato followed by former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland and Simon Cowell.

For her part, Lovato dons a pair of Paige Jeans, Heather Lawton blouse, Jen Meyer jewelry and Yves Saint Laurent shoes.

The photo of the four judges was taken at The X Factor’s first round of auditions for its upcoming third season at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Meanwhile, sources say Rubio will be earning approximately $1.5 million for serving as a judge on The X Factor.

Rubio also earns a judge’s salary for La Voz Kids, a Spanish-language kids version of The Voice for Telemundo.

It’s believed Lovato asked for double her fee after her well-received debut on the show last season. She previously earned approximately $1 million.