Emerging on the Latin American salsa scene in 1997 with an armful of tender, bilingual pop taking cues from contemporary R&B, Puerto Rican vocal four-piece Son by Four soon caught the attention of industry tastemakers. Dreamed up by hitmaker Omar Alfanno, the quartet was formed of lead singer Ángel López, who hails from Las Piedras, and three blood relatives from Ciales: siblings Javier and George Montes and their cousin, Pedro Quiles. Debuting with a pair of 1998 singles, “No Hay Razón” and “Nada”, both of which found some success on the regional Billboard charts, and a studio album entitled Prepárense, the group were promptly snapped up by Sony, with whom they went on to release a self-titled second album in 2000. Its lead single, “A Puro Dolor” was a huge success, sitting atop the Billboard Hot Latin Songs Chart for a whopping twenty consecutive weeks, reaching #65 on the Hot 100 and eventually claiming the title of Billboard’s best-selling Latin song of the decade. An English-language interpretation of the song, translated to “Purest of Pain”, proved surprisingly successful, too, reaching #26 in the US charts. Aiming to instantly capitalise on their newfound success, they released a full-length English-language album later the same year which shared its name with the song. The group failed to replicate the success of their one hit, however, with López breaking off on multiple occasions in a bid for fame as a soloist and the group going independent in 2003. To date, they have continued to operate as a trio, taking a more religious approach to their lyrics. The band’s 2015 effort, Mujer Frente a la Cruz, was met with critical acclaim, receiving a nomination for the Best Christian Album Award at the Latin GRAMMYs the following year.
