Willito Otero was born Wilfredo Otero Matos on April 30, 1984, in Naranjito, Puerto Rico. He entered music as a child troubadour, winning a Puerto Rican trovadores competition at age eight, and by 17 he was already singing with the orchestras La Clave and Son de Madre. That early period led to his first recorded album appearance, Timbal pa’l bailador, with timbalero Edwin Clemente in 2005. He then spent more than a decade with Conjunto Comborican at the Nuyorican Café in Old San Juan, a long run that sharpened his improvising and stage craft and led to work with William Cepeda and Jimmy Bosch, including performances in New York, Europe, Venezuela, and other international markets. After additional collaborations with artists and groups including Plena Juventud, Los Pleneros de Severo, and Pete Perignon, he launched his solo career with ¡Que Comience la Función! in 2016. Songs from that album, especially "Tu cuerpo", helped establish him on tropical radio; by late 2017, "Tu cuerpo" had spent 30 weeks on Billboard’s tropical songs chart. In the years that followed he continued with singles including "Tal vez" (2020), "Más salió que un balcón" (2021), "No me digan que es muy tarde" (2022), and "El amor de tu vida" (2023), while also appearing in Tito Puente 100: Una celebración sinfónica del Rey del Mambo with the Puerto Rico Philharmonic. In 2024 he released his second solo album, 4/20, produced with Jay Lugo, and followed it in 2025 with "No quiero, no puedo", the lead single from his tribute project Lo que nunca quise ser. In 2026 he added "Tu Cuerpo Ardiente", a duet with Wilbert Taveras, extending a catalog rooted in contemporary Puerto Rican salsa with strong ties to the island’s troubadour and sonero traditions.
