Lil'Eddie

Edwin 'Lil Eddie' Serrano was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Puerto Rican family. His parents lost their home in a fire when Serrano was five and they were forced to lead frugal lives before settling in the notoriously tough Spanish Harlem neighbourhood. His love of music was sparked by his parents' soul and R&B records and the big hits of the 1990s he heard on the radio growing up. He landed a place in the esteemed New York Boys Choir in Manhattan when he was ten-years-old, after successfully auditioning with the Boyz II Men song 'Water Runs Dry'. With hard graft and big dreams, he began to flourish at his music school and won nine consecutive talent shows at the Apollo Theatre, before he was spotted singing on the train while on his way home from work, and was put in touch with Janet Jackson's choreographer Eddie Morales. It led to him writing lyrics for Mario Winans and other artists on P Diddy's Bad Boy Records label, and he was still in high school when he wrote Carl Thomas's single 'She Is', which also featured LL Cool J and he was soon working with Usher, Jennifer Lopez and Jojo before he was 18.

His debut solo album 'Nobody's Fool' went unreleased in the US when his label shelved the project in 2004, but his music surprisingly became popular in clubs and on radio in Germany, and Eddie headed to Europe to embark on his first live shows. The growth of the Internet also helped him become a star in Japan, where he scored five number one albums including 'City of My Heart' in 2009 and 'Already Yours' in 2011 and back in the US he built his reputation as a songwriter by penning tracks for Kylie Minogue, Amerie, May and Charlie Wilson. He also released the album 'Emotional' in the US in 2013 and landed a job as a vocal coach on the TV talent show 'The X Factor', where he worked closely with girl group Fifth Harmony, solo crooner Carlito Olivero and the UK winner Rak-Su, for whom he co-wrote his number two hit 'Dimelo' in 2017. He dipped his toe into the EDM scene, too, when he featured on tracks by Yellow Claw and helped craft tracks for reggaeton star Prince Royce, before his Latin roots and natural connection to smooth R&B ballads and edgy street swagger saw him work successfully with South American boy band CNCO.

Over the years he was also nominated for eleven Grammy Awards as a songwriter and producer and he relaunched his solo career in 2018 with the bilingual, reggaeton-influenced singles 'Toma', 'Island' and 'Ten Cuidado'.