Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo (born 7 August 1961) is a Colombian singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his interpretation of traditional music styles of Colombia such as vallenato, cumbia, champeta, bambuco and porro as well as genres such as Latin pop, reggaeton, dance pop and tropical music. Having sold over 30 million records worldwide, Vives is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all time. He is regarded as one of the most influential artists in the world as he has progressively helped vallenato gain popularity globally by combining traditional vallenato music with pop/rock music, forming a subgenre that has come to be known as “vallenato-pop”.

In 2019, Vives was selected as #45 on both the Greatest of All Time Latin Artists  and Top Latin Artists 2010s. by Billboard.

His hits include “Matilde Lina”, “La Hamaca Grande”, “La Gota Fría”, “Alicia Adorada” (all four of which are covers of classic vallenato songs), “Pa’ Mayte”, “La Tierra del Olvido”, “Tu Amor Eterno”, “Fruta Fresca”, “Déjame Entrar”, “Luna Nueva”, “Carito”, “Papadio”, “Como Tú”, “Décimas Del Parecido” (a tribute to Guillermo Martínez, a Cuban-born radio host who resides in Mayagüez, and for whose program Vives was an occasional master control technician), “Robarte un Beso”, (a collaborative effort with fellow Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra), “La Bicicleta” (a collaboration with Shakira) and “Canción Bonita” (collaborative effort with Ricky Martin).

Vives is also a successful actor. His roles as the titular character in the soap opera Gallito Ramírez and as Rafael Escalona in Escalona, a story about the famous Colombian composer of the same name, are among his most important and well-remembered appearances. He has collaborated with multiple artists, including Ricky Martin, Camilo, Shakira, Maluma, Wisin, Daddy Yankee, Alejandro Sanz, Manuel Turizo, Sebastián Yatra, Mau y Ricky, Michel Teló, Gente de Zona, Thalía, Pedro Capó, Marc Anthony, Lalo Ebratt, Los Ángeles Azules, Fito Páez, Carlos Rivera, Play-N-Skillz, Mike Bahía, Nacho and Diego Torres.

Carlos Vives was born on 7 August 1961 in Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia, where he spent his first 12 years of life. At that age, he and his family moved to Bogotá in search of a better life. He enrolled at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University and holds a degree in Advertising from the university. In Bogotá, he also acquired a taste for rock, getting involved in the local music scene, and started playing in bars and cafés around the city.

In 1982, Vives began acting in a number of shows and telenovelas including Pequeños Gigantes (“Little Giants” – 1983) and Tuyo es Mi Corazón (“Yours Is My Heart” – 1985). He finally found fame in 1986 by playing the title role of Gallito Ramírez, which told the story of a Colombian Caribbean coast boxer who falls in love with an uptight girl, who was portrayed by his first wife, Margarita Rosa de Francisco. That same year, he released his first album, Por Fuera y Por Dentro. The album, primarily made of ballads, failed to gain any success. In 1987, he released his second ballad album, No Podrás Escapar de Mí. Though the title track reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks, the album did not sell well. His next album, Al Centro de la Ciudad, would become his last album to feature synthesizer-romantic ballads. Some of the songs got some attention being featured in telenovelas, but the album, just as its predecessors, failed to gain success.

In 1989, he was offered an acting job in Puerto Rico, and upon moving, he took a break in his music career. He is remembered for his leading roles in the soaps La Otra and Aventurera. He married Herlinda Gómez, his second wife (they have since divorced). Vives would spend his time between Colombia, Miami and the city of Mayagüez, Herlinda’s hometown, during his marriage to her.

Upon his return to Colombia in 1991, he was offered a TV role that would change his life forever. He was cast in the leading role of a fantasy series based on the life of vallenato composer Rafael Escalona unsurprisingly titled Escalona. He sang the composer’s songs in the series, and that’s when he retooled his career towards vallenato, gaining national success with the release of the Telenovela’s two soundtrack albums, Escalona: Un Canto a la Vida and Escalona: Vol. 2.

In 1993, backed by the band “La Provincia”, Vives released the album Clásicos de la Provincia in which he started fusing Vallenato with rock, pop and other Caribbean Colombian ethnic rhythms. This fusion scandalized Vallenato purists. Clásicos de la Provincia, won the Billboard Latin Music Awards Best Album, introducing Vallenato to both Colombia and the rest of the world. The follow-up album, La Tierra del Olvido would mark a further step in Vives’ desire to fusion rock, funk and pop music with traditional Colombian genres. The album gave Vives classic hits such as the title track, and the up-tempo opening track Pa’ Mayte.

His subsequent releases, Tengo Fé (1997), El Amor de Mi Tierra (1999), Déjame Entrar (2001) and El Rock de Mi Pueblo (2004), were all commercially successful and were well received by the critics. In 2002 Carlos Vives’ album “Déjame Entrar” won him his first Grammy award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album. In 2009 he released the album Clásicos de la Provincia II, which was sold exclusively in Colombian supermarket chain “Almacenes Éxito.” The album saw Vives’ return to covering Vallenato songs in his own style.