ASCAP Latin Heritage Award
Presented To Ricardo Montaner

The ASCAP Latin Heritage Award honors Ricardo Montaner – Peerless Singer... Innovative Songwriter...Tireless Social Advocate... in recognition of his unique and enduring contributions to Latin music.

Ricardo Montaner spent his early years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to Venezuela before he reached his adolescence. While his career as a singer was launched in 1978, he had his first break when he sang in front of an audience of 20,000 at a Venezuelan beauty pageant in the 80s. Montaner's fortunes continued to improve in the wake of his successful 1986 album Ricardo Montaner 1, and a dramatic role in Venezuela's then most popular soap opera, Niña Bonita, and he hasn't looked back since.

The recordings and awards never stopped coming. Montaner's 1991 album En el Ultimo Lugar del Mundo won the Gaviota Prize, the highest award given at the Festival of Viña del Mar, in Chile; Billboard Magazine singled him out as Male Singer of the Year. In 1992, Venezuela honored him as the country's best performer, a title he has earned frequently in subsequent years. Montaner has sold a cumulative 25 million copies of his 18 albums, many of which have gone gold or platinum in key Latin markets. Recently, Montaner has gained worldwide recognition for his social work. UNICEF appointed him Ambassador of Good Will in 2007; in the same year, Billboard honored him with the Premio a la Esperanza, for his involvement with two benevolent children associations, Los Hijos del Sol and La Ventana de Los Cielos. Montaner has also organized high profile benefit concerts with some of the biggest names in Latin music.

Montaner's latest record, Las Cosas Son Como Son, was released on February 24th, 2009 and has already been hailed as a masterpiece.