Rivera was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico, a town located on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, moved with his family to Levittown in the town of Toa Baja, where he received his primary and secondary education. His entire family consists of musicians, including tropical recording artistsEdwin Rivera and younger sister Saned. Two other brothers, Ito and Jose, are professional instrumental musicians. His parents, also musicians, inspired him to become a musician and as a child he would often accompany his mother Dominga, a singer, and father Edwin, a guitarist and director of Los Barones Trio, during their shows. In 1986, when he was 13 years old, he accompanied his father who was performing at a hotel in Isla Verde, San Juan. Frankie Ruiz, who was a guest at the hotel, appeared and sang a couple of songs with them and had his picture taken alongside Rivera. In 2003, this picture was used by Rivera to make the album cover for his tribute Canto a mi Idolo... Frankie Ruiz, who had died in 1998.
Singing career
In 1988, Tommy Olivencia heard Rivera sing alongside his father and recommended that he sing solo. When Rivera was 14, his father made a demo and presented it to the CBS music department. They signed Rivera. Rivera began to be known as "El Bebé de la Salsa" after recording his first album, Empezando A Vivir,. This project generated the hit, De La Cabeza A Los Pies. His second album, Abriendo Puertas, produced the hit songs Esa Niña, Dime, Nada Sin Ti, and Como un Milagro became number onehits first in Puerto Rico, then among the Hispanic populations in the United States and finally across Latin America. His third album, Cuenta Conmigo, won three Platinum Record awards in the United States, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Colombia. It became the most-sold salsa album in history, a record previously held by Willie Colón, and held the number-one spot in the Latin American Billboards for three consecutive months. Its hit songs included the Cuenta Conmigo, Me Estoy Enamorando and Casi Un Hechizo. The number one hit for the album was Amores Como El Nuestro which is considered to be the best song by Rivera. Rivera was awarded two Premio Lo Nuestro Awards for "Singer of the Year" and "Album of the Year" and Sony Records presented him with three Crystal Awards. The introduction of Amores Como El Nuestro was sampled by Haitian-rapper Wyclef Jean in his 2004 song "Dance Like This" from the soundtrack of which would later become the worldwide number-one 2006 hit "Hips Don't Lie" by Wyclef and Colombian-singer Shakira. The introduction of "Amores Como El Nuestro" can be heard on MTV's animated seriesDaria episode "Fair Enough' of its second season. In 1993, he released Cara de Niño with ¿Qué Hay De Malo?, Cara de Niño, No Hieras Mi Vida as being major hits of the year. In 1994, as his popularity was rising, he released his first compilation album, Lo Nuevo y lo Mejor, and contained the single hit Me Estoy Enloqueciendo Por Ti. The following year, "Magia" was released with the self-titled album and Ahora Estoy Solo In 1996, Rivera released "Fresco" and Una y Mil Veces and Lloraré were the album hits. Ya No Soy El Niño Aquel was released in 1997. In 1999, Rivera recorded De Otra Manera, his first attempt at ballad music, which featured the boleroEse. Jerry sang the song with his father at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan. In 2000, Rivera recorded Para Siempre. This was his last album on Sony Latin records. In 2001, he released his self-titled album Jerry Rivera and the year after, he recorded Vuela Muy Alto which brought him a new fanbase all over Latin-America and the U.S., with the title track hit the top spot and the top 10 in many charts along with Herida Mortal. The following year he returned to his salsa roots and released Cantando A Mi Idolo... Frankie Ruiz , a tribute album to one of his idol Frankie Ruiz. The album gain him a Latin Grammy nomination, made up for the poor sales of his previous ballad albums, and his major album hit was Ruiz's Mi Libertad featuring Voltio. Rivera played a small role in the movie I Like It Like That and appeared as himself in a Latin Americansoap opera titled Mi destino eres tu which aired on Univision in the US during November 2005. Rivera has also appeared in various Banco Popular de Puerto Rico productions, including Al Compas de un Sentimiento and Con la musica por Dentro. The same year, he released Ay Mi Vida which had received mixed reviews. In 2007, he released Caribe Gardel, a tribute to Argentine singer, Carlos Gardel with Gardel's Cuesta Abajo being one of the major salsa hits of the year. In 2011, he released El Amor Existe, with Solo Pienso En Ti being one of the major salsa hits of 2011. Rivera has performed in Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, the United States, Spain, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Sweden, France, and Japan. In 2011 he was one of the four judges for Idol Puerto Rico..
Accident in Ecuador
On August 25, 2018, Rivera suffered a fall during a concert in Milagro, Ecuador, a city near Guayaquil. Rivera was performing on top of an elevator when it broke, causing him to fall underneath the concert's stage. He broke a quadriceps tendon on his right leg and was hospitalized at a nearby hospital. He later underwent surgery in the United States.
