Henry Santos is a Dominican singer, songwriter and producer, born in Moca on 15 December 1979. He was the second voice of Aventura, the Bronx group that took bachata into stadiums, and has recorded under his own name since 2011. He is the cousin of Romeo Santos.

Moca and the Bronx

Santos moved from Moca to the Bronx with his family at thirteen. In 1993 he and his cousin met the brothers Lenny and Max Santos — no relation, despite the surname — and the four started playing together as «Los Tinellers», the English word teenagers spelled the way the neighbourhood said it. When he took United States citizenship at seventeen he changed his surname to Jeter, after the Yankees shortstop who had just arrived in the major leagues, and has signed as Henry Santos Jeter since.

The second voice

«Trampa de Amor», recorded in 1996, sold almost nothing. The manager Julio César García renamed them Aventura, they signed to «Premium Latin Music» in 1998, and within a decade they had taken bachata to number one in Italy and France and sold out Madison Square Garden. Inside the group Santos sang harmony and backing vocals on most of the catalogue, danced on stage, wrote and produced, and took the lead on «9:15», «Déjà Vu», «Voy Malacostumbrado» and «Princesita». When Aventura paused in 2011, he was the member with the least exposure as a lead.

On his own

He signed with «Siente Music», under Venemusic and Universal, and released «Poquito a Poquito» on 2 May 2011; «Introducing Henry Santos» followed in October and entered Billboard’s Tropical Albums at number two. «My Way» (2013) gave him his first number one on Tropical Airplay with its title track, featured Natti Natasha, and led to «La Vida», made with the producer Maffio, which went to number one as well. When «Siente Music» closed in 2015 it handed him his masters, and he has worked independently since through his own label, «HustleHard Entertainment»: «Henry The Third» (2016), with Jhoni The Voice among the guests, a live compilation in 2017, «Shut Up & Listen» (2018) and two karaoke albums.

In the autumn of 2012 he became the first Dominican to compete on «Mira quién baila», Univision’s version of Dancing with the Stars, and won the third season on 18 November with 41 per cent of the public vote, without once being nominated for elimination.

Friends and legends

«Friends & Legends» (2021) was a record of bachata duets across generations: Antony Santos, with whom he had released «Don Juan & Cupido» in 2019; Luis Vargas; Joe Veras, on «No me Tocó Morir por Ti»; Alexandra, on «Como Abeja a la Flor»; Daniel Santacruz and Grupo Extra, the salsero David Kada, and El Prodigio on the merengue «I’m So In Love». «2.0» followed in 2024, preceded by a bachata version of Pavel Núñez’s «Te Di» with Núñez himself, «La Excepción» with Kiko Rodríguez and «No Soy Nada Sin Ti» with Frank Reyes. In 2023 he began releasing boleros with urban production under the name urban bolero.

The reunions

Aventura came back several times: a surprise appearance at Romeo Santos’s Yankee Stadium show in 2014, a month of concerts at the United Palace in 2016, «Inmortal» in 2019 and the stadium tour of 2021. For the farewell tour, «Cerrando Ciclos», the group released «Brindo con Agua» on 2 April 2024 — the first Aventura single with Santos as lead voice, issued through his own label. In September 2026 he released «After the Noise», whose song «Leyendas» tells the story of the group from its beginnings as «Los Tinellers»; Lenny Santos co-produced it and Max Santos played bass. Santos rejects the word separation and describes the group as being on a break.

Legacy

Santos was the member of Aventura whose voice was most present on the records and least credited in front of them, and his solo work has been an argument about that gap. He has also appeared in the Dominican films «Sanky Panky» and «La Soga», for which he was music supervisor.