Santiago Morales

Santiago Morales, better known in the music industry as El Papi, was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on March 21, 1977. At 7 years old, the family relocated to the United States like every other immigrant family, to work hard and prosper. With little English skills, Santiago moved to Jersey City, New Jersey where the Hispanic culture was growing stronger. At the age of 11, he and the local neighborhood kids started a pre-adolescent music group called the "Bebes Band". This was the Dominican version of the Jackson-5. With this early experience, Santiago was able to develop his musical talent as well as his stage presence. The “Bebes Band” eventually became “Los Callejeros” and the group went on to perform in many of the top clubs in the East Coast, such as: Latin Quarters, Jimmy Bronx Café, CopaCabana, The Sand Bar Café and Casa Blanca.
Early history
Santiago began his studies in music and sound engineering by studying various brass instrument (specifically the trumpet) during his freshman year of high school where he joined William L. Dickinson High School Concert Band, The All City Jazz Band and the continuation of a High School version of the “Bebes Band” (a merengue and salsa group consisting of 12 high school students). By the end of his freshman year, he became the first trumpet in the school. On his sophomore year he became 1st trumpet in the county. He earned the title of 1st trumpet in the State of New Jersey by the end of his junior year. In 1996, after graduating high school, he continued to learn additional musical instrument such as the keyboard, acoustic guitar and many other types of Latin percussion. In 1998, he and his long time friend Harold Peguero formed New Jersey's hottest and most established merengue band, “Ven-Conmigo”. That same year, they released their self-titled debut album, Ven-Conmigo. Unfortunately, on the height of its career, the group disbanded in May 1999 due to irreconcilable differences.
Commercial success
In 2000, Santiago decided it was time for a change and moved to East Windsor, New Jersey to leave the city life behind. He left the music industry for a little over 4 years dedicating more time to his family. Finally, on 2004 he joined an already established Latin ballad group called “Recuerdos” as a keyboard/trumpet player. The group later changed its name to “SinDestinos” playing a mixture of Rock, Vallenatos, Ranchera Florclorico and Caribbean types of music. To his amazement, it was the beginning of a long and exciting career that has gained worldwide recognition.
Activism
Keeping in mind his humanitarian spirit, Santiago also does benefit work with different organizations like VH1 Save The Music Foundation, March of Dimes, The Wheelchair Foundation, Health Plus, Verizon and the City of New York's Commission of Domestic Violence.

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