40 Fun Facts About Luis Fonsi

Which Canadian pop star heard Luis Fonsi's Despacito in a Colombian nightclub and asked to record a remix?

Justin Bieber heard the song while touring South America and recorded his part in Bogotá, singing in Spanish for the first time in his career. The whole remix took six days from start to release.

Which reggaeton star improvised his verse for Luis Fonsi's Despacito in a corner of the studio control room?

Daddy Yankee made up his verse on the spot, later saying he had been thinking about his father playing bongos. He also wrote the post-chorus.

Which children's song dethroned Luis Fonsi's Despacito as the most-viewed video on YouTube in November 2020?

Baby Shark, the Pinkfong sing-along, passed it with 7.04 billion views. Fonsi's video had led the site since August 2017 and was the first to reach three billion views.

What does Despacito, the title of Luis Fonsi's chart-topping 2017 single, mean in English?

Slowly is the meaning, and the music acts it out: the track slows each time the title word opens the chorus, a device musicians call text painting.

For which pop superstar's Dream Within a Dream Tour was Luis Fonsi the opening act in 2002?

Britney Spears had Fonsi open for her on the tour's Mexico dates, in the same year he released Fight the Feeling, his only album in English.

Which future *NSYNC member sang with Luis Fonsi in The Big Guys, a high school a cappella group?

Joey Fatone and Fonsi sang together at school parties and local festivals, and Fatone later turned up in the video for Fonsi's English single Secret.

Luis Fonsi's Despacito was the first Spanish-language Hot 100 number one since which 1996 dance craze?

Macarena, by Los Del Rio, had been the last one, 21 years earlier. Fonsi's hit then stayed at number one for 16 weeks in a row.

Which country pulled Luis Fonsi's Despacito from its government broadcasters in 2017 after complaints about the lyrics?

Malaysia took the song off government-owned stations in July 2017 after public complaints about its lyrics, while private stations were only encouraged to censor themselves.

Luis Fonsi sang Despacito on Celebrating America, the TV broadcast marking which US president's inauguration?

Joe Biden already had history with the song: at a 2020 campaign event headlined by Fonsi, he played a few bars of it himself.

Which English singer-songwriter said in 2017 that he had wanted to remix Luis Fonsi's Despacito but lost out?

Ed Sheeran revealed in June 2017 that he had hoped to sing on the song himself, weeks after the official remix reached number one in the US.

Luis Fonsi has coached on Chilean, Spanish and US Spanish-language editions of which singing competition franchise?

The Voice gave Fonsi two wins as a coach: Jeidimar Rijos took the 2019 US Spanish-language season, and Elsa Tortonda won in Spain in 2023.

Which American singer performed partly in Spanish on Échame la Culpa, her 2017 duet with Luis Fonsi?

Demi Lovato's duet with Fonsi topped charts from Spain to Mexico, and an English remix titled Not on You followed in 2018.

Luis Fonsi won the 2018 Global Gift Philanthropy Award for relief work after which hurricane devastated Puerto Rico?

Maria struck in September 2017, months after Fonsi's video had shown the island off to the world, and he became one of the most visible figures helping it recover.

Luis Fonsi was born in 1978 in which city, where the video for Despacito was later filmed?

San Juan is where Fonsi was born, the eldest of three children, and he came back in December 2016 to film in its La Perla neighborhood.

Which boy band did Luis Fonsi idolize as a child and later help recast as an audition judge in 2007?

Menudo was the Puerto Rican group Fonsi grew up admiring, and in 2007 he sat on the Dallas jury that picked singers for a new lineup.

Which official role did Puerto Rico give Luis Fonsi in August 2017, while Despacito topped charts worldwide?

Tourism ambassador was the title, and it fit: interest in visiting Puerto Rico was reported to have jumped 45% after the song's worldwide success.

Which pope did Luis Fonsi sing for in Rome during the Catholic Church's Great Jubilee celebrations?

John Paul II presided over the Great Jubilee of 2000, and Fonsi, two years into his recording career, sang for him at an open-air event in Rome.

Which 2019 hit finally broke the 16-week Hot 100 record that Luis Fonsi's Despacito had tied two years earlier?

Old Town Road, by Lil Nas X with Billy Ray Cyrus, passed the mark in August 2019. Until then it was shared with One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men.

Which YouTuber's Short ended the long run of Luis Fonsi's Despacito as the platform's most-liked video in 2025?

MrBeast took the title in January 2025 with a Short about flying to Paris for a baguette. Fonsi's video had been the most-liked on the site since July 2017.

Which pop star recorded a duet ballad with Luis Fonsi for Mi Reflejo, her 2000 Spanish-language album?

Christina Aguilera chose Fonsi for the duet Si No Te Hubiera Conocido because, she said, the two had grown up listening to the same things.

At age 10, Luis Fonsi moved with his family to which US city, where he attended Dr. Phillips High School?

Orlando became home when the family left Puerto Rico, and Fonsi went on from its schools to a full music scholarship at college.

Luis Fonsi's Despacito was the first Latin single to earn which certification from the RIAA?

Diamond marks ten million units in the US, and by January 2020 the single had been certified 13 times platinum.

Since 2008, Luis Fonsi has served as an ambassador for which American children's hospital?

St. Jude, the Memphis research hospital that fights childhood cancer, has counted Fonsi among its ambassadors since 2008, and in 2017 the Billboard Latin Music Awards gave him the Spirit of Hope Award.

In which country did Luis Fonsi perform at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Concert honoring Barack Obama?

Norway's capital, Oslo, staged the concert that December because the Peace Prize is the one Nobel presented there instead of in Stockholm.

Zuleyka Rivera, who dances with Luis Fonsi in the Despacito video, won which international pageant title in 2006?

Miss Universe 2006 was Rivera's crown, and Fonsi asked her to appear in the video to represent what he called the powerful Latina woman.

Luis Fonsi released a 2018 version of Despacito with Singaporean star JJ Lin in Spanish and which other language?

Mandarin joined a long list of makeovers: the song also got a Portuguese version, a salsa remix and a banda version with a Mexican group.

Which Spice Girl recorded the duet Amazing with Luis Fonsi for Free Me, her 2004 solo album?

Emma Bunton steeped Free Me in the 1960s Motown and bossa nova sounds she loved, and Amazing paired her with Fonsi two years after his own English-language album.

Which Puerto Rican actress did Luis Fonsi marry in 2006 after cancelling a tour to support her through cancer?

Adamari López was diagnosed in 2005, and Fonsi called off an international tour to travel with her for treatment. The couple divorced in 2010.

Luis Fonsi objected when which country's president used a reworded Despacito to promote a disputed 2017 vote?

Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro used the tune to urge turnout for his Constituent Assembly election, and Fonsi and his co-writers condemned it as propaganda.

Luis Fonsi joined Avril Lavigne and Ryan Tedder on the official song of which 2019 sporting event in Abu Dhabi?

Special Olympics organizers made Right Where I'm Supposed to Be the anthem of their 2019 World Summer Games, with Arab stars such as Tamer Hosny also singing on it.

Luis Fonsi studied music on a full scholarship at which school before dropping out to pursue a singing career?

Florida State University took Fonsi into its School of Music in 1995, and he sang in its choir before leaving for a recording contract.

Which Puerto Rican urban star did Luis Fonsi choose as his partner on the 2018 hit duet Imposible?

Ozuna got the call because Fonsi wanted a partner with what he called a perfect balance between urban and melodic. Their duet topped the chart in Chile.

Which reggaeton singer first recorded the guest part on Luis Fonsi's Despacito but withdrew because of his own album?

Nicky Jam had to pull out because the single's release would have collided with an album of his own, which opened the door for the rapper who made the part famous.

Which small string instrument, played by Christian Nieves, opens Luis Fonsi's Despacito before the guitar comes in?

Cuatro is the answer, and the choice was deliberate: the producers wanted the Puerto Rican instrument so the song would feel rooted in the island.

Which Italian singer duetted with Luis Fonsi on a 2008 album track and again on the 2024 single Roma?

Laura Pausini first sang with Fonsi on Todo Vuelve a Empezar, and sixteen years later the pair filmed the video for their reunion at Miami International Airport.

Which Panama-born songwriter co-wrote Luis Fonsi's Despacito during a session at his Miami home in 2015?

Erika Ender went on to become the youngest person inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame, and she also wrote the song's Portuguese version.

Before giving it a reggaeton beat, Luis Fonsi first wrote Despacito as a pop song in which other Latin rhythm?

Cumbia traces survive in the finished track: the producers synced the guache and güira with a hi-hat to bring that first idea back out.

Which 1998 debut album gave Luis Fonsi his first singles, including Si Tú Quisieras and Perdóname?

Comenzaré, whose title means I Will Begin, was recorded in 1997 and became a hit in Puerto Rico and across Latin America.

Luis Fonsi's Despacito broke the Hot Latin Songs record of 41 weeks at number one set by which Enrique Iglesias hit?

Bailando had ruled the chart for 41 weeks from 2014. Fonsi's song passed that total in February 2018 on its way to 56 weeks on top.

Which Spanish singer joined Luis Fonsi, Aleks Syntek and Noel Schajris on the 2008 single Aquí Estoy Yo?

David Bisbal was asked on a fishing trip: out on a boat, Fonsi pitched all three singers a song he had written years earlier for four male voices. It won the Latin Grammy for Song of the Year.