Rookie Panamanian singer flexing his power

MIAMI (Billboard) - In Mexico and Central and South America, he's known as Nigga. In the United States and Europe, he's known as Flex.

Regardless, the Panamanian singer, real name Felix Danilo Gomez, has just tallied 20 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart with "Te Quiero," from his U.S. debut album of the same name, which peaked at No. 70 on the Billboard 200.

The simple love song is now tied with Juanes' "Me Enamora" and Son by Four's "A Puro Dolor" with 20 weeks at the chart's top position. Only Shakira has more weeks at No. 1; her hit "La Tortura," featuring Alejandro Sanz, notched 25 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1.

For Flex, a debut artist in the United States, the staying power of "Te Quiero" has been based on its broad appeal, as well as a radio strategy that has allowed the song to straddle multiple formats.

The story starts when Flex, recording for an indie label in Panama, was co-producing a compilation of local acts titled "La Monarquia." After the CD was mastered, he says, he realized he hadn't done a song of his own.

"I was supposed to contribute a song as an artist, but I'd forgotten," Flex says. "So, we (with producer Mister Bombo) wrote down a beat and I quickly wrote the lyrics."

Flex infused the song with "the tenderness based on that first high school love," he says. "'La Monarquia' came out at the beginning of the school year in Panama, and we wanted to have a good song for the young people."

"Te Quiero" became a hit in Central America and boosted Flex's standing as an underground phenomenon with a big following. By June 2007, he was touring Mexico so successfully that Televisa EMI signed him to a record deal. By November, Flex's Televisa EMI debut, "Te Quiero," had climbed to No. 1 on Mexico's Amprofon chart and the title track had spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the radio chart.

That success fueled U.S. interest, and EMI Televisa released "Te Quiero" in December. The label has now begun to work a new single, "Escapate."

"It will be very difficult to match the success of 'Te Quiero,'" says Pedro Reyes, who books and promotes Flex via his company, Producciones Reyes Esquer. "But we do want people to see he's a quality act, he's recording a new album for 2009 and he's on the way up."

Reuters/Billboard