Juan Luis Guerra leads Latin Music Awards

By Leila Cobo

MIAMI (Billboard) - Rare eclecticism marked the 19th annual Billboard Latin Music Awards, with no one artist or genre dominating the winners during a ceremony held Thursday in Miami.

Instead, the changing Latin demographic, already reflected in increasingly diverse radio formats and broader TV options, permeated the winners' list in sales and radio airplay categories.

Leading the pack with three wins was veteran tropical star Juan Luis Guerra and his group 440, whose album "La Llave de Mi Corazon" won in the tropical album of the year, duo or group category. Guerra and 440 also won Hot Latin Songs artist of the year, and Guerra took home producer of the year, underscoring the perennial radio appeal of his songs.

Scoring two wins each were reggaeton star Daddy Yankee; banda diva Jenni Rivera; pop star Gloria Estefan; urban bachata group Aventura; late regional Mexican singer Valentin Elizalde; duranguense group Alfredo Ramirez y Los Creadorez del Pasito Duranguense; reggaeton duo R.K.M. & Ken-Y; and new pop acts Kany Garcia and Camila.

Daddy Yankee's wins included the newly created Latin album of the year category for "El Cartel: The Big Boss," the top-selling album during the eligibility period. The Top Latin Albums artist of the year nod went to Elizalde, whose sales have soared since he was shot to death a little more than a year ago. In a surprising twist, the Hot Latin Song of the year award went to Aventura's "Mi Corazoncito," which spent virtually the entire eligibility period on the Hot Latin Songs chart.

This year's songwriter of the year award went to Mexican star Marco Antonio Solis.

Finalists and winners were determined by their performance on the Billboard charts, as measured by Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems during a one-year period through January 2008.

Reuters/Billboard