Elvis Martínez González, billed as El Camarón, is a Dominican bachata singer, composer and guitarist from San Francisco de Macorís. He has recorded since 1998 across four labels, and his songs have twice been named bachata of the year at the Dominican awards.

Shoeshine and bakery

He was born in 1976 in San Francisco de Macorís. As a boy he worked shining shoes and then as a bakery assistant, among other jobs he took to bring money home, and the work kept him from finishing school.

He moved to New York in the early nineties, and it was there that he learned his instrument: Lenny Santos, of the group that would shortly become Aventura, taught him to play the guitar.

Todo Se Paga

He signed with Premium Latin Music in the mid-nineties and released his first album, Todo Se Paga, in 1998, with Lenny Santos producing. Así Fue and Me Seguirás Buscando came off it, and the record won him a Premio ACE in New York as revelation of the year.

Directo Al Corazón followed in 1999, carrying Bailando Con Él, Tú Sabes Bien and the title track. Tres Palabras, Así Te Amo and Descontrolado came out on the same label over the next five years.

Así Te Amo

The title song of the 2003 album took the Casandra award for bachata of the year in 2004. It was written by Wason Brazobán, and it later turned up on the soundtrack of the film Qué León. The same year he was nominated at the Premio Lo Nuestro awards as traditional tropical artist.

He then moved through labels. Univision Records released Yo Soy Más Grande Que Él in 2005, which remains his best-selling album and produced Tu Traición and Yo No Nací Para Amar. Universal followed with La Luz de Mis Ojos in 2007, and Lento y Suave off it. He returned to Premium for Esperanza in 2012.

Millonario

In 2019 he sang Millonario on Romeo Santos’s album Utopía, with Lenny Santos producing again, twenty years after the debut. The record won collaboration of the year at the Premios Soberano in 2021, the same night he was named bachata singer of the year — the category Frank Reyes has taken more often than anyone.

In March 2021 he released Veterana with Prince Royce. He also sings Cuando Estoy Contigo on the four-volume record with which Luis Segura closed his career.

Saco e’ sal

At the Premios Soberano held in March 2023, which covered two years at once, Saco e’ sal took bachata of the year and he was again named bachata singer of the year. He wrote Saco e’ sal himself, which is not the rule in a genre where the best-known singers often record other people’s material.