Career
Montañez is a native of the Tras Talleres area of Santurce, San Juan. He is known by the nicknames "El Godfather de la Salsa" and "El Niño De Trastalleres". He is the first born out of 17 children.
He stayed for approximately 15 years, producing 37 LPs.
He left El Gran Combo to pursue a career with Venezuelan group Louisiana Dimension Latina creating a feud between the two groups. After leaving El Gran Combo, he enjoyed considerable success on an international scale with his own orchestra, touring Latin America and the United States several times.
He represented Puerto Rico at the 1992 World"s Fair in Seville, Spain. In recent years he had teamed up with fellow salsa singer Ismael Miranda to produce some boleros and bohemian music
By 2005-2006 he began creating a new blend between salsa and reggaeton, called salsaton, along with rappers like Daddy Yankee and Julio Voltio.
In 2007 he filmed various television advertisements on nutrition for the Puerto Rico Department of Family Affairs (including one in which he sang a rhumba to a dancing carrot). Montañez was selected to form part of a benefit concert titled “Somos Haití”., where funds would be gathered to support Haiti after the 2008 hurricane season. In 2015, Montañez appeared on Puerto Rican singer Ivy Queen"s ninth studio album Vendetta.
The album was split into four separate albums, one being an album composed entirely of only salsa music
On the album, Montañez dueted with Queen on "Casi Te Envidio".
