<\/p>\n
Raphael<\/a> was all smiles upon receiving \u2014 this time on camera \u2014 his 2025 Person of the Year award from the Latin Recording Academy on Thursday night (Nov. 13) during the Latin Grammy Awards<\/a> ceremony.<\/p>\n After being honored at a star-studded gala<\/a> the previous eve, the legendary 82-year-old artist took to the stage for a memorable performance, accompanied by more than a dozen musicians who delivered a big band sound. The iconic Spanish singer-songwriter performed classics including \u201cQu\u00e9 Sabe Nadie\u201d and \u201cMi Gran Noche\u201d with his characteristic power and interpretive sensitivity.<\/p>\n More from Billboard<\/strong><\/p>\n Raphael, who last year was diagnosed<\/a> with primary brain lymphoma, looked cheerful and classy in a dark two-piece suit and tie as he accepted his award from Gloria Estefan and Marco Antonio Sol\u00eds.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are artists who have defined decades, and then there\u2019s you, Raphael,\u201d said Estefan, who called the honoree her \u201cpersonal idol.\u201d Sol\u00eds added: \u201cWith that talent you\u2019ve crossed generations and borders, but that style is something you\u2019re born with.\u201d<\/p>\n Clearly pleased, Raphael accepted the award from his colleagues to a standing ovation from the audience at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n \u201cHere it is!\u201d he exclaimed, showing off his trophy. \u201cOn this new trip, I\u2019m happy to meet so many friends, both from Spain and from here. Delighted to be here. I solemnly promise I\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey gave me this last night, and it\u2019s wonderful that I get to hold it today,\u201d he added with a smile. \u201cThank you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n Considered one of the pioneers in the internationalization of Latin music, Raphael, whose real name is Rafael Martos, was born in Linares in 1943 and raised in Madrid. His talent was evident from an early age, being awarded Best Child Voice in Europe at the age of 9 at the Salzburg Festival. He gained international recognition by representing Spain in Eurovision with songs such as \u201cToco Madera\u201d (1988), \u201cMaravilloso, Coraz\u00f3n, Maravilloso\u201d (1989) and \u201cEsc\u00e1ndalo\u201d (1992), which reached No. 2, 7 and 9 on Billboard\u2018s Hot Latin Songs chart, respectively. In 2022, he was recognized with the Billboard Lifetime Achievement Award.<\/p>\n The Latin Recording Academy\u2019s Person of the Year award honors musicians for their artistic achievements in the Latin music industry as well as their humanitarian efforts. Raphael joins a list of previous honorees that includes Carlos Vives (2024), Laura Pausini (2023), Marco Antonio Sol\u00eds (2022), Rub\u00e9n Blades (2021), Juanes (2019), Man\u00e1 (2018), Alejandro Sanz (2017), Marc Anthony (2016), Roberto Carlos (2015), Joan Manuel Serrat (2014), Miguel Bos\u00e9 (2013), Caetano Veloso (2012), Shakira (2011), Pl\u00e1cido Domingo (2010), Juan Gabriel (2009), Gloria Estefan (2008), Juan Luis Guerra (2007), Ricky Martin (2006), Jos\u00e9 Jos\u00e9 (2005), Carlos Santana (2004), Gilberto Gil (2003), Vicente Fern\u00e1ndez (2002), Julio Iglesias (2001), and Emilio Estefan (2000).<\/p>\n In its 26th edition, the Latin Grammys ceremony is hosted by Maluma and Roselyn S\u00e1nchez and broadcast live on Univision. For a full list of winners, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Best of Billboard<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Billboard’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Raphael was all smiles upon receiving \u2014 this time on camera \u2014 his 2025 Person of the Year award from the Latin Recording Academy on Thursday night (Nov. 13) during the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony. After being honored at a star-studded gala the previous eve, the legendary 82-year-old artist took to the stage for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2156065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[346225,358622,313551,339727,353809,412843,412844],"class_list":["post-2156064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-gloria-estefan","tag-latin-grammy-awards","tag-latin-music","tag-latin-recording-academy","tag-marco-antonio-solis","tag-person-of-the-year-award","tag-raphael"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Raphael-2025-Person-of-the-Year-Delivers-a-Thrilling-Performance.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2156064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2156066,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156064\/revisions\/2156066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2156065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2156064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2156064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2156064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}