Kumbia Kings

Los Kumbia Kings was a US music group of Mexican origin. Their musical style combined cumbia with hip-hop and R&B.

History

The Kumbia Kings were founded in 1999 by A. B. Quintanilla (brother of the "Queen of Tejano," Selena Quintanilla, who was murdered in 1995) in Corpus Christi, Texas.

That same year, they released Amor, Familia y Respeto..., their first music album, which reached the top ten of Top Latin Albums. It was also nominated for several Grammy Awards and won the Billboard Latin Music Award for Album of the Year by a New Artist.

The following album Shhh!, released in 2001, also entered the Top Ten. It entered at number two and later even reached number one.

In the years 2003/04 there was a major upheaval within the group. Some musicians left because they were dissatisfied with their pay and some of them started a solo career. At this time, guitarist Chris Pérez joined the Kumbia Kings. Pérez was married to Selena Quintanilla, making him a brother-in-law of A. B. Quintanilla. Both had played together in the band Los Dinos during Selena's lifetime. In the following years, the Kumbia Kings also released two tribute songs in which they re-recorded Selena's songs I Could Fall In Love and Baila Esta Cumbia while retaining Selena's voice.

The band lasted until 2006, when a legal dispute arose between the two founders. Together with guitarist Chris Pérez, Quintanilla left the Kumbia Kings and formed a new band, the Kumbia All Starz, while Cruz Martínez dissolved the Kumbia Kings for legal reasons and immediately launched a successor band, Los Super Reyes.

In October 2009, the two founders temporarily settled their differences and started one more concert tour under their old name before the band was finally history in early 2010.