The Latin Recording Academy announced today that the 2022 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year is composer, arranger, producer, musician, artistic director, and five-time Latin Grammy winner Marco Antonio Solís. He will be honored at a gala and tribute concert that will include renditions of his music performed by friends and other artists. Details of the event and this year’s Latin Grammy Awards have not been announced.

“I am very moved and grateful to the Latin Recording Academy for this special distinction that means so much to me professionally and personally,” Solis, who has also been nominated for six Grammys through his decades-long career, said in a statement. “I would like to share this sentiment with everyone who has inspired me, and with those who I may have inspired as well to be able to occupy this place that the public has made me deserving of through this blessing called music.”

Solis, who is known lovingly as “El Buki” by fans, was born in Ario de Rosales, Michoacán, in Mexico, and grew up watching  his father sing and play the guitar. He and his cousin Joel Solís began performing early in their career as Dueto Solís and, in the mid-1970s, they formed the popular group Los Bukis. Last year, the band announced a highly successful comeback tour, “Una Historia Cantada” (“A History in Song”).

After launching a solo career in 1996, Solís released more than a dozen solo albums. He has worked behind the scenes as a composer, arranger and producer, collaborating over the years with artists such as Rocío Dúrcal, Raphael, and Lucero. His music has extended into film and has included performing the song “Si No Te Hubieras Ido” for the soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated film Y Tu Mamá También. In 2017, he voiced the character of Ernesto de la Cruz in the Spanish-language version of the Oscar-winning Disney/Pixar film Coco.

“Marco Antonio Solís is a living legend and one of the most emblematic figures in Latin music,” said Manuel Abud, CEO of the Latin Recording Academy. “He continues to break down generational barriers through his poignant lyrics which move millions of people and inspire greater acceptance and understanding.”

Solís is the 10th man in a row that the Latin Recording Academy has chosen as Person of the Year. Those previous honorees were Rubén Blades (2021), Juanes (2019), Maná (2018), Alejandro Sanz (2017), Marc Anthony (2016), Roberto Carlos (2015), Joan Manuel Serrat (2014), Miguel Bosé (2013), and Caetano Veloso (2012).