Biography

Jose Henry Pena, (born May 1974) is a Latin-American record producer, audio engineer, songwriter and publisher. Jose professionally known in the entertainment industry as Jose King Pena Jr, Kanos, Gottodatta, and/or King Jr., often said to be the engineer in the studio with the “Magic Fingers” who sits behind the editing – mixing – board adding the final touch to the audio project.

Early years:
Kanos a descendant of Dominican, Italian and Purto Rican family, who is best known to family & friends as Jose King Pena Jr. was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. At the age of two, his parents Jose a Dominican-Purto Rican descendant (active culinary chef) and (retired professional boxer) & Daisy Dominican-Italian descendant (professional Hairstyles) were forced to leave the Island and come to the U.S. in search of financial stability, leaving him & his sister Deiry behind to be raised by their great-grandparents Pilar and Julio in a barrio known as Villa Francica, Santo Domingo.

Once in the U.S., his parents settled in Brooklyn, New York, working hard daily to send cash back to his grandparents so that both his sister “Deiry” and Kanos himself could be well taking care of. It was both his parents’ unyielding determination and their sacrifices which taught Kanos that hard work was necessary in life to succeed.

To distract himself from the stark reality that his parents were many miles away, Kanos gravitated to the culture and sound of Hip-Hop, falling in love with it in the process, at a very early age. During that time, there were very few differences in the Hip-Hop culture on the island compared to the U.S. In fact, while in Island; Kanos often partook in the culture by break dancing to Hip-Hop legends such as Run DMC, Fat Boys, Afrika Bambaataa, Public Enemy, NWA, LL Cool J and the great late Michael Jackson. According to Kanos, “Where I’m from, Villa Francica, Hip-Hop was in style then, and it still is today, from the Boom Boxes in the corners, to the grimy boom out the trunk of our cars as well as the corner stores (Bodegas or Colmadon), we’ve contributed to keeping Hip-Hop alive in DR for a little over 2 decades”.

Years later, his parents moved to the Bronx and finally decided to bring Kanos to the U.S. to stay with them permanently. Kanos arrived in the Bronx, New York, U.S. around the age of ten (mid 80s), where his love for music continued to grow, prompting him to dive deeper within the music industry. Around the late 80s Kanos began to develop a passion for music editing and mixing, he began acting as a disc-jokey (DJ) in most of the local parties within his neighborhood. He also developed a passion for boxing and the game of basketball. Just when he thought life was going good, “finally living with both his parents and the rest of the family”. The tragic happened during the Winter of December 1990, his biological father Jose “El Zurdo” Pena was shot and kill in a strange robbery in the Bronx County. Right after a few years of family struggle went by but his mother with the help of family and friends was able to keep it together. Kanos’s mother realized how much her song loved his Dad so to fill that emptiness she came up with a plan, so the family and her decided to have his dear uncle Maximo moved in with them so that Kanos could have his uncle Maximo in his life as a father figure. Kanos and his uncle had a great bond even when his father was alive, but now that they are both living together, their bond grew stronger. His uncle Maximo has played a very important role in Kanos’s life not only personal but artistically, his uncle Maximo has always supported Kanos not only by buying a few of his music toys when Kanos was short on money but also by helping him while in the studio they both engineered and produced most of his first Hip Hop and Latin Hip Hop beats.

Career Ventures:
In his per-suited for enhancing his music engineering career Kanos used to attend many music seminars and Hip Hop Summits, he attended the 2007 Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN): Russell Simmons & Dr. Benjamin Chavis in Miami, where he was able to listened to the many great stories of Joel Ortiz, Freekey Zekey about their role to success in the music business. He also was able to meet and greed Russell Simmons himself and also Dr. Benjamin Chavis. During the summer of 2008 Kanos was invited by his brother M2 (Haze) to attend a music seminar in New York City presented by a well respect music entrepreneur, an ex member of the Drifters and the Temptation know as Terry King. Once the seminar was done as always, Kanos decided to get closer to the speaker Terry King so that he could meet and greed the legend himself. Kanos and his brother M2 (El Black Haze) were able to exchange a few words with Terry King that night, after a long and very educational conversation Mr. King decided to invite the both of them to his home studio in Lauder hill, New York City.

It was during the summer of 2008 Kanos and his brother got their 1st chance to work with a music legend. As the connection grew between the three of them. One day Kanos and Terry were working in the studio, later on they decided to go out for a ride to get some food to bring back to the studio while on that ride a real touchy personal conversation took place between the two, “once I mentioned my father’s name Jose “El Zurdo” Pena, Mr. King pull the car over and asked me, Jose Pena the boxer who was going to fight Hector Camacho? I said yes”. It was then when Kanos discovered that Terry King was a good friend of his biological father Jose “El Zurdo” Pena, come to find out his father’s last breath was taken in Mr. King’s arms. The both of them broke down in tears! Since then, the tow has become inseparable, as father and son. When Kanos decided to tell his mother and the family about the amazing story, they were all stoned by it. Aside from his uncle Maximo, Mr. King has become a very important piece of Kanos’s life and his journey to success. Destiny is an amazing thing!

Today’s Career:
Today, Jose King Pena Jr. better known to his peers in the entertainment industry as Kanos or King Jr., is a well respected businessman; he is one of the founder of SOLO E GROUP, LLC which is home to SEG Music Publishing, Solo Records, SEG Music Distro, Solo Creators & Solo Entertainment News. In the process of developing Solo E Group, Kanos had to partners’ and associate with other great minds of the music business like Mo King Martinez. “Executive VP and Co founder of Solo Creators”, Deiry Josephine “Director of Marketing” and “Publicist” and the entrepreneur himself Mr. Terry King who volunteer for the “Artist Development” at Solo E Group. As a publisher, music producer, engineer, composer and artist himself, Kanos is dedicated to the development of all the areas within his Solo Organization, which include Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop & Urban Latin Music.

Awards:
Winner Of The 2015 and 2016 All Stars Producers Awards

Discography:
Kanos has been featured on a great number of mix tapes and has worked on many projects alongside other great music artists, producers and engineers in the business like Dennis Nieves “D’Manace Music”, Dazz Letellier “Andlazz EM&M” in New York City, Roy Tabaré “Sony Music Group”, Jason Claro “J.Gordi” “Hitmen Records” in Miami, Terry King (retired member of The Drifters) “Kingyomas Publishing”, Producer M2 “Solo Creators, Sin Fin “Lo Correcto” and Tony Hasbun “The Tony Hasbun Co.”, Damon Cruel and Pretty Lyon “Two Boros Entertainment” in New York, Daddy Yankee “El Cartel Records” “Lovumba Dance Hall Remix”, Slim The Mobster “AfterMath Entertainment” “Gun Play Remix”.

The Latest Releases:
Pretty Lyon “Good Girl Bad Habits” album released under “Two Boros Entertainment” in 2014 was engineered and produced by Kanos and Solo Creators. The album was voted “Best Album / Rap and Hip Hop” by “The Akademia Academy” Kanos and Solo Creators produced 3 of the original singles of the album: Come Get It, You Don’t Know, Perfectly Blinded.

Dazz Letellier Hit Single “Shake That” released under AnaLazz Inc. produced by Kanos and Solo Creators. The single was later follow by a music video which was released on YouTube on Wednesday, October 14th, 2015. He also engineered another hit single by Dazz Letellier call “Si Fuera Por Mi”, single released July 6, 2015.

**For bookings, visit: SOLOCREATORS.COM

POWERED BY: SOLO E GROUP, RM MUSIC PUBLISHING, REPUBLIC NETWORK