Wilkins reborn with 'Masterpiece'

Photo: Courtesy

Wilkins has almost recorded 50 albums, but none have meant as much to him as “Masterpiece”.

“This disco is what Wilkins is after having lived all these things, “said the Puerto Rican singer of 68 years. “After all the years I’ve been singing, it’s a different, new album.”

The artist not only refers to the painful loss of close loved ones, but to the difficult and long process of recovery from a condition that began to suffer in 2011. He underwent surgery on his spine to remove an abscess that, if not detected, would have caused problems with his vocal cords and possibly paraplegia.

Due to the infection was hospitalized for 45 days and was paralyzed for nine months. He had to wear a cervicothoracic vest for a long time, until his bones got stronger.

“The hardest thing has been facing myself,” he said. “Because it was something very strong that made me observe many things that I had not studied in depth, such as illness and the loss of loved ones very close to me; When I found myself in that same moment as them, I was able to appreciate life more, I was able to appreciate their presence more, what they meant to me, and above all, I was able to make the biggest change in my internal life with myself. ”

On 2018 was the first time that Wilkins could do a show without the protector that he used under his shirt, and that is why for him this album, the number 49 of his career, it is so significant; not in vain it took him five years to finish it.

“It has been part of my rebirth with my health problem, in many aspects,” he said. “It has many messages inside, and it is not far from the different styles that I have cultivated in my records. of moved music, romanticism, rock in Spanish, vein ballads or ballads of spite. ”

This album also marks Wilkins’ return to his beloved island, where He travels seasonally because he has his permanent residence in Córdova, Argentina, where he owns a castle.

“I was fifteen years old and had not recorded in my own country,” he said. “Going back to Puerto Rico was very important.”

One of the most notable characteristics of the album is the way Wilkins wrote the songs.

“My writing changed a lot,” he said. “I have accidentally arranged the lyrics with more freshness; It is an album that is updated. ”

But that feeling of freedom has also been important, which has allowed him to develop his vocation“ with love to even change the stage of a long career and feel fresh, “he said. “Besides, I live in love, with everything, but very special with my wife.”