Julio Voltio (born as Julio Ramos March 20, 1977, Santurce, Puerto Rico) is one of the reggaetón genre's best-known artists.
His nickname came to be as the result of an accident. Before joining Karel, he worked as an electrician. One day, he stuck his hand in the wrong place and got shocked. Everyone then called him "Bombillo" (Light Bulb) and "Corto Circuito" (Short Circuit), until eventually giving him a nickname that stuck: "Voltio" (Spanish word for volt).
Growing up in the Parque Ecuestre section of Carolina, Voltio entered the music business as a teenager. Together with Rey 29 and Héctor Delgado (AKA Hector "El Father"), he formed The Masters of Funk. Although the trio released no listed albums, they were influential in starting the reggaeton movement.
Shortly after separating from The Masters of Funk, Voltio partnered with Karel, a neighborhood friend, to form Karel y Voltio. They released their debut album Los Dueños del Estilo in 2003. The album languished, however, and the duo's enthusiasm dwindled. Karel was last featured in La Mision 4. With few options, Voltio was preparing to exit the music business when Tego Calderón, a leading artist with White Lion Records, convinced him to sign with the label. Having taken Tego's advice, Voltio released the album Voltage AC, with the hits "Bumper", "No Amarres Fuego" (featuring Zion & Lennox) and "Julito Maraña".
Voltio also featured on a remix of the song "Locked Up" by Akon, which was released in the UK as part of Locked Up-Global Remixes.
Having experienced relative success, Voltio returned with his a self-titled release in 2005, which included his biggest hit to date "Chulín Culín Chunflai", which features Residente Calle 13 and a remix version with Three 6 Mafia.
Voltio recently teamed up with Calle 13 to speak out against police brutality in Puerto Rico. On August 11, 2008, announced the publication of a docummentary titled "En vivo desde Oso Blanco". The production covers the time that Voltio spent in prison.
Voltio is also included on the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack with his song Pónmela from the 2007 release of En lo Claro.
En lo Claro has experienced mild success in contrast to Voltio's first two releases, garnering #36 on the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album also peaked at #24 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.
