Senior and captain of the varsity football team Cristhian Camacho first sang in front of an audience at his brother’s wedding when he was only thirteen.  After seeing everyone’s reaction to his performance, Camacho knew that he wanted to pursue singing.  Camacho began to take his singing very seriously and created his own Instagram and Twitter accounts dedicated to singing.  Just a few years later, he appeared on the television music competition Latino X Factor.

“Although I did not make it to the end on X Factor, one of the judges told me that I had the talent to make it big one day and he made me promise I would always keep trying. So after that I tried out for La Banda,” said Camacho.

Since Sept. 13, the music based reality competition La Banda has been looking to put together a Latino boy band of young talent, like Camacho. Produced by Simon Cowell and Ricky Martin, La Banda has searched throughout the United States and Puerto Rico to find potential candidates.

Camacho found out about La Banda via email. Hoping to represent his Hispanic culture, Camacho sent in a video of himself and some photos. He received a golden ticket so that he didn’t have to wait in line for the audition process. The casting for La Banda was held in Manhattan where Camacho had several auditions in front of different judges. Out of the 10,000 Latino boys who auditioned, only 93 of them go to go to Miami, Camacho being one of them.

“Singing is my way to really let ourtemotions and feelings that I really never share,” said Camacho.  “La Banda has been an amazing experience and taught me a lot so far. I want to thank all of those who have supported me through this experience and told me to keep going even when I felt down.”

The next step for Camacho was in Miami where he had to audition in front of a large crowd of young girls whose job was to vote for the boys that managed to impress them based on looks and personality. Once getting past the girls, Camacho had to sing in front of three famous judges, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini and Alejandro Sanz, to decide his spot on La Banda.

“I felt fine singing in front of the girls. I needed to get 75% or more of the girls to like me before even singing at all. Once I was introduced to the crowd, I got 81% of the girls’ votes and then sang in front of the judges. That was when the nerves kicked in,” Camacho said.

Although nervous, Camacho still got three yeses from the judges, which got him to the top forty out of the 10,000+ who auditioned.

“My most memorable experience was singing ‘Me Enamore de Ti’ in front of the judges and hearing their feedback. Also, all the interviews afterward because people were running up to me to take pictures like I was a famous person. It was amazing,” said Camacho.

To see Camacho’s full audition, you can go on YouTube and search “Cristhian Camacho La Banda.” Throughout the next few weeks, make sure to watch La Banda Sunday nights at 8 p.m. on Univision to see contestants go through a series of rounds in order to compete for first place, which will guarantee them a recording contract with Sony Music Latin.