ASHLAND, Ky. (WOWK) -- Gerardo Mejia was a Latin pop star in the early 1990s, rising to fame after creating the hit song "Rico Suave."

Today, instead of spending his days performing, his time is dedicated to his family and a church he and his wife built in Ashland, Kentucky.

Mejia's rise to stardom and path to Christianity started in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

"I was a kid that, you know, walked from house to house without having a problem in the world. 
I just loved my upbringing. In the year 1976, we made our move from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to Los Angeles, California. I was just a young kid trying to make it and trying to stand out," Mejia says, recalling his childhood.

Once in the United States, he became an award-winning break dancer, an actor, then finally, a music sensation.

"I got mysel

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