The story of Río Negro began on the campus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia where Broderick Santiago, Kevin "Quino" Johnson, and Melvin Jones were all students. The year was 1999. One evening that fall semester, Broderick attended a meeting in Sale Hall. After the meeting, he watched Kevin approach the stage and begin practicing a montuno (a distinctly Latin piano riff). Naturally, Broderick approached the stage and enthusiastically mentioned to Kevin that he played Latin percussion. So began Río Negro.

Originally named "1867" in honor of the founding year of Morehouse College, the group eventually changed its name to Río Negro in order to reflect the founders' love for Latin music. Río Negro means "Black River" in Spanish. The group's first performance was on September 21st, Kevin's birthday, on the steps of Kilgore Hall for a popular student event called "Underground Live". In fact, Kevin, who played trumpet in the college jazz band, had just bought a new Yamaha keyboard for the gig. He figured that piano was a more promising instrument for him than the trumpet. Besides, Kevin and Broderick later drafted Melvin Jones, a gifted presidential music scholar to be a part of the band. That cold night the musicians knew they had something.