Juanes is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist who is an international superstar and one of the biggest Latin American artists on the planet. Born as Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez in the Carolina del Príncipe, Antioquia, Colombia on August 9th, 1972, his stage name is derived from the contraction of Juan Esteban. Juanes’ music fuses traditional [...]
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Rubén Blades, born on July 16, 1948 in Panama, is a jack of all trades but best known for being one of the giants of salsa and Latin-American music. As a singer-songwriter, he’s performed and recorded with many of salsa greats including Ray Barretto, Larry Harlow, and Willie Colón on the way to becoming a [...]
The story of the Buena Vista Social Club dates back 1930s and 1940s Havana, Cuba. It was a fraternal social club where local musicians could gather to play, dance, and have fun with all sorts of activities. At the time, fraternal clubs were very popular in Cuban society and there were a variety of them [...]
In this week’s music feature, we return to rock with a profile on the Mexican band Kinky. Originally formed in Monterrey, Mexico in 1998, Kinky blends rock, electronica, as well as Latin music to form a unique funky sound. They are a five member band comprised of guitarist an lead vocalist Gilberto Cerezo, lead guitarist [...]
Latin singer, song writer Juan Luis Guerra Seijas, better known just as Juan Luis Gerra, was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on June 7th, 1957. He is one of the biggest Latin artists currently around and one of the most popular ever, having sold over 30 million albums. Guerra started composing songs for his [...]
For this installment of Hispanic musician profiles we are taking a break from salsa music to take a look at the important Argentine Latin rock band, Soda Stereo. Starting up in 1982 out of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the band is considered to be pioneers of what would become a blossoming Latin rock genre. Soda Stereo [...]
Oscar D’León was born, Oscar Emilio León Simoza, in Caracas, Venezuela on July 11th, 1943. He is regarded as one of the greatest Salsa musicians of all time. He has developed international following having toured from the Americas to Europe and Asia. D’León has been given numerous nicknames including “El Leon de la Salsa” (The [...]
Héctor Lavoe was born Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez in Ponce, Puerto Rico on September 30, 1946. He was one of the most revered singers in Salsa history, affectionately referred to as “”El Cantante de los Cantantes” (The Singer of Singers). Lavoe came from a musical family. His father would teach him about music and enrolled [...]
Celia Cruz was born Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso on October 21st, 1925 in Havana, Cuba. That’s quite a name for the iconic “Queen of Salsa”! She was the 2nd of 4 children and one of the 14 children in her extended household. She displayed signs of what was to come, often [...]