Alejandro Sanz

Sanz has been playing guitar since he was 7 years old and grew up listening to artists like Yolandita Monge, Julio Iglesias, Jose Feliciano, and Joaquin Sabina. He was also heavily influenced by his father, who was a professional guitar player in addition to being a door to door salesman. While vacationing with his family in Andalusia Sanz was exposed to and inspired by the flamenco guitar playing he heard on the trip. He inevitably picked up the style, but was deterred from pursuing it professionally due to the strict nature of his teachers. The style has undoubtedly influenced Sanz’s signature sound; however, he uses it only to accent the pop construct of his songs rather than as a foundational framework.

Although Sanz started composing music by the age of 10 he did not release his first album “Los Chulos Son Pa’ Cuidarlos” until 9 years later. The album was a fusion of techno and flamenco and little resembles the sound Sanz has since become recognized for. He promoted the album at local strip clubs, but never made much of breakthrough with the release. Dismayed by the album’s lack of success, he went back to school to study business administration. This did not last for long and in no time Sanz was back making albums.

Considering “Los Chulos Son Pa’ Cuidarlos” was released under the name Alejandro Magno, it was not until 1991 that he officially released his studio debut, “Viviendo Deprisa” (this time under the name Sanz). The album proved to be both a critical and commercial success and launched his career as Spain’s biggest pop star. Two similarly themed albums followed: 1993s “Si Tu Me Miras” and 1995s “3”.

Sanz was largely confined to a Spanish market throughout the greater part of the 90s, but made his international breakthrough with the 1997 release “Mas”. The album completely dominated the charts in Spain, going platinum 22 times over; however, it also was incredibly successful in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and even the US, in which it sold over 600,000 copies upon release. With the help of the extremely popular single “Corazon Partio”, this record became the best selling Spanish album of all time.

Sanz also furthered his presence abroad particularly in the UK with his featured appearance in the Corrs music video for “Una Noche”. He also built his fan base in America with his 2001 recording “MTV Unplugged”.

Sanz challenged the expectations of his audience with his 2003 album “No Es Lo Mismo”. This release was a throwback to Sanz’s childhood street days and incorporated elements commonly found in urbanized music such as electronica and hip-hop. The mood was shifted from the plush romanticism of his earlier work towards a colder context. The risk’s Sanz took with this album seemed to pay off as it became another massive success in Spain and even managed to break into the US Billboard 200 (a particularly difficult feat for a Latin artist). The album was also critically herald, winning the Latin Grammy for best Latin Pop Album. Sanz’s next few releases were compilation albums detailing his hits and rarities.

Sanz did not put out his next studio album “El Tren de los Momentos” until 3 years later. In between these albums he released one of his biggest hits to date. “La Tortura” a song he co-wrote and recorded with Latin pop sensation Shakira. This song as well as his album “El Tren de los Momentos”, significantly boosted his status world wide.

Sanz went back to his formative style on his next studio release “Paraiso Express”, which came out in 2009. Alicia Keys made an appearance on the album contributing vocals to the grammy nominated track “Looking for Paradise”. Sanz’s 9th studio album came out in 2012 and marked his first release through Universal Music.