Alejandro Sanz

One of the most famous Spanish singers to date who has earned quite the reputation in his home country for his singing and hit-making he is known as Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro or Alejandro Sanz. 

As a teenager, Alejandro fancied the guitar as his musical instrument and the influence of his father who was a door-to-door book salesman knew how to play the guitar from where he took his inspiration from. 

Originally, Sanchez wanted to become a Flamenco Dancer and he tried his chances in a flamenco school but he gave up saying that the teachers were overly strict and also the fact that the teachers would be basically: You are no good! If you would lose your rhythm and he decided to leave that behind saying that flamenco ‘’lifestyle’’ is better suited for someone else. 

Alejandro’s first attempt at music business was when he met Miguel Ángel Arenas, who was a music industry executive though he didn’t manage to rack up any success the album which he released called ‘’Los Chulos Son Pa' Cuidarlos’’ was met with critical and commercial indifference and the today date Sanz calls the record not worth mentioning. Though as an item the album itself has become something of a collector’s item. 

Later he tried doing small numbers in strip clubs to promote one of his songs called: ‘’Los Chulos Son Pa' Cuidarlos’’ where he would play a small segment between acts though it didn’t help him sadly after which he has decided to take a break for music in general and started studying business administration.  

Sanz only started gaining fame when he signed up for Warner Music Latina in 1991.  

And thanks to the release of his record and song "Pisando Fuerte" and "Se le Apagó la Luz" he managed to get a loyal fanbase for himself.  

Later over the next few years (1993-1995), he released 3 albums which helped him reach multi-platinum status across Spain. 

Two years later Alejandro stayed in Milan and worked on his skills studying the piano, saxophone and guitar to better his music. He also was making a follow-up to one of his songs from the previous album called 3. 

His fifth album was a major success. The album sold more than one million copies in the first week, breaking the record of one million copies sold in four months which was the record set by the previous album he wrote called Mas. Later when the Latin Grammy Awards started and Sanz got nominated he walked away with four awards: Album of the Year, Best Pop Male Vocal Album, Song of the Year and Record of the Year. 

Following 2002 he recorded his first-ever MTV Unplugged album. And he became the first-ever Spanish artist to record and release an MTV Unplugged album. And with his MTV album, he managed to get three Latin Grammy Awards. So you might say it has greatly influenced how he would proceed with creating his music in the future. He is also the first Spanish musician to give a lecture at Harvard University about Spanish Hispanic Culture. 

He continued writing music but he took a larger political approach when it came to his song when he released them in 2003 called "Sandy a Orilla do Mundo". 

One of his other songs which became quite a big hit was when he collaborated with Shakira in the song ‘’La Tortura’’ which as described became an international hit. 

The single "A la Primera Persona", from the album ‘’El Tren de Los Momentos’’, became one of his first Billboard Charted Hot 100 which took the 100th spot.  

Sadly though in 2005 he has suffered a mental breakdown due to a few events in his life the first was the death of his father and the other was his separation from the Mexican model Jayde Mitchel and mind you he would have an out of marriage child with her. 

He had to go as far as hiring a doctor to make him go through the therapy which did help him quite a lot. 

After he finished his recovery he came back and has released a new album named ‘’Paraiso Express’’ which he decided to work on promoting. 

He made a challenge for his fans and for anyone willing they had to record what they would consider their paradise and upload it onto his Youtube channel.  

Famous singers like Shakira, Laura Pasini and Paulina Rubio have taken part in the challenge which made it rise its popularity even more. 

In 2011 Sanz announced that after working for 20 years for Warner Music he is going to leave them and sign a new contract with Universal Music Group. 

During 2013 Alejandro had the honor to receive an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee College of Music. He has expressed how glad he was to receive the award and that he will continue creating music and working to prove that he is worthy of that award. 

The more current to date stuff with Alejandro is that he 2019 has released a new album of his called #ElDisco.  

He had also planned to go on a tour called ‘’La Gira Tour’’ but sadly due to the COVID-19 pandemic he had to reschedule it from May 2020 to June 2021. 

Overall even though Alejandro had a bumpy ride at the start of his career and some personal life issues it doesn’t seem to have affected him to a great degree even after 3 separations. 

He seems to still be able to produce amazing music for his fans to enjoy and hopefully, he will continue giving us enjoyable and beautiful songs in the foreseeable future.