Alejandro Fernández (born April 24, 1971) is a popular Latin Grammy-winning Mexican singer nicknamed as "El Potrillo" ("The Little Colt") by the media and his fans.1
Alejandro originally specialized in traditional, earthy forms of Mexican folk and country music, such as mariachi and ranchera. However, his more recent work has focused on mainstream pop music. He is the son of Vicente Fernández.2
Career
His first public appearance was in 1976, when his father presented him on one of his shows; he was meant to perform the song "Alejandra". In the middle of the song he forgot the lyrics, started crying and suffered a panic attack, but then, his father got on stage and helped him, singing along the song.
Fernández released his first album, Alejandro Fernandez, with Sony Music, that released hits such as "Necesito olvidarla", "Brumas" and "Equivocadamente".3 With this material, Alejandro began a tour in Mexico and some cities of the United States. In 1993, he performed with his father Vicente, in a concert at the Palacio de los Deportes, continuing a season at the famous Teatro Blanquita of Mexico City. In 1993, he released Piel De Niña, the production was directed by Pedro Ramires and became a success. The songs "Piel de niña", "A la vera del camino", and "Cascos ligeros" are some of the hits of the album.4 In 1994, he released the album Grandes Exitos A La Manera De Alejandro Fernandez, singing pieces of legendary composers such as Armando Manzanero, Luis Demetrio and José Antonio Méndez.5 In 1995 he released the album Que Seas Muy Feliz, the song "Como quien pierde una estrella", became his first international hit, the song was very promoted on radio and television shows.67
In 1996, the production Muy Dentro de Mi Corazón became a success 8; songs like "Moño negro", "Nube viajera" and "Abrazame" became hits in Mexico and several countries of Latin America. That same year he recorded "Puedes llegar", theme song for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, with singers like Gloria Estefan, Jon Secada and Ricky Martin. In 1997, he recorded the album Me Estoy Enamorando, produced by Emilio Estefan, Jr. The music of the album is a fusion of bolero, romantic ballad, orchestral arrangements and a touch of Mexican mariachi that became popular in the Latin music. "Si tu supieras" became the most outstanding hit of that production9, and became the theme of the hit soap opera of the time, "Maria Isabel", it also conquered the U.S. market being seven weeks at the top of Billboard Hot Latin Tracks, he became the first Latin singer to hold first place with three hits followed,"Si tu supieras", "En El Jardín" (with Gloria Estefan) and "No se olvidar".10 Me Estoy Enamorando sold 2.2 million copies worldwide. In December 1998, he recorded Christmas in Vienna VI, with the tenor Plácido Domingo and Patricia Kaas, his performance was praised by the critics but, however, it did not achieve much popularity among the audience. However, with the album Mi Verdad of 1999, Fernández returned to ranchera music genre.11 "Si he sabido amor" became a big hit and was played as the central theme of the hit soap opera Infierno en el paraíso.
In 2000, released the album titled Entre tus brazos, the eighth in his career, and the second time with Emilio Estefan, Jr. as the producer. "Quiéreme" was the first single, a moved pop song that showed his musical versatility. For the first time in his career a song was from his own inspiration: "Entre tus brazos". The album contains mostly romantic balladas with moved Latin rhythms.12 That same year, he recorded with Julio Iglesias, the song "Dos corazones, dos historias" that was contained on Julio's album Noche de Cuatro Lunas13. In 2001, he recorded Orígenes14, the single "Sin tantina pena" (a moved mariachi bolero) became an international hit.15 In 2002, he launched his production Un Canto De México, which contains twenty-two classic ranchera songs, it was recorded live at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.16 In 2003, Alejandro began a Latin American tour with his father Vicente, and recorded the show called "En Vivo: Juntos Por Ultima Vez", which was witnessed by thousands of fans, culminating in Mexico City at the Foro Sol, with over five hours of music in front of nearly 60,000 spectators. That same year he recorded his next album Niña amada mía17, that released the song with the same name which became a hit and the theme of a popular soap opera of that name. That same year, Alejandro toured Latin America and United States. Later he participated in the Christmas special En mi país broadcasted by Telemundo, and recorded in Puerto Rico. Fernández did a duet with Ednita Nazario on the song "Triste Navidad" ( "Sad Christmas").
In 2004 he played the lead role in Zapata: El sueño del héroe, a movie about the Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata by filmmaker Alfonso Arau.That same year, A Corazón Abierto reunites Alejandro with Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Kike Santander, who penned his greatest hits from Me Estoy Enamorando. But it also finds him singing the songs of a new generation of songwriters, including Gian Marco, Leonel García (one half of pop duo Sin Bandera), Reyli Barba (former member of pop band Elefante) and Mexican group Tres De Copas.18
"Romanticism is something that will never die", declared Alejandro Fernández, explaining his choice of songs on A Corazón Abierto, his breakthrough recording about lost love, love that is never forgotten and the capacity to always love again. "I’m super, ultra passionate. We’re releasing an album that's an x-ray of myself. That's why it's titled "A Corazón Abierto" ("In Open Heart"). It was something very honest. Not naked, but something deeper than that". The album released the hits: "¿Que voy a hacer con mi amor?", "Qué lastima", "Me dediqué a perderte" and " Canta corazón".19
In 2005, Alejandro launches México - Madrid: En Directo Y Sin Escalas (Mexico - Madrid: Nonstop). Featuring 13 tracks including one new song. Produced by Aureo Baquiero and filmed in front of a live audience at Spain's "Palacio de Congresos IFEMA", the production features Fernández performing some of his biggest hits accompanied by a 28-piece orchestra and some of Spain's most important voices on three of the songs: Amaia Montero from La Oreja de Van Gogh joins him on "Me dediqué a perderte"; Malú duets with him on "Contigo aprendí", and with flamenco star Diego El Cigala perform a moved version of "Como quien pierde una estrella", accompanied on cajón by famed flamenco guitarist Niño Josele.20 That same year, Alejandro was chosen to sing along with the tenors José Carreras and Plácido Domingo in a special concerto celebrating the opening of the "Forum Internacional de las Culturas" in Monterrey. At first his father Vicente was invited, but turned down. Alejandro showed his skilled vocals, and operatic tenor range, singing pieces of opera such as "Granada"; his performance was praised by the audience. He also recorded a duet song with the tenor Mario Frangoulis called "Hay más" from the album Follow Your Heart.21 After that, Alejandro went on tour with two Latin American stars: Marc Anthony and Chayanne, passing through several of the most important cities of the U.S.22 On December 2, 2005, Los Angeles, gave him a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame, on Hollywood Boulevard.23
In 2007, launches Viento A Favor features tunes written by Leonel García and Noel Schajris (better known as emotive Latin-pop duo Sin Bandera) and Mexican singer Reyli Barba.24 The first two singles were "Te Voy A Perder", and "Amor Gitano", a duet with Beyoncé Knowles.25 After that "Cuando Estamos Juntos" and "No Se Me Hace Fácil" became hits; "Eres" was the last single of the album.
In 2008, Alejandro started a tour on Spanish land covering cities such as Madrid, Valencia and La Coruña. He released the album De Noche: Clásicos A Mi Manera, that contains classic romantic ballads and boleros such as "El Reloj" and "Regálame esta noche", songs that he recorded previously in his career but never released.26
In 2009, his voice is the theme of Mañana es para siempre, the most successful Mexican soap opera of the year. The Grammy-winning singer, composer and producer Nelly Furtado invited Alejandro to sing a duet with her for her new album Mi Plan. The song "Sueños" was recorded in Miami.
His new project is called Dos Mundos (Two Worlds), is a double production, releasing two albums simultaneously: Dos Mundos: Evolución and Dos Mundos: Tradición. One of them is pop, produced by Aureo Baqueiro, and the other of ranchera and mariachi, produced by Joan Sebastian. He is the first Latin artist to do something similar. On November 11, 2009 he released simultaneously the videos of the singles "Estuve" and "Se me va la voz".27 The videos of the singles "Me hace tanto bien" and "Bandida" will be released in april, 2010. The tour "Los Tres", that includes Alejandro, Joan Sebastian and Marco Antonio Solís is scheduled to begin in april and will take place in the United States. His tour "Dos Mundos" will begin in the summer of 2010 in Spain through cities like Valladolid, Madrid, Cadiz, Malaga and Tenerife. It will also go through the U.S., Mexico and South America.28
Sony Music controversy
The international record label Sony Music was sued by Fernández after they tried to release an album with some of his unreleased songs after his contract with the label had ended. Mexican Federal Police arrived at the Sony headquarters in Mexico City and seized about 6,000 copies of the album. The song "Diferente", was released on the internet as the first single of the album.29
Personal life
He was raised in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and studied to become an architect, but turned to singing in 1991, encouraged by his father.30 He is the youngest son of his family. Has two older brothers, Vicente, Jr. and Gerardo, and a sister, Alejandra. Alejandro and his brothers are known in Mexico as "Los tres potrillos" ("The three colts").31
In the late 1990s, his older brother Vicente, Jr. was kidnapped by a powerful band of organized crime.32 The kidnappers cut off several of his fingers and sent them to his father as a warning. After Vicente Fernández paid a huge sum of money, Vicente, Jr. was released. The exact amount was never announced.33
Alejandro is co-owner of the shopping center in Guadalajara, called "Unicenter", where there are different types of businesses, creating jobs for over 170 people.34 He participated with his family in the construction of "Lienzo Charro y Centro de Espectáculos Don Vicente Fernández Gómez" or Arena VFG, with capacity for 11,000 people it is basically dedicated to music shows and eventually will be used for massive charreria competitions.3536 Alejandro is an expert in horse riding and charreria.37
He has five children: three (Alejandro, Jr. and the twin girls América and Camila) with his ex-wife, América Guinart; and two (Emiliano and Valentina) with his ex-girlfriend, the Colombian model Ximena Díaz.30
Discography
References
External links
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