Background and career
Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro, better known as Alejandro Sanz (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈxandɾo ˈsanθ]; born 18 December 1968), is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. He has won four Grammy Awards and twenty-four Latin Grammy Awards, including three Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year and Person of the Year in 2017. The singer is notable for his flamenco-influenced ballads, and has also experimented with several other genres including pop, rock, funk, R&B and jazz. Sanz has sold over 20 million records worldwile, becoming one of the most successful Spanish singers being honored with the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award (2024), the Los 40 Golden Music Awards (2017) and the ASCAP Latin Heritage Award (2011). Sanz released his debut album at age nineteen, although he did not gain commercial success in Spain until his second release, Viviendo Deprisa (1991). His next two records, Si Tú Me Miras (1993) and 3 (1995) also fared well commercially, but it was his 1997 breakthrough album Más that garnered international success. El Alma al Aire followed in 2000, selling more than a million copies in its first week and generate his first two Latin Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and his first Grammy Award nomination. In 2002, he became the first Spanish artist to record an MTV Unplugged album, his second record to win the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year. His collaboration with Shakira on the 2005 single "La Tortura" reached number one on several charts worldwide and was recognized with the Latin Grammy Award for Record of the Year. He experimented with more diverse styles of music with the albums No Es lo Mismo (2003) and El Tren de los Momentos (2006), and Paraíso Express (2009), all three were honored with the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album. Sanz signed to Universal Music Group in 2011 and released his tenth studio album, La Música No Se Toca, in 2012, followed by Sirope in 2015. In 2019 he published his twelfth studio album #El Disco wich became his fourth album to won the Grammy Awards for Best Latin Pop Album, promoted by the collaboration "Mi Persona Favorita" with Camila Cabello. In 2021 he published his thirteenth studio album Sanz, followeby ¿Y ahora qué? in 2025, promoted by his second collaboration with Shakira "Bésame".
Sanz was born on 18 December 1968, the youngest son of María Pizarro and Jesús Sánchez. He grew up in the neighborhood of Moratalaz in eastern Madrid. Sanz recalled that "Back then, kids grew up on the street...I was a bit like the group troubadour; the one who played the guitar and sang. That kept me out of a lot of trouble." Sanz's father, a door-to-door book salesman, played guitar professionally, which inspired seven-year-old Sanz to learn to play the instrument. He pursued the instrument with an intensity that eventually frustrated his mother, who broke his guitar one morning after his playing kept the family from sleeping. He was exposed to traditional flamenco music as a child while vacationing each summer in his parents' native Andalusia in southern Spain. Originally, Sanz intended to become a flamenco performer, but he found the music teachers to be overly strict. Commenting on his early experiences, Sanz explained, "Flamenco can be very hard on beginners. If you lose the rhythm, they toss you out with, 'You're no good, boy!' They're very strict and very cruel. But it's also a marvelous education, because you either learn to play or else." He felt that he could not compete with his peers, and decided to focus on creating pop music with flamenco influences, viewing flamenco to be a "lifestyle" better suited to others.
As a teenager, Sanz performed in various venues in his hometown. He became acquainted with Miguel Ángel Arenas, a music industry executive who had signed several popular Spanish groups such as Mecano. Arenas helped Sanz find work, eventually leading to a record deal with the Spanish label Hispavox. In 1989 Sanz released his debut album, Los Chulos Son Pa' Cuidarlos under the name of Alejandro Magno (Spanish for "Alexander the Great"). The record, which fused techno and flamenco, was met with critical and commercial indifference, and today Sanz views the record to be "insignificant". However, the album is now considered to be a collector's item. In an attempt to promote Los Chulos Son Pa' Cuidarlos, he performed at strip clubs, playing short sets between acts. This proved to be unsuccessful and Sanz took a break from music, choosing to study business administration. He also took a job at a recording studio in which he wrote material for other artists. He persuaded Arenas to send demos of his songs to record companies, which led to being signed by Warner Music Latina. At this time, he began performing under his current name. Sanz's rise to fame began in 1991, when he released his first album from Warner, Viviendo Deprisa. The record and the songs "Pisando Fuerte" and "Se le Apagó la Luz" helped him gain a dedicated fan base in Spain. In 1993, he released Si Tú Me Miras shortly followed by a live album, titled Básico. That same year, he recorded a song entitled "Mi Primera Canción" with flamenco pioneer Paco de Lucía, whom Sanz idolized as a child. He released his third studio album since changing his stage name, 3, in 1995. In addition to Spanish, 3 was also released in Italian and Portuguese. "La Fuerza del Corazón", the first single released from 3, was his first song to chart internationally. All three albums proved to be successful, reaching multi-platinum status in Spain.
Sanz spent two years in Milan, Italy to work on a follow-up for 3. For the album, he wished to create a "true fusion" of many different sounds, and began studying the saxophone and piano in addition to guitar. In 1997, Sanz released his fifth studio album, Más, a record containing ballads strongly influenced by flamenco, pop, and tropical rhythms. Driven by the singles "Corazón Partío", "Y, ¿Si Fuera Ella?", "Amiga Mía", "Aquello Que Me Diste", and "Siempre Es de Noche", Más sold more than two million copies in Spain and was certified 22× Platinum in the country, making it the best-selling album in Spanish history. The album remained on the Billboard Latin Albums chart for 74 weeks, and one year after the record's release, Sanz was granted an Ondas Award for Best Song for "Corazón Partío". According to David Cazares of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the album "made Sanz an international star on the strength of the pop-salsa hit 'Corazón Partío', a song on the lips of fans from Spain to Cuba and the United States." Following the success of the album, Sanz began touring in the United States for the first time.
His fifth album, El Alma al Aire, released 26 September 2000, featured Sanz exploring a wider array of musical genres, including jazz, R&B, soul and tango. In Spain, the album sold more than one million copies in the first week, breaking the record of one million copies sold in four months, also set by Sanz with his previous album, Más. At the 2001 Latin Grammy Awards, Sanz walked away with four awards: Best Pop Male Vocal Album and Album of the Year for El Alma al Aire, and Record of the Year and Song of the Year for the title track from the album. Later that year, El Alma al Aire was released in a special edition including Sanz's duets with Irish band The Corrs. In October 2001, Sanz collaborated with Michael Jackson and various other artists on the Spanish version of the charity single "What More Can I Give", which benefited the victims of the September 11 attacks. In 2002, Sanz recorded MTV Unplugged at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. He was the first Spanish artist to record and release an MTV Unplugged album. For Sanz, the recording of the album "changed the way I do my music. It was a rediscovery of how to perform, and also how to record, music with live musicians. That was the spirit of the music in its pure form, though [it is ironic] that the more people who are playing, the more simple it is." With the MTV Unplugged, he garnered three Latin Grammy Awards (Album of the Year, Recording of the Year and Song of the Year for "Y Sólo Se Me Ocurre Amarte"). At the 2002 Grammy Awards, Sanz performed "Quisiera Ser" as a duet with Destiny's Child, with both Spanish lyrics and English lyric adaptation "I'd Like To Be Your Laughter".
On 2 September 2003, Sanz released his sixth studio album, No Es lo Mismo. On this record, Sanz took a more political approach than he had on previous releases. The song "Sandy a Orilla do Mundo" discusses oil spills on the Spanish coast, while "Labana" tells the story of people fleeing from Cuba on makeshift rafts. The album won four awards at the 2004 Latin Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Sanz was unable to attend the event and his awards were accepted by presenters and colleagues. Also in 2004, he became the first Spanish musician to give a lecture at Harvard University, speaking about Hispanic culture at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
