Juan Luis Guerra | |
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.jpg) Guerra, Santo Domingo, 2012 | |
| Born | Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (1957-06-07)7 June 1957 (age 68) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Alma mater | Berklee College of Music |
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| Years active | 1983–present |
| Title | Juan Luis Guerra |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Full list |
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Musical artist | |
| Website | www |
Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (born 7 June 1957)[1] is aDominican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards including 31Latin Grammy Awards, threeGrammy Awards, and oneLatin Billboard Music Award. He won 3Latin Grammy Awards in 2010, including Album of the Year. In 2012, he won theLatin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year.[2] He has sold 15 million records worldwide,[3] making him one of thebest-selling Latin music artists.[4][5]
Guerra is one of the most internationally recognizedLatin artists of recent decades. His popular style ofmerengue andLatin fusion has garnered him considerable success throughout Latin America. He is also credited for popularizingbachata music on a global level and is often associated with the genre, although his distinct style of bachata features a more traditionalbolero rhythm and aesthetic mixed with bossa-nova influenced melodies and harmony in some of his songs.[6] He does not limit himself to one style of music, instead, his music incorporates a wide arrange of diverse rhythms such asmerengue,bachata,bolero,balada,fusion,salsa,cumbia,mambo,cha-cha-cha,pop,rock and roll,reggae,classical,R&B,folk,blues,jazz,funk,soul,rock,hip-hop/rap,son cubano, andreligious, amongst many others.Ojalá Que Llueva Café is one of his most critically acclaimed pieces.
Born Juan Luis Guerra Seijas, his parents were Gilberto Guerra Pacheco, and Olga Seijas Herrero. He has two brothers, José Gilberto, a plastic surgeon, and Diego Esteban, a graduate in business administration. He was a student at La Salle and Santa Teresita school, where he stood out for his love of sports. Before becoming interested in music, Guerra studied Philosophy and Literature at theUniversidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo.[7] He later studied guitar and music theory at the Dominican Republic'sConservatorio Nacional de Música (National Conservatory of Music) in Santo Domingo, and then decided to go to the United States to attend theBerklee College of Music in Boston, from which he graduated in 1982 with a diploma in jazz composition. He then returned to the Dominican Republic and formed a band with local musicians from his community.
Guerra released his first album,Soplando (1984), with local musicians who became known asJuan Luis Guerra y 440. The number refers to the standard tuning ofA440. The band's name in Spanish isCuatro Cuarenta ("Four Forty"). According to Guerra, this first album was based on jazz tunes and concepts he had learned atBerklee, and it "wasn't intended to be a commercial hit." Subsequently, however, he began to write moremerengues.[7]
In 1983, after a performance in front of the Dominican entrepreneur Bienvenido Rodríguez, Juan Luis Guerra was signed to Karen Records. This marked a radical shift in Guerra's musical style towardmerengue. In this period, he recorded two albums,Mudanza y Acarreo in 1985 andMientras Más Lo Pienso...Tú in 1987. These works gained more recognition, and the band was nominated to attend the OTI (Organization of Iberoamerican Television) Festival to represent the Dominican Republic.
In 1988, during the recording of the albumOjalá Que Llueva Café, Guerra became the dominant vocalist of 440. This album also began his international recognition; the album's sales topped the charts in many Latin American countries.
In 1990, 440 released their next album,Bachata Rosa, which became a major hit and earned Guerra his first Grammy award. With sales over five million, the album let Guerra keep touring Latin America, US and Europe. It contains memorable love songs such as "Burbujas de amor" (Bubbles of Love), "Bachata Rosa", "Rosalía", "Como abeja al panal" (Like a Bee to the Honeycomb), "A pedir su mano" (Asking For Her Hand), "Carta de amor" (Love Letter), and "Estrellitas y duendes" (Little stars and elves).
Guerra attracted controversy in 1992 after he released his next album,Areíto (which is aTaíno word forsong and dance). It featured the hit single "El costo de la vida", a song that decries corruption in Latin America and the rising costs of living as a consequence. Other songs included in this album protest the poor conditions in many Latin American countries, the celebration of the 'discovery' of the Americas ("1492"), and thedouble standards of first-world nations. "El costo de la vida" was his first number-one hit in the Hot Latin Tracks.
His next album,Fogaraté (1994) avoided such controversy. It focuses on more rural and lesser known types of Dominican music, likePerico Ripiao.
Guerra's 1998 releaseNi es lo mismo ni es igual (Neither The Same Nor Equal) won three Latin Grammys in 2000 for Best Merengue Performance, Best Tropical Song, and Best Engineered Album. Its hits include "Mi PC" (lit. "My PC",My Computer), "Palomita Blanca" (Little White Dove), and "El Niágara en Bicicleta" (The Niagara on Bicycle).
In 2004, Guerra signed a one-off deal with Vene music and released his first new album in six years.[8] Entitled "Para Tí" (For you), the album's songs are mostly Christian, it debuted at number one inUS Top Latin Albums and at 110 of USBillboard 200. It was three times certified platinum by theRIAA for selling 300,000 copies and sold half a million copies worldwide. It was certified gold in Argentina and Central America and as platinum in Venezuela. This album won two awards at the 2005Billboard Music Awards, in the categories of Gospel-Pop and Tropical-Merengue, for the hit singleLas Avispas (The wasps), the first time ever that one song has won these two categories at the same time. Other hits included "Para Tí" and "Soldado" (Soldier). In the same ceremony, Guerra was awarded Spirit of Hope Award for his philanthropic work.[9] At the same time, Guerra was honored with the Latino Special Award for theMusic Academy of Spain for his contributions to the music of his country and theCaribbean in the last 20 years. In the same year, Guerra embarked on his 20-year anniversary tour, "Tour 20 años". In the United States, he visited cities including Miami, Chicago, Washington D.C., Orlando, Boston and a concert at New York`s Madison Square Garden.[10] In November 2005, Guerra was awarded with two awards at the6th Annual Latin Grammy Awards for Best Christian Album (Spanish Language) and Best Tropical Song for "Las Avispas".[11]
In January 2006, Guerra performed at Berklee's 60th anniversary, along with other artists such asPaul Simon,Herbie Hancock,Michel Camilo andChiara Civello. That same year, he recorded withDiego Torres in "Abriendo Caminos" (Opening roads) and withManá in "Bendita Tu Luz" (Blessed Be Your Light). On 6 April 2006, Guerra was honored as aBMI Icon at the 13th annual BMI Latin Awards. Named BMI's 1995 Latin Songwriter of the Year, Guerra's songwriting has garnered 14 BMI Latin Awards.[12]
Guerra set records for the highest-grossing music tour when he opened forThe Rolling Stones'A Bigger Bang Tour at theirSan Juan, Puerto Rico show in February 2006. He was also invited bySting to sing with him at a concert atAltos de Chavón,La Romana in the Dominican Republic in 2006.
At thePremio Lo Nuestro awards in 2007, he was given the honorary lifetime achievement award. He also performed the lead single of his new album, "La Llave De Mi Corazón", released in March 2007. Guerra won more than 20 awards with this CD, including 5 Latin Grammy Awards, 6 Premios Casandra awards, 4 billboard Awards, 2 lo nuestro, and oneGrammy Award.
In 2007,Guerra was awarded theExcellence Award at the2007 Lo Nuestro Awards.[13] Guerra was honored at the Latin Grammy Awards in the same year with 5 awards, sweeping each category he was nominated in: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Tropical Song, and Best Merengue Album. Its engineers, Allan Leschhorn, Luis Mansilla, Ronnie Torres, and Adam Ayan, were also awarded Best Engineered Album. The night before the Latin Grammy Awards, he received the Academy'sPerson of the Year Award for his contribution to Latin music and for his philanthropy.
On 10 March 2008, Guerra was honored with 6 awards in los Premios Casandra, the most important award event in the Dominican Republic. He won for Orchestrator of the year, Outstanding artist abroad, Music album of the year for "La Llave de mi Corazón" (The Key to My Heart) and "El Soberano" (The Sovereign).
On 16 March 2008, he and other artists participated in thePaz Sin Fronteras concert organized byJuanes, celebrating the end of the2008 Andean diplomatic crisis between Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
On 11 April 2008, Guerra was the Billboard Latin awards big winner, with 7 nominations and 3 awards.
On 15 September 2008 Guerra was named aUNESCO Artist for Peace "in recognition of his efforts for the benefit of children with disabilities and children in need."[14]
On 9 May 2009, Guerra was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater,Berklee College of Music at its commencement ceremony.[15]
On 5 April 2010, Guerra released the official video for his new single "Bachata en Fukuoka". The video was filmed in various locations in the city of Los Angeles, and was directed by Colombian directorSimon Brand. On 8 June 2010, Guerra releasedA son de Guerra which contains eight musical rhythms (bachata, merengue,bolero,Mambo,funk, Rock,Jazz,reggae) and includes the collaboration ofJuanes among others. The album contains hits including "La Guagua", "La Calle", and "Bachata en Fukuoka". The first single from his new production, "Bachata en Fukuoka", placed in the # 1 position on theHot Latin Tracks, Tropical Songs, and Latin Pop Airplay Songs of theBillboard charts. Simultaneously, the collaboration of Guerra withEnrique Iglesias on "Cuando me Enamoro" was in the #2 spot on the Rhythm Airplay Chart.
In January 2012, the video for his single "En el cielo no hay Hospital" premiered on YouTube. This song belonged to his new album "Colección Cristiana". Later that year, he collaborated with the Spanish singerMiguel Bosé on his albumPapitwo, in the song "Yo creo en Ti".
On 25 April 2014, "Tus Besos" was released. It is a bachata song with a music video inspired by the rock and roll of the 1950s. This video was directed by his son Jean Gabriel.[16]
In 2019 during theCarnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife inSpain, Juan Luis Guerra surpassed the record reached in 1987 byCelia Cruz by bringing together more than 400,000 people as the largest congregation of people in an open-air plaza to attend a concert.[17] Later that year, he announced his foray into filmmaking as a producer with the development of an animated feature,[18] inspired by his own songLas Avispas.[19][20]
In 2024, Guerra releasedCaptain Avispa, his first film produced by himself along with Amarilys Germán, directed by Jean Gabriel Guerra and Jonathan Melendez.[21] The film attracted 150,485 viewers to theaters.[22]
Guerra has recorded several songs in English, like "July 19th" on his 1994 albumFogaraté, and more recently "Medicine for My Soul" and "Something Good" with Italian singerChiara Civello. Some of his songs have verses in both English and Spanish such as "Woman delCallao", "Guavaberry", "Señorita" on his 1995 compilation albumGrandes Exitos as a bonus track and more recently "La Llave de Mi Corazón". The albumAreíto featured two songs, the cover-title song "Areíto" and "Naboria daca, mayanimacaná", which are sung in theArawak language of the extinct Taino natives ofHispaniola. Juan Luis Guerra also recorded the album "Bachata Rosa" in Portuguese. He uses Japanese words inBachata en Fukuoka (Bachata in Fukuoka),2010 Latin Grammy winner for Best Tropical Song.
In 1988, he made his debut as a songwriter for other artists such as fellow Dominican musician Taty Salas, for whom he wrote the music forDe tu boca, a song with which he participated in the now defunct OTI Festival, reaching the top 3 category. He also composed songs for Mexican artists likeEmmanuel (No he podido verte, recorded in 1990) andLuis Miguel (Hasta que me olvides 1993 andTe necesito 2003). He also composed for the Puerto Rican salsa singerGilberto Santa Rosa in 1994 (Te Propongo).
Being a native Dominican, his music is heavily influenced by native Caribbean rhythms, such as merengue and bachata.
His lyrics are often charged with intentionally simple, heavily metaphorical, or popular expressions, such as "Burbujas de Amor" (Bubbles of Love). His lyrics also reflect in political issues, but from a deeply human perspective, that is, centering the lyrics in the human drama that social injustice generates. This is seen in "Visa Para un Sueño" about the broken dream of a visit to America. "El Niágara en Bicicleta" — a title based on the Cubanidiom, "al pasar el Niagara en bicicleta", meaning a difficult task — describes the negligence that destroys the social health services. "El Costo de La Vida" describes the effects ofglobalization and government corruption on theworking-class people; "Acompáñeme Civil" ("Accompany me Civilian") is about police and military corruption that exploits the people that they should care for.
Guerra is the son of Gilberto Guerra Pacheco and Olga Seijas Herrero; he has two brothers, José Gilberto Guerra Seijas, plastic surgeon, and Diego Esteban Guerra Seijas, economist.[25] He is married to Nora Clementina Altagracia Vega Rasuk, and has two children. His wife is the aunt ofMiss Universe 2003Amelia Vega Polanco.
In 2000, he became anevangelical Christian and worship director at the “Más Que Vencedores” church inSanto Domingo.[26]
On 17 October 2008, he participated as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO in an event called "Levántate y Actúa contra la Pobreza y por los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio", inBavaro, Dominican Republic, during the International Conference of the Americas.[27]
On 18 April 2010, he organized a concert to raise money for those who were affected by the2010 Haiti earthquake. After this successful event was held, a children's hospital was later built inHaiti.[28]
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