Andres Levin
| Andres Levin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Caracas, Venezuela |
| Genres | Latin, Pop, Rock, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, film maker, song-writer, musician, composer, philanthropist, arranger, guitarist |
| Instruments | Guitar, bass, keyboards, programming |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | Funmachine |
| Associated acts | Yerba Buena, Cucu Diamantes, Chaka Khan, John Legend, Natalie Merchant, David Byrne, D'Angelo, Caetano Veloso |
Andres Levin is a Venezuelan-born American record producer, bandleader, filmmaker, recording engineer and philanthropist. Levin won a Grammy Award in 2009 for his production of the In the Heights cast recording. His Grammy-nominated Latin fusion band Yerba Buena was founded along with Cuban-American singer Cucu Diamantes.
Levin has been called the "master-chef of urban fusion" by the Los Angeles Times.
Levin was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Since his father is a musician and producer as well, Levin was surrounded by music. He began playing guitar at age 10 and was soon immersed in the musical world. In 1988, Levin took advantage of a full scholarship at Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts before studying composition at Juilliard in New York City. While in New York, Levin worked at Skyline studios and was soon hired by producer Nile Rodgers as a full-time Synclavier programmer and arranger. With Rodgers, Levin worked with artists such as the B-52's, Diana Ross, INXS, and The Vaughan Brothers.
Together with Diamantes, Levin formed the band Yerba Buena. Before Yerba Buena, Levin had worked in several disparate genres, including R&B, soul, and Latin. Levin said that the same year the band was founded, he and "CuCu were in Nigeria, Cuba, and Bahia... [and] those influences combined to form the Yerba Buena sound." Levin has also said that even though Yerba Buena "experiments with many influences, the basis of the group is inspired by the African and Cuban diaspora, where both worlds meet. The music is a bridge between the two cultures."
Founded by Levin and Diamantes, Music Has No Enemies is a non-profit organization that is designed "to usher the entertainment industry in a new direction toward the widespread promotion of philanthropy". The organization has worked on several projects to promote social justice and political activism:
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