El Canto del Loco | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Algete, Madrid, Spain |
Genres |
Rock Pop rock Pop punk Power pop |
Years active | 1994-2010 |
Labels |
Sony BMG (2000-2008) Sony Music (2008-2010) |
Website | www.elcantodelloco.com |
Past members |
Dani Martín David Otero Chema Ruiz Carlos Gamón Iván Ganchegui Jandro Velazquez |
El Canto del Loco (The Singing of the Madman in English) was a Spanish pop rock band, although its members recognize that some of their songs are more in the style of power pop. The name of the band comes from the song El Canto del Gallo by Radio Futura.
The group sometimes known through the abbreviation ECDL was created in 1994 by Dani Martín and Ivan Ganchegui (who left the group in 2002) although the final line up would not come together until years later. Influenced mainly by other Spanish groups from the 1980s and with five studio albums, El Canto del Loco has gone on to sell more than a million albums, making them one of the most successful bands on the Spanish music scene in recent years.
The group announced their separation in 2010 as the members of the group wanted to pursue solo careers.
ECDL received three nominations for the MTV Europe Music Awards in the category of "Best Spanish Artist", which they won on two occasions, and they were awarded two Premio Ondas as "Best Live Act" (2004) and "Best Spanish Artist or Group" (2005).
El Canto del Loco began in 1994 when Dani Martín was studying at the Cristina Rota School of Dramatic Arts. There, he met Iván Ganchegui, a guitarist, and their shared musical tastes resulted in the formation of the band. Both were fans of Radio Futura and in particular of their song El canto del gallo (The Song of the Rooster), which led them to name the group El Canto del Loco. At this time the group also included a female drummer, a bassist and another guitarist. However, the latter soon left the group because of other commitments, and the day before their first concert David Otero, Dani’s cousin, joined the group as a substitute.
The drummer and bassist also decided to leave the group not long after. The band’s original drummer was replaced by Jandro Velázquez, an electrician, who was the son of friends of Dani’s parents and who he first met in a flamenco competition. The position of bassist was filled by Chema Ruiz who was studying physiotherapy at the same university as David and who was a friend of one of his friends. With this line-up the band started to meet in a warehouse in the Algete area of Madrid in order to rehearse and their friends would act as critics.