Ignacio Peña
| Ignacio Peña | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ignacio Peña Vidal |
| Born |
21 April 1973 Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Universal Music Latino, Everywhere Music, HearSay Ltd. |
| Website | ignaciopena |
Ignacio Peña Vidal, (born April 21. 1973) better known as Ignacio Peña; is a Puerto Rican rock singer/songwriter, musician, producer, Emmy Award winning video director and editor, and multimedia creator. Peña is known for his warm voice, songwriting craftsmanship and his audiovisual conceptual shows for which he writes the music and directs and edits the visuals himself. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Peña rose to fame in the Latin market with the release of his debut album "El Mundo al Revés" in 2000 and the subsequent tour which saw him perform festivals in Argentina, Venezuela, Panama and the United States. Peña’s albums have garnered critical acclaim and are considered by many to be some of the best rock music to come out in Spanish. In 2010 Peña debuted his most ambitious project to date. An educational multimedia concert designed for schools entitled "The Great Planet Earth Debate". Peña has been invited to speak at educational conferences and universities in the United States and his native Puerto Rico and was awarded an honorary degree from the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez in Puerto Rico for his contribution to education. In 2015 he was nominated for two NATAS Suncoast Chapter Emmy Awards, winning one for the WIPR-TV Short Subject documentaries "Por Qué Conmemoramos" (Why We Commemorate).
Ignacio Peña was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico to parents Ignacio Peña Feliciano and Miriam Vidal Otani. His father was a salesman and his mother a secretary. His mother is of Japanese descent. His grandfather was a soldier in the US Army during the Second World War stationed in Okinawa. There he met Eiko Otani whom he would marry and bring stateside to begin a family. Ignacio and his two younger sisters grew up in different parts of San Juan, PR. He attended and graduated from Wesleyan Academy in Guaynabo, PR. After his parents’ divorce at the age of 14 Peña got his first guitar and spent the rest of his youth between school and weekends with his band mates, writing songs and rehearsing where he began to hone his craft as a songwriter. After completing his bachelor's degree in music production and engineering at Boston's Berklee College of Music, he began writing, singing and producing jingles until the opportunity to make his first record arrived. During this time, he kept writing and recording new songs while pitching them to labels and other music business outlets. After many attempts to land a recording deal, Ignacio met his would-be manager in Criteria Studios in Miami Florida. Now with management, Ignacio went into the studio with producer Pablo Manavello to record a three song demo. The demo for "75% de Agua" was picked up by local rock radio station Alfa Rock 105.7 FM and the song generated unprecedented amounts of requests. This resulted in a recording contract with Universal Music Latino and the subsequent production of his first album.
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