Juan Luis Guerra
| Juan Luis Guerra | |
|---|---|
Juan Luis Guerra, Santo Domingo, 2012.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Juan Luis Guerra Seijas |
| Born | June 7, 1957 |
| Origin | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Genres | Merengue, bachata, salsa, Latin pop |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, guitarist, pianist |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Labels | KAREN Records (1983–2000) Venemusic (2004) Capitol Latin (2007–present) |
| Associated acts | 440, Juanes |
| Website | www |
Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (born June 7, 1957), known professionally as Juan Luis Guerra, is a Dominican singer, songwriter, composer, and producer. He has sold over 30 million records, and has won numerous awards including 18 Latin Grammy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Latin Billboard Music Awards. Guerra won 3 Latin Grammy Awards in 2010, including Album of the Year. In 2012, he won the Latin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year.
Guerra is one of the most internationally recognized Latin artists of recent decades. His popular style of merengue and Afro-Latin fusion has garnered him considerable success throughout Latin America. He is also credited for popularizing bachata music on a global level and is often associated with the genre, although his distinct style of bachata features a more traditional bolero rhythm and aesthetic mixed with bossa-nova influenced melodies and harmony in some of his songs. He does not limit himself to one style of music; instead, he incorporates diverse rhythms like merengue, bachata-fusion, balada, salsa, rock and roll, and even gospel. "Ojalá Que Llueva Café" ("I Hope it Rains Coffee") is one of his most critically acclaimed pieces.
Before he committed to music, Guerra studied philosophy and literature at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. He then studied guitar and music theory at El Conservatorio Nacional de Música de Santo Domingo, then decided to go to the United States to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. He graduated from Berklee in 1982 with a diploma in jazz composition. After his return to the Dominican Republic, he released his first album, "Soplando"(1984) with a group of local musicians that subsequently became known as Juan Luis Guerra y 440. The group members were Maridalia Hernández, Roger Zayas-Bazán, and Mariela Mercado. The band's name in Spanish is officially publicized as Cuatro Cuarenta (Four Forty), a shortening of the normally strict reading of number "four hundred forty". The 440 part of the band's name refers to the standard tuning of A440. According to Guerra, this first album was based on jazz tunes and concepts he had learned at Berklee, and it "wasn't intended to be a commercial hit." Subsequently, however, he began to write more merengues.
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