Los Ángeles Negros | |
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Los Ángeles Negros' classic line-up. From left to right: Germaín de la Fuente, Luis Ortíz, Jorge González, Mario Gutiérrez, and Miguel Ángel "Nano" Concha.
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Background information | |
Origin | San Carlos, Chile |
Genres | Balada rockmántica |
Years active | 1968 | –present
Labels | EMI Odeon |
Website | losangelesnegros |
Members |
Principal
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Los Ángeles Negros (English: The Black Angels) are a Chilean pop ballad band formed in San Carlos de Chile in 1968. The band's best-known line-up consisted of singer Germaín de la Fuente, guitarist Mario Gutiérrez, keyboardist Jorge González, bassist Miguel Ángel "Nano" Concha, and drummer Luis Ortiz. Their music is a blend of boleros, psychedelic funk and rock music, known as Balada rockmántica.
The original members of the band included three teenagers and a worker from a local school. After winning a local competition in June 1968, they recorded and released their first single, "Porque Te Quiero", which attracted the attention of Chile's Odeon Records representatives, urging two of the four members of the band to record an album with three other studio musicians. As a result, they recorded Porque Te Quiero in 1969, and several chart-topping singles across Latin America in the following years.
Following De la Fuente's departure from the group, most of the classic band members also left and established bands with similar names, including Germaín y sus Ángeles Negros and Los Ángeles de Chile. Guitarist Mario Gutiérrez continued to work with other musicians under the name of Los Ángeles Negros. Songs by Los Ángeles Negros have been covered by singers including Celia Cruz, Raphael, and José Luis Rodríguez, while others have been sampled by hip-hop and rap musicians such as Funkdoobiest, Damian Marley, the Beastie Boys, and Jay-Z.
Cristián Blasser and Mario Gutiérrez, students from the Escuela Consolidada de San Carlos (now Liceo Politécnico de San Carlos), and Sergio Rojas, who worked at the school, formed a band in 1968. Upon hearing an announcement of a bands tournament organized by La Discusión radio station from Chillán, they recruited Germaín de la Fuente, who was well known in the local scene for his vocal abilities. Blasser and Gutiérrez played the guitar, Rojas the bass, and De la Fuente became the keyboardist and lead vocalist. Most of the band members were musically inspired by acts such as The Beatles except De la Fuente, who did not like them at all and wanted to do bolero music. As a result, they created a mixed style known as the Balada rockmántica or Bolero-beat.