Ana Torroja

Ana Torroja

Ana Torroja (born December 28, 1959) is a Latin Grammy Award-nominated Spanish vocalist and lead singer of the trio Mecano, which has sold millions of albums. She was born in Madrid and is the daughter of a noted engineer.

Biography

Ana Torroja met José María Cano while studying economics at university. The two became good friends, and José María soon introduced her to his younger brother, Nacho. After hearing Ana sing José María's guitar compositions, Nacho suggested that the three form a band. In 1981, Mecano was formed.

After seven Mecano albums and huge success in Europe and Latin America, the continuous touring began taking its toll on the band. Ana was especially affected and started developing vocal problems. In 1993, the band announced a temporary split. While José and Nacho released solo albums, Ana chose to travel around the world and visited Hawaii, Bombay, and New York—places she had sung about while with Mecano. She eventually settled in New York and took dance classes.

By 1997, Ana felt confident enough to sing again and moved to London to record her first solo album, Puntos Cardinales (Cardinal points). The album, produced by Tony Mansfield, marked a curious change for Ana. Because her new songs were not written from a male point of view—unlike the Mecano hits written by the Cano brothers—she felt that she could express herself as a woman for the first time. The first single from the album, A Contratiempo, was a Spanish-language cover of an old Bette Midler song, "Bottomless". Both album and single went to number 1 in Spain.

In 1998, partially due to the cost and commercial failure of José María's opera project, Mecano reunited for the double-disc greatest hits compilation Ana, José, Nacho, which also featured seven new songs.

File:Ana bose.jpg

Ana and Miguel Bosé interpreting "Hearts" in 2000.

Ana's biggest solo success came in 1999 with her album, Pasajes de un Sueño (Passages of a dream). This album was hailed by critics and the first single, Ya No Te Quiero ("I don't love you anymore" or "I don't want you anymore"), became one of the best-selling songs in Spain that year. As a aprt of the promotion of this album, Torroja undertook, together with Miguel Bosé the "GIRADOS" tour in May of 2000, throughout Spain, the United States and part of Latin America. The tour concluded at the beginning of the following year and that meant its return to the scenes.

In 2001, Ana tried to reconquer the French audience she had won over at the time of Mecano, recording the album Ana Torroja.

She then took part in the recording of the disc Duetos 2 by the Mexican artist Armando Manzanero, with whom she recorded the song Nada personal (Nothing personal).

In 2003 she published her third album Frágil (Fragile), in which she presented a more genuine pop-based image and found her site and identity, that made her appear for the first time on stage both live and solo, in a brief tour across America and Europe called the Gira Fragil (Fragile Tour). It was this material that consolidated her success as a solo artist, and with which she also obtained numerous nominations and prizes such as the Grammy Latino, Shangay (Spain) and Oye (Mexico).

Shortly afterwards, she took a brief break from her musical career, guesting with artists such as Aleks Syntek in 2004. She dueted with Syntek on the song Duele el amor (Love breaks your heart), which was a major commercial success.

In 2006, Ana released a new studio album called Me Cuesta Tanto Olvidarte, produced by Mexican singer, composer and keyboard player Aleks Syntek. The album contained new versions of old Mecano hits. The first single was Los Amantes, which reached #2 on the Spanish charts.

File:Ananacho07.jpg

Ana and Nacho Cano together in the International Day against Drugs in 2007.

In 2008, Ana decided to work with Schiller, singing Porque te vas, which went to Number One in the Sehnsucht album charts in Germany.

On May 17, 2008, Ana Torroja was invited by Aleks Syntek to take part in the macro concert of the Fundación ALAS, in aid of the children of Latin America. She sang Me cuesta tanto olvidarte, Duele el amor, Corazones y Te amaré (alongside all the invited artists).

Ana is currently preparing her fourth studio album in Spanish. The album is being produced by the Venezuelan Andrés Levin, who has already produced her second album. It is presumed that the recording of the album has already begun, and that the resulting material may be released in the autumn of 2008 in (Spain) or at the beginning of 2009.

On October 10th 2008, she was seriously injured in a car crash in Madrid. According to Doctors, she is expected to make a full recovery.

Discography

Studio albums and Compilations:

• "Puntos cardinales" (1997)
• "Points Cardinaux" (1997)
• "Pasajes de un sueño" (1999)
• "Girados en concierto" - a collaboration with Miguel Bosé (2000)
• "Ana Torroja" (2001)
• "Frágil" (2003)
• "Esencial" (2004)
• "Me Cuesta Tanto Olvidarte" (2006)
• "4th studio album" (2009)

Covers and Collaborations:

• "A Contratiempo and Les Murs (version en français)" ("Bottomless" - Bette Midler) (1995)
• "Hold on" (duet with Jason Hart) (1997) (marketed in 2005)
• "Media Luna" (duet with Deep Forest)(1997)
• "Veinte Mariposas" ("Hidden Like a Secret" - Jimmy Wahisteen/Jorge Drexter) (2003)
• "Quien Dice" ("I Really Don't Think So" - Tina Harris/Marc Nelkin/Jamie Hartman) (2003)
• "Sólo por Eso" ("Rian Que Pour Ça" - Tristan Boccara/Nathaniel Brendel) (2003)
• "Cuatro Días" ("Would You Like Yo Know" - Tina Harris/Mats Berntoft/Anders Bagge) (2003)
• "Menos, Más" ("Vers Ta Voix" - Tino Izzo/Diane Cadieux) (2003)
• "I Wish You Were Here" ("Wish You Were Here" - Waters G.) (2003)
• "Sweet Lullaby" (duet with Deep Forest)(2003)
• "Duele el amor" (duet with Aleks Syntek)("Love Breaks Your Heart")(2004)
• "Enfant de la Lune" (duet with Psy 4 de la Rime, a French hip hop group) (2005)
• "Porque te vas" (duet with Schiller)(2008)

Songs in English:

• "Si Fuera Tú" (1997) (If I were you) - Jason Hart
• "Dulce Pesadilla" (1999) (Beautiful Nightmare) - Jason Hart
• "No Estás" (1999) (Don't Fall) - Jason Hart

External links

• Mecano WebSite Official - Mecano
• Ana Torroja Homepage
• Forus Official Ana Torroja
• Ana Torroja Fan Club