Alejandro Sanz Spanish Singer With 8.1M Instagram Followers

Early life

Alejandro Sanz was born Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro on 18 December 1968 in Madrid. He grew up in the Moratalaz neighbourhood in the east of the city, the youngest son of María Pizarro and Jesús Sánchez. His father sold books door to door and also played guitar professionally, and that example led Sanz to start learning the instrument as a small boy. His parents came from Andalusia, and the family spent summers there, where he first heard traditional flamenco. He considered a career as a flamenco performer, but he found the teachers very strict and chose instead to write pop music coloured by flamenco.

Career

As a teenager Sanz played in venues around Madrid. An industry contact helped him secure a deal with the label Hispavox, and in 1989 he released his first album, Los chulos son pa' cuidarlos, under the name Alejandro Magno. It sold poorly. He paused his music career to study business administration and worked in a recording studio writing material for other artists, until demo recordings brought a contract with Warner Music Latina. From then on he used his current name.

His first Warner album, Viviendo deprisa (1991), earned him a following in Spain. Si tú me miras (1993) and 3 (1995) also did well, and in 1993 he recorded "Mi primera canción" with the guitarist Paco de Lucía, whom he had admired as a child. After two years spent working in Milan, he released Más in 1997. Its singles included "Corazón partío", and the album became the best-selling record in Spanish history, with a 22-times platinum certification in Spain. It also led to his first tours in the United States. El alma al aire followed in September 2000 and explored jazz, soul and tango among other styles. In 2002 he became the first Spanish artist to record an MTV Unplugged album, which was taped in Miami.

No es lo mismo (2003) took a more political tone, with songs on oil spills off the Spanish coast and on Cubans leaving by raft. In 2005 he co-wrote and sang on "La tortura", a duet with Shakira that spent a record number of weeks at number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart. El tren de los momentos arrived in 2006, and Paraíso Express in November 2009 included the bilingual single "Looking for Paradise" with Alicia Keys, which topped the Hot Latin Songs chart. In February 2011 he announced a move from Warner to Universal Music Group after twenty years with the first company. La música no se toca (2012), Sirope (2015) and #ElDisco (2019) followed, the last of them led by "Mi persona favorita", recorded with Camila Cabello. In 2021 he took part in a performance of "Imagine" at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games, representing Europe. A Netflix docuseries about his plans was announced in September 2024, and he released the EP ¿Y ahora qué? in May 2025, which includes a duet with Shakira titled "Bésame".

Recognition

Sanz has won four Grammy Awards, all for Best Latin Pop Album, for No es lo mismo, El tren de los momentos, Paraíso Express and #ElDisco. He has also won many Latin Grammy Awards. At the 2001 ceremony he took four, including Album of the Year for El alma al aire, and he won Album of the Year again in 2002 for MTV Unplugged and in 2004 for No es lo mismo. The Latin Recording Academy named him its Person of the Year in 2017. Other honours include the ASCAP Latin Heritage Award in 2011, an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music in 2013, a Lo Nuestro Excellence Award the same year, and the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.

Personal life

Sanz married Raquel Perera in 2012. The dossier lists no notable children by name.