Spain’s Enrique Bunbury is among the most iconic singer/songwriters to emerge from the 20th century rock & roll era and one of the true fathers of rock en español. He is an intense, questioning, mercurial artist who has always followed a labyrinthine musical path that has astonished – and occasionally bewildered – fans, but has gained him legions of them across Latin America, Mexico, Europe, and the United States. Bunbury is capable of using an authoritative command of Middle Eastern, cabaret, ranchera, blues, flamenco, tango, salsa, milonga, bolero, cumbia, electro, roots and garage rock, heavy metal, and even electro musics to get his songs across.
Bunbury was born in Zaragoza and took to rock & roll and Spain’s own glorious musical traditions with equal enthusiasm. He sang lead in a high-school rock band called Apocalipsis, and later joined Proceso Entrópico. He dropped his first name when he joined guitarist Juan Valdivia in 1986 to form and front the rock band Héroes del Silencio, along with bassist Joaquin Cardiel and drummer Pedro Andreu. Héroes del Silencio was one of rock en español’s architect bands; it provided Bunbury with ideals that would guide him throughout his first was the melding his wide range of rock, pop, classical, folk, and Gypsy influences in a manner that would underscore – not water down – his Spanish-Latino identity. The second notion was that change itself is a primary engine of creativity.
The group’s pop debut, El Mar No Cesa, appeared in 1988. It hit number 56 on the Spanish chart and received solid airplay. The band began to shift their sound to rock & roll with the (now triple-platinum) classic Senderos de Traición in 1990. The band took on a more aggressive sound for their final two studio recordings, El Espíritu del Vino (1993) and Avalancha (1996), both of which went multi-platinum. Paired with an electrifying live show, each of the band’s recordings subsequent to their debut went to the top of the Spanish charts and entered the Top Five in other European countries as well. For his part, Bunbury grew not only as a singer, refining his style and stage persona, but as an exceptional lyricist. The band split in 1996, though they have made several live reunion records since.