Ana Torroja

Ana Torroja Fungairiño, III Marquise of Torroja (Madrid, December 28, 1959), better known as Ana Torroja is a Spanish singer and aristocrat. She was the vocalist, composer and leader of the music band Mecano, which she formed with the brothers José María and Nacho Cano.

He debuted as a soloist in 1997. As such, his biggest hits are "A contratiempo", "Ya no te quiero", "Veinte mariposas", "I don't get tired", "Sonrisa", "Tu habitación helada" and the duets «Corazones» (with Miguel Bosé) and «Duele el amor» (with Aleks Syntek).

Biography

Childhood

She is the eldest of six siblings: Celia, Yago, Laura, Javier and Carlos. Her father, José Antonio Torroja Cavanillas, II Marqués de Torroja, was a prestigious civil engineer, like his grandfather Eduardo Torroja Miret, I Marqués de Torroja, and perhaps the world's greatest specialist in concrete construction of his time. Her mother, María del Carmen Fungairiño Bringas, a nurse and housewife, to whom Ana was very close, was the sister of the well-known and controversial prosecutor Eduardo Fungairiño, and died on September 26, 1985, when Ana was twenty-four years old and Mecano was at the peak of his success.

He began his school years in a bilingual high school in El Viso (Madrid neighborhood), relatively close to his family home at the time, on Raimundo Fernández Villaverde street. Later, he studied at a Teresianas school. As a child, she recounts that she sang, in exchange for a cookie, the "frère Jacques". Her father played the piano well; and in general, it can be said that the Torrojas were in contact with music through her parents and grandparents.

Ana and José María Cano met at a party that was held in the Tiuna apartments, near Madrid's Paseo de La Habana, around the year 1974, when they were both teenagers (approximately 14-15 years old). At first, José María felt more attracted to Ana's younger sister, Celia. However, shortly after they met, they began to live an adolescent love relationship that lasted about three years, according to both have stated in some interviews; probably until the transfer of José María to Valencia, after the summer of 1977.

After that summer of 1977, Ana began her career in Economics, which she later abandoned around 1980, after two academic years, coinciding with the origins of her musical career.

1970s: Rise to fame with Mecano

Ana Torroja began her musical career in 1977, forming a totally amateur duo with José María Cano (her partner at the time) upon the latter's return to Madrid in 1979. Later they were joined by José María's brother, Nacho, to form "the Spanish group that has sold the most records in the world", Mecano. Initially, the group's voice was José María, while Ana was limited to choirs. But later it was decided that Ana should be the main voice, which gave the group an ambiguous touch; since the songs, being written by the Cano brothers, almost always reflected a masculine point of view. The somewhat masculine look that Ana showed contributed to this, setting trends in all stages of the group, between 1986 and 1992. At that time, in Latin America Ana was considered to have the sexual orientation of a woman who someone else likes. woman, so even in Chile he had to change the lyrics of the song Hawai Bombay.^{[citation required]}

1990s: cardinal points and Ana, José and Nacho

After the group's last tour, in 1992, Ana decided to start her career as a soloist, for which she looked for producers and composers. It was a difficult job, since she wanted a different style from the one imposed by the Mecano group, and it took more than two years of work (1995-1997) until, in the city of London, the artist presented her first material, called cardinal points. In it she plays with half-times and orchestral arrangements akin to the bill of the Latin romantic ballad. A version for the French market was also released, Points cardinaux, which included three songs in that language, "Les murs", "Je t'ai tellement aimé" and "Ananta" (adaptations of "A setback", "I have loved you so much" and "As mermaids dream" respectively). The promotion of this album was interrupted by the fleeting return of her old group in 1998, then they released the album Ana | Jose | Nacho , from which concerts were expected. Unfortunately, at the Amigo '98 awards ceremony, José María Cano, to the surprise of Ana and Nacho (who were unaware that José María had such an intention) announced the final separation of the group.

In the period of recording her first solo album and the expectation of the return of Mecano, in 1995 the singer interprets the song "Cada historia" with Presuntos Implicados. In 1997 she collaborated with Abed Arzié on the song "Media Luna" by the French group Deep Forest. She also collaborated, with New York singer-songwriter Jason Hart, on the song "Hold on", which is later released in 2005.

Early 2000: Passages of a dream and return to the stage with Miguel Bosé

In 1999 he resumed his career, he published his next work, Passages of a Dream, here he conveys his Latin and cosmopolitan character, with Latin rhythms, flavored with cumbia, merengue and son, which often his own opinion served as an experiment in the search for his identity and to know that "that was not his place." The material was made in New York City, where the singer developed a great activity as a composer. As part of the promotion of this album, Torroja began the Girados tour together with Miguel Bosé, in May 2000, a tour throughout Spain, the United States and part of Latin America, which ended at the beginning of the following year and which meant his return to the stages.

In 2001 Ana tried to recover her French audience, conquered at the time of Mecano, releasing the album Ana Torroja, from which the unpublished song “Mes prières” was heard., but without major significance. This album was completed with a tour of different French cities, but it was, according to the singer's own comments, her loudest failure, ^{[citation required]}nevertheless her passing for France was what allowed him to produce his next work. The same year she collaborated on the album Mujer, in aid of the fight against cancer. A single promotional CD was extracted from this album that included the song sung by the Spanish, "Clara", among others. She then collaborated in the recording of the album Duetos 2 , by the Mexican artist Armando Manzanero, with which she interprets the song “Nothing personal”.

2003-2005: Alone; Fragile

In 2003, she published the album Frágil, in which she presented her most genuine pop proposal and found her place and identity, which made her perform live alone for the first time, on a brief tour of America and Europe, Fragile Tour. It was the material that consolidated her as a soloist, and with which she also achieved numerous nominations and awards such as the Latin Grammy, Shangay Awards (Spain) and the Oye Awards (Mexico). Despite the good reviews, the public did not receive the album well.

At the same time as the promotion, he participated with Gigi D'Alessio, in the recording of the unpublished song "Un nuevo beso". This, according to Ana, ^{[ citation needed ]} was due to the very particular voice of the Italian and his charisma. In addition to collaborating with his friend Eric Mouquet, a renewed version of "Sweet lullaby" and in addition to singing for the soundtrack of the French film Livraison à domicile .

After that, he took a brief break in his musical career, making occasional collaborations with artists such as Aleks Syntek, in 2004, with whom he performed the duet song "Duele el amor", one of his biggest commercial successes. She also collaborates in one of the concerts in his country, singing with him the song "Las curvas de esa chica" belonging to Mecano. Ana's other notable collaborations included the album I forgot to live, the proceeds of which went to the Alzheimer's Project of the Queen Sofía Foundation, where she sang the song "Partir" as a duet with Txetxo Bengoetxea and also recorded the song «I only think of you» by Víctor Manuel for the TVE program Nuestra mejor canción.

At the end of 2004, he released a greatest hits album in Latin America called Esencial for which he chose the songs that, in his opinion, were the favorites of his followers (for which reason he left out some significant ones for her), accompanied by a DVD with all her videos. At the beginning of 2005, said album was published in Spain, including an unpublished song called "No me canso", by Carlos Chaouen. In addition, in this material, Ana mentions that it represents a "full point in her career" for her. With the resounding success of the French group Psy 4 de la Rime with the song "Une femme avec une femme" in 2005, Ana decided to collaborate, for what would become "Enfants de la lune". The same year she gave birth to her first daughter, who received the name Jara, with her husband, the Cordovan sound engineer Rafael Duque.

2006-2008: The force of destiny

In the summer of 2006 he made the tour La fuerza del destino, a tour that in principle was going to be the return to the stages of the Spanish group Mecano, but due to disagreements with the brothers Cano, the vocalist decided to pay a particular tribute to her former group, obtaining resounding success in Spain and Latin America, reliving moments and songs from yesteryear. She also published an album titled It costs me so much to forget you recovering thirteen songs from her former group covered in a new way, with very different sounds from the original ones. Thus, for example, "Hijo de la Luna" adopts an air of a huapango and "Barco a Venus" becomes a rumba.

In June 2007, he gave a brief performance with his former partner Nacho Cano in the Plaza de Colón in Madrid on the occasion of World Day Against Drugs. At the concert, in front of 4,500 people, they performed three old Mecano hits.

In 2008, Ana decided to collaborate with Schiller, a German electronic music artist, voicing the song "Why are you leaving?" On May 17 of that same year, she is invited by Aleks Syntek to collaborate in the Fundación Alas macro concert, in aid of children in Latin America. She performed "It costs me so much to forget you", "Love hurts", "Hearts" and "I will love you" (with all the invited artists).

2009-2014: Smile

In 2009 she performed with Raphael, the song "Hijo de la luna". Months later she collaborated with the guitarist of the group Maná, Sergio Vallín on the song "Why don't you go".

The singer participated in a charity concert at La Farga de Hospitalet (Barcelona) to support the project Voices x1 Fin: Together for Mali, in which musicians and actors have put their voices following the trail of the initiative for the Sahara. He has collaborated in this NGO to carry out an eventual musical school and help with a grain of sand to develop artistic abilities, «We are losing the essence of things, we surround ourselves with too many material things that do not complicate existence. We must be more pure and simple », she replied.

In 2010 he released his fifth title in Spanish, Sonrisa, produced by the Venezuelan Andrés Levin (who already produced the album Passages of a Dream), and the song « I don't get tired"). The first single was "Sonrisa", an axiom theme, catchy and with a pure positivism that gives its name to the project. The second "Your frozen room", something more electronic and at the same time related to the love break. In May 2011 the third single "Soy" was released, a more sonorous, personal theme and according to his voice. It should be noted, in general, that the meager participation of the record company has not allowed the expected scope.

In June, he participated in the tribute to the tenor Plácido Domingo, who performed "Hijo de la luna" in an orchestral version. In September she honors the painter Salvador Dalí, interpreting a poem.

In July and exceptionally, the artist performed with the Symphonic Band of the Moguer Municipal Lyceum of Music, in Huelva, an orchestral repertoire reviewing songs by Mecano and his latest album. The show called It costs me so much to forget you had two more occasions: on August 14 in Torrelavega (Cantabria) and on November 11 in Castellón.

Meanwhile, the Spaniard is preparing and will continue with a series of concerts already confirmed for winter and spring of next year, betting on a more intimate and sonorous recital. The Soy tour will be accompanied by a band of four musicians and two choirs, a repertoire that will include both her solo hits, as well as Mecano's emblematic songs, with different rhythms and different ways of approaching the public.

2015-2018: Ana Torroja Connection

On May 5, 2015, Ana Torroja prepared the release of Conexión, this being her first completely solo live album, where she compiled the best of Mecano, some songs from her solo career and four Unpublished songs: "Excuse me", "Unfaithful", "At your feet" and "I want to cry". In some of the songs he is accompanied by celebrities such as Sasha, Benny and Erik (50 words, 60 words or 100), Paty Cantú (Woman against woman), Leonel García (It costs me so much to forget you), Miguel Bosé (On September 7), Aleks Syntek (Love hurts), Ximena Sariñana, Carla Morrison (One more year), Los Ángeles Azules (It costs me so much to forget you), Los Ángeles Azules and MC Davo (Oh love).

This is the first work carried out under the production of his new record label OCESA Seitrack, which has the collaboration of Sony Music in the distribution of the material. The production is in charge of Áureo Baqueiro who was with Ana Torroja in the process of selecting songs and artists to interpret them. As well as songs like "Disculpa" written by Paty Cantú and Áureo Baqueiro, two more songs by Paty Cantú and one by Hanna Nicole and Ashley Grace from Ha*Ash along with Pablo Preciado from Matisse.

The material was recorded at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City before a select audience of more than 900 guests. To promote the album, he made presentations in different media outlets in Mexico starting March 24 promoting his first single titled Sorry, as well as in Spain.

During 2016, Ana worked as a coach on the television program The Voice Chile on Channel 13 in Chile during its second season, being the winner, together with her pupil Javiera Flores. That That same year he collaborated, along with other artists, in a charity song by La Oreja de Van Gogh, entitled "I am with you". A song dedicated to the fight against Alzheimer's and whose proceeds would go to the fight against that disease.

On September 10, 2018, it was announced that she would be a jury of OT 2018, replacing Mónica Naranjo. He participated in the format in twelve of its fourteen galas.

2019-2021: A Thousand Reasons

At the beginning of 2019, Ana Torroja presented a song close to pop and electronics called "Llama", as the first single from the next studio album that was expected to be released in 2020. In early 2019, In June, she released the second single "Antes", which once again brought her to the electropop sounds that she popularized with Mecano. On October 12, she began her Tour Volver tour at the National Auditorium, with guests such as Miguel Bosé and Aleks Syntek, which had to be suspended due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and was resumed in Spain in July 2021. Finally, on July 2, 2021, the album Mil razons was released, initially only for digital download. The album, according to Ana's words, “is a reunion with electronic music, the place where I was born, musically speaking, but at the hands of very young people. It's like very renewed". Among the nine songs that make up the album, "Hora y cuarto" stands out, the first collaboration between Ana Torroja and Alaska.

In July 2021, after the death of her father, the Madrid engineer José Antonio Torroja, she inherited the title of Marquise of Torroja.

Discography

As a solo artist

Study albums:

• 1997: cardinal points
• 2000: Passages of a dream
• 2003: Frágil
• 2006: It's so hard to forget you.
• 2010: Smile.
• 2021: A thousand reasons

Albums of study in other languages:

• 1997: Points cardinaux
• 2001: Ana Torroja

With Mechano

• 1982: Mecano
• 1983: Where's the fairy country?
• 1984: The Sun is coming.
• 1985: Mecano at concert
• 1986: Between the sky and the ground
• 1988: Sunday rest
• 1991: Aidalai

Music tours

• Tour (2000)
• Tour (2003)
• Tour Destiny Force (2006)
• Tour (2011-13)
• Tour (2015-2019)
• Tour (2019-)
• 90's Pop Tour (2021-2022)

Awards

• Cross of merit for Merito Melitensi