Victor Manuel (singer)

Víctor Manuel San José Sánchez (Mieres del Camino, July 7, 1947), better known simply as Víctor Manuel, is a Spanish singer-songwriter and musical and film producer., considered along with his wife, the actress and singer Ana Belén, as one of the most representative artists of the Spanish Transition.

His songs, which pretend to be poems set to music, commonly speak of rural life, freedom, love and justice, thus delving into the genre of protest songs or trova that emerged in the 60s and 70s. ^{[citation required]}

In 2022, she was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

Biography

Origins and professional beginnings

Víctor Manuel was born on July 7, 1947 in Mieres, the son of Jesús, a railway worker, and Felicita, a merchant. His two grandfathers, Víctor and Ángel, influenced him (the second of them was shot in Oviedo, Spain in 1941 after the Civil War). His early musical vocation led him to imitate Joselito and learn to play the harmonica at the age of ten. Precisely interpreting the song La campanera by Joselito, he offers his first school performance. Some time later he received a guitar as a gift from Reyes and at the age of twelve he wrote his first song, I will have your love . During these years of childhood and youth he appeared in various local light song contests.

In 1963 she appeared at the First My Name Contest, held at the Capitol Theater in Mieres, as a singer and instrumentalist, with her harmonica. She did it with the artistic name of San José and in the first section she managed to reach the final, but she could not appear due to a cold. After dropping out, he became the singer of the Bossa Nova orchestra, a job for which he earned 175 pesetas a day. At the same time he was selected to play for Caudal Deportivo's youth soccer team, but he opted for music, although he has always been a soccer fan.

In 1964 he moved to Madrid, where he studied music theory and piano with maestro Nicolás and singing with Abanades. She participated in several contests and performed in the Circus of the Gascar brothers in a tribute to Antonio Molina and Paquera de Jerez. He participated in the television program Salto a la fama and, for a year and a half, he sang every Sunday on the game show The new musical wave , presented by the presenter Bobby Deglané.

In 1965 he managed to record his first singles, which would go on sale a year later. He did it under the patronage of the poet Fina Calderón, who wrote a large part of those songs. Víctor would write a song like Ninnete or A great man , dedicated to the dictator Francisco Franco, although later both the theme of his songs and his ideology and his opinion about the dictator They would make a radical turn.

In 1966 he competed with two songs by other authors at the Vallenato Festival, without any success.

First successes

In 1967, after presenting his compositions at some festivals, his first hits finally arrived. At the Miño Festival (Orense), his song Lazos azules y rosas, sung by Paco Ruano, won first prize. The same thing happens at the Eo Festival (Vegadeo) with Nothing is the same, sung by Cholo Juvacho. He also participates in the Atlantic Festival (Puerto de la Cruz), interpreting himself A straw hat, some sunglasses . After these experiences, he considers that his future lies in composition rather than interpretation.

In 1968, thanks to the money earned from the festivals of the previous year, he continued to dedicate himself to composition, with more personal themes such as El cobarde, El mendigo, The wooden train or The pilgrimage, which he decides to interpret for the media, although only eight people attend, in a studio he rents in La Voz de Madrid. There he listens to Juan Canal, from the Canciones del Mundo publishing house, who talks to Augusto Algueró, who in turn gets him a contract with the Philips record company.

He records a single, still with Belter, with El tren de madera and El cobarde, and performs with them again at the Atlantic Festival, where they like them a lot to the public, but not to the Canary Islands authorities, who consider El cobarde an anti-military issue. In principle the song is the winner but the vote is repeated and another song wins. In addition, Víctor Manuel is about to be arrested, but a component of Los Sabandeños, who had liked The wooden train , manages to avoid him. This is how the name of Víctor Manuel began to be known, although more because of the armed commotion than because of his songs themselves. This same year he began military service in Valladolid in aviation, where he reached the rank of corporal.

In 1969 he finally established himself as an artist, achieving several number ones. While doing his military service, he recorded a single with the songs El mendigo and La romería , which would be the first great success from him. On October 20 he ends military service. He publishes a new single, with Paxarinos and El abuelo Vítor , a song, like La pilgrimage , which reminds us of his land and which is would become one of his classics. The song is dedicated to her grandfather, who passed away a few months later. She appears for the first time on television, in the program Teleritmo of Televisión Española, which at that time, being the only station, meant being seen throughout the country, and the name began to sound loud. of the. He participates in the III Festival of New Christmas Carols in Pamplona, which he wins with En el portalín de piedra . This theme, together with The tambourines are heard now, are published in a new single.

Finally, thanks to the success obtained, he publishes his first full-length album, Víctor Manuel, a compilation of his hits already published as singles, which reaches number one in sales, and his name He began to sound like a candidate to represent Spain in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest. At the end of the year, in his first outing outside of Spain, he toured several European countries with the Embajada Artística de TVE y RNE, where without prior notice he sings songs like La planta 14, whose lyrics are not liked by the authorities who accompanied him. Due to this and the problems he had previously had with censorship, his participation in Eurovision was eventually ruled out. He is also banned from TVE.

In 1970, after leaving Belter, he recorded his first album with Philips, I want to hug you so much, with songs like the one that gives the album its name, Carmina or María Coraje, whose success led her to her first tour of Latin America, debuting in Mexico.

In 1971 he released his third album, Give me your hand, where the real problem with censorship began until Franco died. He has to rewrite many of the songs, since in some titles, like That's why I'm here , he makes his left-wing ideology clear.

That same year he toured the north of Spain that today may be very curious, since he performs with Julio Iglesias on it. Víctor Manuel himself has denied several times that Julio was his opening act, as has been said many times. The truth is that the start of the concerts alternated. In La Coruña, they are introduced to the actress Ana Belén, who is representing the play Sabor a miel, with whom they begin a sentimental relationship that is made known by the press after the summer. At the end of the year they star together in the film Morbo, directed by Gonzalo Suárez.

Censorship and exile

In 1972 Víctor Manuel wrote Ravos, a musical comedy designed to be performed by himself in the company of Ana Belén. The work does not receive the approval of the censorship, which also continues forcing him to rewrite many of his songs and fines him for performing some of them live.

She is shooting her second film, the musical To the devil, with love, also directed by Suárez and also with Ana Belén, to whom she dedicates her Canción para Pilar. The soundtrack is released on disc for the film, co-produced by Víctor. On June 13, Víctor and Ana are married in Gibraltar by civil law.

Later, he traveled to Brazil, where, representing Spain, he performed with Nino Bravo on September 16 at the Rio de Janeiro International Festival. Víctor interprets the song What a pity. In November he finally premiered Ravos, at the Manolo Fábregas theater in Mexico City, although the play only lasts twenty days on the bill. The Spanish Ministry of Information accuses him and Ana Belén of insulting the Spanish flag. They are harshly attacked by the media, for which they spend six months in exile. During his stay in Mexico, he edited an album with songs like I don't want to be a soldier or Letter from a miner to Manuel Llaneza . Also during that period, To the devil, with love was released in Spain, which had to be withdrawn from the bill when a far-right gang attacked the Montera cinema in Madrid, where it was shown.

In 1973 the couple managed to clarify the problems that had arisen with Ravos with the Spanish authorities and in March they returned to Spain, where upon arrival they were interrogated at the General Directorate of Security. It should be noted that one of the people who denied that they insulted the flag was Julio Iglesias. Tired of censorship, Víctor decides to make an album with versions of popular Asturian songs, hardly censorable. He adapts them to his own style and creates the album Verde , produced by Juan Carlos Calderón. He also works on Ana's first album, Tierra.

The following year, 1974, he released the album Todos tenemos un precio, with songs like Qué pena and La alemana, beginning to normalize their situation, since censorship applies administrative silence both to the songs on the album released in Mexico and to those of this latest work. On August 18, Ana and Víctor offer their first joint recital, at the Gijón Sports Pavilion.

On January 30, 1975, after years of being banned, he reappeared on TVE screens thanks to José María Íñigo, who invited him to his program Hoy, 14:15. Héctor Vázquez-Azpiri publishes for the Júcar editorial, and within his series Los Juglares, the biography of Víctor. He puts out an urgent album, Cómicos , in support of the strike that Spanish actors are leading that year.

On December 20, he participates in the IX Festival of New Christmas Carols in Pamplona, together with Amancio Prada, Luis Eduardo Aute, Rosa León and Luis Pastor, among others. He sings three songs that are not allowed, in one he asks for amnesty and for this he spends the night in detention.

In 1976 he published two albums. The first is a live recording at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid. The second, with markedly political content and called Canto para todos, offers a side with themes such as Comrades, Al compañero Orlando Martínez or Socialism in freedom and the other side with songs sung in Asturian, such as Danza del cuélebre, Xiringüelu or Yeren dos gourds. That same year, after receiving several anonymous letters, and during the couple's stay in Cuba, an extreme right-wing group exploded a bomb at their house in Torrelodones. On November 13, his son David is born.

In 1977 he participated in many events of the Communist Party of Spain, of which he was the musical coordinator. He traveled to the German Democratic Republic, where he recorded Spanien, an album that would never be released in Spain, with songs like No one denies us the right, in which he calls for the legalization of the PCE, or We will see Dolores, dedicated to Dolores Ibárruri. He composes the anthem of the Communist Party for the 1977 general elections. 'Put your vote to work'. He publishes in Spain the album Cándido , with the soundtrack of a version of Voltaire's play, for which he writes the music. This year he also composes the soundtracks for the films La criatura , by Eloy de la Iglesia, and Las truchas , by José Luis García Sánchez.

In 1978 he recorded the album 10, a highly politicized work with his texts and those of poets such as Blas de Otero or Celaya. Also this year, he recorded, in collaboration with the Asturian group Nuberu, Aida la fuente, a mythical song in the history of Asturias, and Xuanín, l´home de la unidá, with music by Nuberu and lyrics by Manuel Asur, dedicated to Juan Muñiz Zapico, union leader of Comisiones Obreras who died in a car accident the previous year.

In 1982 he stopped being a member of the Communist Party of Spain.

Massive Success

In Víctor Manuel's career, 1979 was a key year. He returns to the musical forefront and achieves great sales success with the album Soy un corazón tendido al sol, where, without neglecting political issues, he proves to be an author capable of moving forward, of singing to his land, to love, to world issues. This occurs after his signing by the CBS record company which, after adopting a policy of recruiting young talent and rescuing great singers, he is enthusiastic about the songs that Víctor proposes to them. Such is the case of the theme I only think of you, for many his masterpiece, based on the relationship between two young people with intellectual disabilities, which rises to the top of the charts. With this album and especially with this song, after some highly politicized LPs that were not very successful, the Asturian was reborn at the age of 32 and received several revelation awards, something that is curious since he had already achieved several number 1s. throughout the decade. The album was recorded in Milan (Italy), with the production of Danilo Vaona.

In 1980 he returned to the Italian city to record, also with the production of Vaona, a new album, Luna, and he gave concerts throughout Spain. This new album includes a pioneering song about homosexuals, Who Put More, which takes number one. He also writes, in homage to Blas de Otero, I ask for peace and the word . That same year he participated together with Ana, Miguel Bosé, Eva and Mocedades in a children's album entitled Cosas de niños, produced by Juan Pardo in which he interprets the songs El columio, The sower (with Ana) and Negrito Watermelon (with Eva).

A year later Ay amor comes out, again recorded in Milan and with the title track of the album, which becomes another of his classics.

In 1982 he traveled to London to record the album Por el camino and changed producers to renew his sound, working with Geoff Westley. He leaves the PCE discontent with the policy he followed. In 1983, during the San Isidro festivities in Madrid, they recorded the album live Víctor y Ana en vivo, at the Palacio de los Deportes. That year he performed several concerts in the company of Rosa León. On September 16, 1983, his daughter Marina San José was born. The following year, after traveling to Chile, Argentina and Brazil, he recorded in London, again with Westley, the album The knife thrower .

In 1985 he published En directo, recorded on March 26 at the theater of the Labor University of Gijón during the only concert he gave that year and which was broadcast on TVE the following month. For the occasion they accompany him on stage, in addition to Ana, Miguel Ríos, the Beleño group and the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra conducted by its producer, Geoff Westley.

During the following months, he produced in London Dear Pablo, a tribute to Pablo Milanés with Joan Manuel Serrat, Luis Eduardo Aute, Ana Belén, Miguel Ríos, Amaya Uranga, Silvio Rodríguez, Chico Buarque, Mercedes Sosa and Victor himself. The recording of the couple's next album also begins in the British capital, There is always time for tenderness.

In 1986, a referendum was held in Spain to decide whether the country would join the NATO military structure and Víctor and Ana campaigned for the no. In terms of music, the double album For tenderness there is always time is released, made up of two parts: For tenderness, by Ana, and Siempre hay tiempo i>, by Víctor, with some duets. The most famous of them is La puerta de Alcalá, a song composed by the Suburbano group, which becomes a massive success. It is the best-selling album of the year, with more than 300,000 copies. They carry out a massive tour throughout Spain that begins at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia in front of 40,000 spectators. Several months later, and because the record company prohibits Suburbano from recording La puerta de Alcalá, Víctor Manuel, Ana Belén and other singers show solidarity with the group and leave CBS in protest. For New Year's Eve of that year, together with Joaquín Sabina, Rosa León, Amaya Uranga, Miguel Ríos and Ana Belén, he recorded a special program entitled Cualquier tiempo pasado fue peor , in which, in addition to singing his own songs,, the participants premiere a song with the same name from the program, written by Sabina for the occasion and published later.

Film Producer

In 1987 he began a new stage as a film producer, beginning with the film Divinas palabras. He also creates his own record production company, Ion Music, which will sell the finished product to a new label, BMG Ariola (now Sony BMG). Víctor and Ana go on a tour that year that is a success with the public but, due to its expensive production, is a failure from an economic point of view.

In 1988 he released the album What can I give you, the first from his new production company, recorded in Bologna with a new producer, Roberto Costa, looking for a new change in his sound. The song La madre is one of the most shocking lyrics of the Asturian, about the world of drugs from the perspective of the mother of a drug addict. It also tells the story of a transsexual in Like the Gibraltar monkeys. That year he received the Golden Apple, the highest distinction from the Asturian Center of Madrid. On August 25, the couple shares the stage with Rafael Alberti in a concert offered in Cádiz.

He continues his role as film producer with Get off to the Moor, by Fernando Colomo, and El vuelo de la paloma, by José Luis García Sánchez, who participates in the section Panorama of the Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1989 he produced El mar y el tiempo, by Fernando Fernán Gómez, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. In 1989 he revises and updates, with new arrangements and production by Roberto Costa, his songs with Asturian roots in Tiempo de cherries (La Romería, Paxarinos, El abuelo Vítor, En el portalín de piedra...). He toured cities and towns in his native Asturias. On October 8th he participates in the concert against drugs Music to Live , held at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuich (Barcelona). He closes the recital, to which he has been invited by the group Mecano, and in which Los Rebeldes, Miguel Bosé, La Unión and Danza Invisible also participate, interpreting La madre .

In 1990 he had great financial success, although not critically, with the film I am that one, directed by Luis Sanz and starring Isabel Pantoja and José Coronado. Determined to make this type of film more commercial, he tries to carry out two unsuccessful jobs with Mecano, Alejandro Sanz and the soccer player Emilio Butragueño.

In 1991 he released a new album, The delicate smell of violets. In terms of cinema, he is producing a new film for Isabel Pantoja, The day I was born, directed by Pedro Olea, and he is co-producing in Chile La frontera, by Ricardo Larrain, which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Festival. The following year he continued to focus on cinema, producing The Perfect Husband , which Ana Belén shoots in Prague in the company of Tim Roth under the direction of Beda Docampo. For José Sacristán he produces I'll get off in the next one, and you? .

In 1993 he published a new album, Where the kisses will go, and toured Spain and America with Ana. This year the latest film production in which he participates is being shot, Tirano Banderas , starring Gian Maria Volonté and Ana Belén.

Collaborating with other artists

In 1994, one of the couple's most successful recording projects was published, Mucho más que dos, an album recorded at the Palacio de Deportes in Gijón and in which Joaquín Sabina, Joan Manuel Serrat, Pablo Milanés, Manolo Tena, Juan Echanove, Miguel Ríos and Antonio Flores. On the album they cover songs by their guests and premiere Yo también nací en el 53, by Andrés Molina, and Contaminame, by Pedro Guerra, who wins an Ondas Award and becomes in another of his star songs. Later they made two massive tours that took them from Spain to Latin America and New York.

One year later, he invited Pablo Milanés to go on a joint tour, En blanco y negro, with three new songs: En blanco y negro, with lyrics by Sabina and music by Pablo and Víctor; Black and White Images, by Pedro Guerra; and Two Colors: Black and White, by Jorge Drexler. In addition to singing as a duet, they exchange songs and perform A bouquet of violets, by Cecilia. As a result of this tour, which is suspended halfway due to Pablo Milanés' illness, they release a self-titled album.

In 1996 he published the album Sin memoria, again with the production of Geoff Westley. But this project is eclipsed by El gusto es nuestro, a tour with Ana, Miguel Ríos and Serrat, which tours all of Spain and then America with overwhelming success, becoming the tour with the highest public attendance ever. Spain until then. With it they won the Ondas Award for Best Tour and released a record that sold half a million copies. Víctor writes the book Route Diary, with notes and anecdotes from the tour and the race of the four of them.

At the beginning of 1999 he published his album Cada uno es como es, which he produced together with Antonio García de Diego, a regular musician for Joaquín Sabina who has also collaborated regularly with Ana Belén and Víctor himself. The work includes songs like "Mujer de humo", "Vienen del sur" which deals with the subject of immigration, dares with a cha cha cha, dedicated to Ana, "Si ella no me quiera", set to music by a poem by the Argentine poet Atahualpa Yupanqui, "Tierra mía" 34;, and records a song written by three of his fans, "Donde caben dos", of which a video clip is recorded. That same year he was invited to record some of his classics accompanied by the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra and the choir of the Prince of Asturias Foundation, conducted by Joan Albert Amargós, who is also in charge of the arrangements. The album, Vivir para cantarlo, is recorded on May 14 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Gijón in a single concert, and is released at the end of the year. Year in which a joint album by Ana Belén and Miguel Ríos "Cantan a Kurt Weill" is published, whose adaptation into Spanish is carried out by Víctor.

In 2001 he released the album El hijo del ferroviario, which he produced again with Roberto Costa. In it he has the collaborations of Hevia in I went to the sea for oranges and Sabina in María de las mareas. He is invited to participate with Ana in the concerts for the 25th anniversary of the newspaper El País. After seven years, the couple embarks on a new joint tour, Two on the road, with great success. The last of the concerts, in the Las Ventas bullring, is published on CD and DVD and has the presence of Pedro Guerra, Fito Páez, Sabina, Serrat and Miguel Ríos as guests. He participates with other Spanish musicians such as Ismael Serrano, Serrat or Ketama in a project entitled & # 34; Encounters with Havana & # 34;, a record with which it is intended to raise money for Cuban music schools. Víctor records again for the occasion a magnificent version of "Canción pequeña".

On September 7, 2002, on the occasion of Asturias Day, he participated in Oviedo in the Asturias Concert together with Nuberu, Tejedor and Mari Luz Cristóbal, directed by Ramón Prada. The recording is collected on an album that only comes out in Asturias, and with which the following summer she makes a small tour of the region and a concert at the Lorient interceltic festival. She participates in a charity record promoted by the program La Rebotica de la Cadena Cope, re-recording the song & # 34; For a child & # 34;, which she dedicated to his son David, when Ana was pregnant with him. On this occasion, David Sanjosé himself is in charge of production. The album is titled "Nanas, lullabies. Music for that different child".

In 2003 he produced ...Entre todas las mujeres, a tribute album to Joaquín Sabina, in which his songs are sung by female voices such as Chavela Vargas, Julieta Venegas, Niña Pastori, Olga Román and Ana Bethlehem among others.

At the beginning of 2004 he published a new album, El perro del garaje, produced with his son David San José. With current issues such as the Iraq war, the Prestige catastrophe, 9/11 or battered women. On the subject of gender violence, he also made the short Dead Women's Club for the short series Hay motivo , making his debut as a director. This same year, to commemorate the centenary of Pablo Neruda, he produced the album Neruda en el corazón, in which various artists set music to or sing poems by the Chilean poet, himself putting music to the poem Plenos poderes, which he interprets. The work is presented within the framework of the Forum of Cultures held in Barcelona in a concert held at the Palau Sant Jordi, with the stage direction of Manuel Huerga and which is televised in Spain and Latin America. From July to December, Víctor tours Spain and Latin America.

In 2005, he was commissioned to compose the hymn for the centenary of Real Sporting de Gijón, which would be called "Puxa Sporting". The fans receive it unevenly. That same year, the tour A song brought me here begins with Ana Belén, in which they review their careers with more than 60 songs, some outlined and others complete, and during which they premiere three new songs, including them the one that gives the tour its title, written by Jorge Drexler. On September 16, one of the concerts of the tour is recorded at the Roman Theater in Mérida, which goes on sale in January of the following year, coinciding with the celebration of 40 years since Víctor released his first singles. On January 25 they present the theater version of the tour. In November 2007, a complete songbook of his musical work called, like his symphonic album, Vivir para cantarlo , was published.

In 2007, he collaborated with La Gran Señora de la Canción, María Dolores Pradera, interpreting with her his song "I don't know why I love you", which was included on his album " In good company".

In February 2008, Víctor Manuel published his latest album of new songs to date, There is nothing better than writing a song. Which he presented in the company of Ana Belén in Spain and Latin America, on a tour, called Tal para cual & # 34;. Also in 2008, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of former Chilean President Salvador Allende, he was in charge of coordinating a tribute concert in Chile, entitled & # 34; One Hundred Years Thousand Dreams & # 34; with singers from Spain and Latin America.

On February 14, 2009, the "Vivir para cantarlo" tour begins, with the nickname "Biografía de las canciones", which will take him through Spain and Latin America, and where he has been a review of his career from the 60s to the present, focusing on what each chosen song means to him.

In September of the same year, he participated in the controversial Paz sin fronteras concert, organized by Juanes in Havana and that brought together more than a million people. He sings along with Olga Tañón, Danny Rivera, Miguel Bosé, Luis Eduardo Aute, Juan Fernando Velasco, Jovanotti, Amaury Pérez, Silvio Rodríguez, Orishas, Carlos Varela, X Alfonso, Yerba Buena and Los Van Van. The concert, due to its characteristics, has wide repercussions in the US and Latin America.

He is invited along with Ana Belén to sing "I want to hug you so much" on Raphael's album "50 Aniversario".

On July 20, 2010, he gave the inaugural conference of the 2010 Summer Courses of the Príncipe de Asturias Foundation at the Oviedo Conservatory, with the title "Music will make you free" trying to infect the young students with his passion for music.

Wrote the soundtrack for the documentary "Disconnected" directed by Manuel Gómez Pereira about the treatment of mental patients with assertive methodology that is carried out at the San Agustín Hospital (Avilés), and which premiered at the Malaga Film Festival in 2010.

The Fundación de Estudios Rurales recognizes his contributions to the knowledge of work in rural areas by awarding him the Medal in the category of Culture and Arts on July 23, 2010.

Tanea and Víctor Manuel in 2011

In 2011, she received the "Housewife," award given at the AMAS Awards. At the delivery ceremony, he is presented as the most prolific and present possible musical ambassador in the history of Asturias.

In September of that same year, he gave a concert at the Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Center, as part of his "Vivir para cantarlo" started in 2009. In the concert he is accompanied by Ana Belén, Serrat, Miguel Ríos and Miguel Bosé and it is recorded for publication on double CD and DVD. On February 28, 2012, the record book of said tour came to light.

On July 10, 2012, he joins other artists to support the mining march on its way through Aravaca. Singing mining and worker songs like "El abuelo Vítor" and "Asturias".

At the end of November 2012, he collaborated again with María Dolores Pradera, this time performing together the song "Amarraditos" for the singer's latest album, titled "Thanks to You".

On September 4, 2013, the Principality of Asturias Television program "Sones", records a concert with songs by Víctor, performed by various Asturian artists and by himself. The program is broadcast on the 8th of the same month on the occasion of Asturias Day. The concert takes place in the Teodoro Cuesta de Mieres auditorium. The participants are Marisa Valle Roso, Silvia Suárez, Pablo Carrera, Berto Varillas, Michael Lee Wolfe, Pablo Cienfuegos, Fernando Valle Roso, Skanda, Filandón, Asturiana Mining Company, Coro Voces Blancas del Nalón, the Siero Chamber Orchestra and himself. Victor Manuel.

2014 marks the 50th anniversary of his move to Madrid, so in January of that year, he announces a commemorative concert that took place on September 12 in Oviedo, within the San Mateo festivities. In said show, called "50 years is nothing" He was surrounded by friends and colleagues such as Joan Manuel Serrat ("Grandfather Vitor"), Estopa ("I am a heart lying in the sun"), El Gran Wyoming ("Let me in peace!"), Miguel Poveda ("Asturias"), Rosendo ("Song of Hope"), Luis Eduardo Aute ("Where will the kisses go&# 34;), Pedro Guerra (Small Song), Chus Pedro (Nuberu), Hevia and Marisa Valle Roso ("Danza del Cuélebre", "Por el camino" and "La 14th floor), Ismael Serrano ("I want to hug you so much"), Miguel Ríos ("I only think of you"), Pablo Milanés ("Your mouth is a white cloud& #34;), Soledad Giménez ("La madre"), Rozalén ("Luna") or Ana Belén ("Contaminame" and "La puerta de Alcalá") among others. Because the tickets sold out quickly, the concert was repeated the next day. In total, 22,000 people attended these concerts, with more than 50% coming from outside the Principality of Asturias. A DVD of this concert will also be recorded and published on November 18, 2014.

General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE)

In addition to his work, the singer from Mieres has established himself as a determined defender of the interests of the authors associated with the General Society of Authors of Spain (SGAE), a non-profit association authorized under the Law of Intellectual Property, of which he himself is a member and of whose Board of Directors he has been a member between 2001 and 2007. He is considered as a possible future candidate to preside over the entity. Thus, it has stood out for its active defense of the private copying fee, a fee applied to various media and supports that can be used to copy information, regardless of its final use, and which is collected by a private entity (the company itself). SGAE) to be distributed among its partners, and not equitably, as has been mentioned and verified on several occasions. Among other actions, it is worth mentioning the trip to Brussels together with other artists, to put pressure on the European Commission to maintain the aforementioned canon.

Support the Asturian

In 2008, he joined the campaign Doi la cara pola oficialidad, in favor of the recognition of Asturian as the co-official language of Asturias. his reluctance to grant such status to the Asturian language.

New projects

In November 2014 it was announced that the concert "50 years is nothing" will be presented at the Palacio de los Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid in February 2015. It is also reported that a new album of versions by singer-songwriters from other countries such as José Alfredo, Caetano Veloso or Rubén Blades will be published in the spring of 2015, entitled "Canciones regaladas". Said album, by Víctor Manuel and Ana Belén, is the first studio work they have released since "Para la ternura siempre hay tiempo" with the mythical "La Puerta de Alcalá". After the album was released in April 2015, Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel began a joint tour to present the work "Canciones Regaladas" for Spain and America.

In June 2016, with a concert held in Gijón, he rounded off the "50 years is nothing" tour, which began almost 2 years earlier also in Asturias, Oviedo, with which he celebrated his half a century of musical career, reviewing his greatest hits in several massive concerts held in Madrid, Barcelona, etc. By that date, a concert had already been announced, followed by several more on a new tour, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the legendary "El gusto es nuestro" tour, together with Ana Belén, Serrat and Miguel Rios. This tour will tour cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Valencia or Zaragoza, from June to October 2016. On October 21, 2016, the double CD and DVD that includes the concert held on June 15 at the Barklaycard Center goes on sale from Madrid.

At the beginning of 2017 he participated in the collective album "Los tambores hablan", produced by his son David Sanjosé and the singer-songwriter from Alicante Inma Serrano. It is a project where 21 artists participate in 11 African-themed songs, aimed at obtaining funds for cooperation on the African continent. The lyrics are by the brother Marita Aureliano García Manzanal, from the ONGD SED, and the music by artists such as Pedro Guerra, Tontxu, Antonio Carmona (formerly Ketama)... It is a luxury record with a purpose, moreover, solidarity.

http://www.sed-ongd.org/presentacion-los-tambores-hablan-en-la-sgae/

At the end of 2017, the 75th anniversary of the death of Miguel Hernández, he participated together with Buika, José Mercé, Sole Giménez, Aziza Brahim, Miguel Rios, Mayte Martin, Ana Corbel, Silvio Rodríguez and Serrat, as well as Paco Ortega who produced the album, in a tribute to the poet from Orihuela. A project of the Department of Culture of the Diputación de Jaén (owner of the poet's legacy) in collaboration with Dulcimer Songs. The income obtained from the physical and digital sale of this album goes to the refugees through the NGO "Quesada Solidaria". Víctor re-records his song & # 34; For a tribute to Miguel Hernández & # 34;, It is a song written in 1976 for a tribute, which never took place, in the poet's native Orihuela. For Víctor Manuel, "Miguel's discovery was a brutal shock. He couldn't write so well, have so much courage... In his personal life, in his literature. It impacted our entire generation in a tremendous way"

Books

In 2019 he edited the book "El gusto es mío" (Editorial Aguilar), in which she traced her entire trajectory based on recipes, gastronomic memories and smells.[2]

Discography

Simple

• A lot. / Your things (Belter1966)
• A great man / Far away, far away
• And Sorrento started / The people / My music is you. / You don't believe it. (Belter1966)
• First disk / For charity / Ninette / And yet (Belter1966)
• The wooden train / The coward (Belter, 1968)
• The beggar / I'd like it. (Belter, 1968)
• Grandpa Vítor / Paxarinos (Belter, 1968)
• On the stone portal / You hear the panderets. (Belter1969)

Albums

• Victor Manuel (Belter1969)
• I want to embrace you so much. (Phillips1970)
• Give me your hand. (Phillips1971)
• To hell with love BSO (Phillips, 1972)
• These verses written with pain (edited in Mexico) (1973)
• Green (Phillips1973)
• We all have a price. (Phillips1974)
• Cnomics (Phillips1975)
• Victor Manuel live (Phillips1976)
• Song for all (Phillips, 1977)
• Spanien (Friend, 1977)
• Víctor Manuel 10 (Phillips1978)
• I am a heart lying in the sun (CBS1978)
• Moon (CBS1980)
• Love (Sony - CBS1981)
• By the way (Sony - CBS1983)
• Victor and Ana live (Sony - CBS1983)
• The Knife Thrower (Sony - CBS1984)
• Live (Sony - CBS1985)
• For tenderness there is always time (Sony - Columbia1986)
• What can I give you (Ion Music / Ariola1988)
• Cherry time (Ion Music / Ariola1989)
• The delicate smell of violets (Ion Music / Ariola1990)
• Where the kisses go (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola1993)
• No memory (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola1996)
• Each is as it is (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola1999)
• Live to sing (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola1999)
• The son of the railway (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola2001)
• The garage dog (Ion Music / Sony-BMG2004)
• There's nothing better than writing a song. (Ion Music / Sony-BMG2008)
• Gifted songs (Ion Music / Sony-BMG, 2015)
• Almost nothing is on your site (2018)

Builds

• Victor Manuel. The Great Artists. Volume I (Phillips1973)
• Victor Manuel. The Great Artists. Volume III (Phillips1973)
• Children ' s Things (CBS, 1980)
• Victor Manuel. Great successes (Phillips1976)
• (TEI) (1977)
• Year after year (Phillips1982)
• Poets in New York (CBS1986)
• Victor Manuel. Great successes (CBS1988)
• Much more than two (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola1994)
• In black and white (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola1995)
• The taste is ours (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola1996)
• Two on the road (Ion Music / BMG-Ariola2001)
• Concert of the Day of Asturias (Fono Astur2002)
• Neruda in the heart (Ion Music / Sony-BMG2004)
• A song brought me here.Ion Music / Sony-BMG2005).
• Live to sing, Biography of the Songs (Sony Music / Legacy, 2012).
• Victor Manuel: 50 years is nothing (Ion Music, 2014).
• "The taste is ours. 20 years" (2016)

Groups

• 7. Festival des politischen Liedes (Friend, 1977)
• I sing for change (2004)

Filmography

TV Shows