Cristina Sánchez Ruiz (born 31 May 1978), better known as Cristie, is a Spanish R&B, Pop and

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

singer. Since a very early age she was involved in music. In October 2002 she became one of the official contestants of the second series of the Spanish TV show '' Operación Triunfo''. Years later she was also took part on ''

La Voz Media United States * '' La Voz Hispana de Virginia'', a magazine * ''La Voz de Houston'', a newspaper * ''La Voz'' (Phoenix), a newspaper * ''La Voz'', a publication in New York's Hudson Valley owned by Bard College Other media * ''La Vo ...

''. In January 2023 it was announced her appearance on the music TV show ''Tierra de talento''. She has released two albums as solo artist.

Biography

Cristina Sanchez was born on 31 May 1978 in Fuengirola ( Málaga), where she was raised by her father along her two brothers. When she was 16, she started pursuing her music career. She formed a music band with some friends and they played in different bars and pubs of her home town. Her first contact with the music industry was in as part of a flamenco band called ''Cheli 3'', where they experimented mixing

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

and funk. Later on she joined ''Caste Huarochiri'', where she became deeply involved in flamenco and dance. With ''Los Activos'', Cristie took part in some of the most prominent festivals in Spain including '' Espárrago Rock'', '' Festimad'', ''The Festival of Autumn of Madrid'', and ''The Sea of Music''. She also performed in other countries including the

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, the

Popkomm Popkomm was an international trade show for the music and entertainment business during the 1990s and 2000s, and also integrated a congress and festival. It was held in Cologne for most of its existence, later moved to Berlin with entries from at ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) and the theater Ouro Verde in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. In 2002, Cristie spent seven months acting at the Blue Note Tokyo. Back in Spain, José María Elegant (a prestigious classical flamenco guitarist) invited Cristie to join ''La Maestranza'' and to perform during the Bienal de Flamenco in (

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

). That same month, Cristie took part on the castings for the second edition of '' Operación Triunfo'' on

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service know ...

. She became one of the chosen participants and she joined the ''Academy of Artists''.

2002: Operación Triunfo and ''No quiero sufrir''

Cristie was on the live television shows for six weeks. In one of the shows she collaborated on a duet with Antonio Orozco and his song ''Devuélveme la vida''. That performance became one of the highlights of that season live shows. After that, all contestants recorded and released a single. Those artists whose single reached the goal of 200,000 sold copies sold would sing a record deal. Cristie's single, ''No quiero sufrir'' was very well received by fans and it got good reviews by the critics, but it only reached 76,000 copies, missing the goal. However, she signed a contract with ''O'Clock Music'' to release her first album.

2003: ''Puro teatro''

She started to work again with José María Elegant and there sertulst was the release of her debut album as a soloist: ''Puro teatro''. The album was recorded between

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and produced by Sergio Castillo and Nacho Lesko. It included different styles of music, mostly

, but with a flavour of R&B,

Pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...

and

Funky Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid ...

. "Puro Theatro" is the title track; its name is after a song of the great Puerto Rican musician and composer Catalino Curet Alonso. The specialized critic described ''Puro teatro'' as Urban-Flamenco or

New Flamenco New flamenco (or ''nuevo flamenco'') or flamenco fusion is a musical genre that was born in Spain, starting in the 1980s. It combines flamenco guitar virtuosity and traditional flamenco music with musical fusion (with genres like jazz, blues, roc ...

Nuevo Flamenco New flamenco (or ''nuevo flamenco'') or flamenco fusion is a musical genre that was born in Spain, starting in the 1980s. It combines flamenco guitar virtuosity and traditional flamenco music with musical fusion (with genres like jazz, blues, roc ...

. They emphasized the song called "Tonight" produced by Noel Pastor and Dioni Gómez. Pedro Javier Hermosilla and Mayan Juan collaborated on the track ''Soleá'', dedicated to her hometown, Fuengirola. Noel Pastor and Dioni Gómez (who had previously worked with artists such as Tony Santos, Tony Aguilar and Austin) produced songs such as ''Cambiar'' and ''Tonight''. First single was "Pal Infierno", a

fusion of R&B and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

2008 - 2015: ''Con la suerte en los tacones'' and other projects

Her second music album was ''Con la suerte en los tacones'', a fourteen tracks album (five of them written by Cristie). The style was described as fresh. She combined genres such as

Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

, R&B,

Salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

Ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, and

. In Cristie's own words ''with this new album I want to express myself as I am, without feeling pressured to be who I'm not''. The first single was ''Marbella'' and it videoclip was shorted in one of the most luxurious beaches of that city, the Ocean Club, which was turned into a massive filming set. She collaborated with the also Spanish singer Pablo López, who was her pianist and back vocals on her live shows during a period of time . Due to personal reasons she took an hiatus on her music career. Between 2014 and 2015, Cristie joined the ''Orquesta Olympus'' and, in 2016, ''Nueva Alaska'' in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

. One year later, in 2017, she joined ''Kubo Project''.

2020: ''La Voz'' Spain

She decided to take part on the 2020 edition of

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

in Spain, where she was praised by Pablo López (formerly Cristie's pianist and back vocals), Antonio Orozco, Alejandro Sanz and Laura Pausini. She was on the show during eleven weeks as part of Pausini's team.

2023: Tierra de Talento

Her live audition on this format of

Canal Sur Canal Sur ('South Channel') is part of Radio y Televisión de Andalucía (RTVA), the public broadcasting company of Andalusia. It was created by means of the devolved powers given to this region by an Act of Parliament in its statute of autono ...

television (

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

) was a real success as the four coaches pressing their star buttons and praising her performance of Aretha Franklin's ''Natural Woman''.canalsur.es
/ref>

Discography

Albums

Singles

:Spanish charts: ''Lista Afyve'',

Los 40 Principales Los 40 (The 40, stylized as LOS40 and formerly ''Los 40 Principales'', es, Los Cuarenta) is a Top 40 music radio network and radio station brand in many Spanish-speaking countries from PRISA Radio. The station has its origins as a music show ...

Collaborations

Filmography

Videoclips

* 2002: ''No quiero sufrir'' * 2003: ''Sigo mi camino'' (with Tony Santos) * 2005: ''Ámame (remix)'' (with Cristie & Band) * 2005: ''Camino de Belén'' (with Lidia Reyes) * 2006: ''Marbella'' * 2006: ''Apunta mi teléfono'' * 2022: ''Como una flor''

Television

* 2002–2003: "Operación Triunfo 2" ( TVE) * 2005: ''TNT'' (guest,

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...

) * 2020: ''La Voz'' ( Antena 3) * 2023: ''Tierra de talento'' (

)

Films

* 2003: ''Gira Generación OT (DVD)'' * 2004: ''Cristie en Concierto (DVD)''

Curious Facts

* Cristie's cousins,

Anabel Conde Anabel is a feminine given name. It is the Spanish version of Annabel. Notable people with this given name include: * Anabel Alonso (born 1964), Spanish comedy actress * Anabel Conde (born 1975), Spanish singer * Anabel Gambero (born 1972), f ...

(2º finalist on the

Eurovision Song Contest 1995 The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 13 May 1995 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and presented by ...

) and Cristina Conde (member of ''Grupo la fiesta'') are also artists. * Her song ''Se que estás'' is dedicated to her late mother. * Her life is divided between Casares and Fuengirola. * She is interested in healthy life-style.

References

External links

* * * *
International Fan Site

Manióticos
{{Operación Triunfo 1978 births Living people People from Fuengirola 21st-century Spanish singers 21st-century Spanish women singers Spanish composers