Alondra López Bentley (born 25 January 1983) is an English-Spanish singer-songwriter. She was born in

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

, Lancashire, England and has been living in Spain since the age of five.

Life and education

She was born in

, England, on 25 January 1983. Her mother, Susan Bentley, was a painter and her father, Juan Antonio López García, was a singer, actor and poet. She moved with her family to

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

(Spain) when she was five years old. She studied in Murcia's Art School and then went on to Murcia's University to study Fine Arts but dropped out after four years to engage in her music career. She is completely self-taught in guitar playing and singing. She is currently living in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Career

Alondra Bentley started writing her own songs at the age of 16. At that time she joined a few short-lived bands but soon focused on her own tunes. She made her first demo under the name Ladybird but soon decided to use her real name. After winning the ''Creajoven'' contest for local singer songwriters in

she started doing her first solo shows. In 2006, her demo was voted as one of the best of the year in the Radio 3 (Spanish national public radio) show, 'Disco Grande'. Right after, she began writing the songs that would eventually form ''Ashfield Avenue'', Alondra's debut album. The title comes from the name of the street where she was born in Lancaster. The first single 'Dot, dot dot' was one of the most radiated songs that year. The album was produced by ''César Verdú'' and had a big number of guest musicians such as Gary Olson, Isobel Knowles, Fino Oyonarte, Joaquín Pascual, Vicente Macía, Joserra Semperena, Xel Pereda, etc. It was recorded by ''Paco Loco'' in his studio in Cadiz in December 2008 and released by ''Absolute Beginners'' in April 2009. Alondra gave hundreds of concerts in Spain in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and she has taken part of festivals like

Primavera Sound Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as Primavera) is an annual music festival held at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, during late May and early June. It was founded in 2001 by Pablo Soler as "a showcase for Spanish Noise rock, noise ban ...

Festival Internacional de Benicàssim The Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (), commonly abbreviated as FIB, is an annual music festival that takes place in the town of Benicàssim, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It focuses mainly on pop, rock, and electronica artists, as ...

, La Mar de Músicas,

Sonorama The Sonorama Festival (since 2008 Sonorama-Ribera) is an annual music festival which takes place in the city of Aranda de Duero, in Castile and León (Spain), since 1998. It is organized by the cultural association, and non-profit, "Art de Troya ...

, Faraday, Lolapop, Lemonpop, Festival de la Luz, etc. She also toured

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and UK. In summer 2012, the label Gran Derby Records released her first album with songs for children under the title ''Alondra Bentley Sings For Children, It's Holidays!.'' The following autumn, ''The Garden Room'', her third record (and Ashfield Avenue's proper follow-up) was released by ''Gran Derby Records'' as well. This time, the album was produced by

Josh Rouse Josh Rouse (born March 9, 1972) is an American folk music, folk/indie pop singer-songwriter. Originally from Nebraska, Rouse began his recording career in Nashville in 1998 and later relocated to Spain. In 2014, Rouse won a Spanish Goya Award, G ...

and was recorded in ''Rio Bravo studio'' (Valencia) featuring musicians like Caio Bellveser, Xema Fuertes, Pepe Andreu, Nacho Ruiz, Pere Munuera and Joe Pissapia. Shortly after, in November 2012, she wrote four brand new songs for the film Loving Eimish. During 2013 and 2014, Alondra has been touring extensively in Spain and China.Primeros días en China – Rolling Ston

publicado en marzo de 2014

Musicians

* Nacho Ruiz (piano, guitar, vocals) * Xema Fuertes (guitar, banjo, drums, vocals) * Caio Bellveser (double bass, vocals) * Pepe Andreu (trumpet, flugelhorn) She has worked with musicians like

, :es:Refree, Refree, Nacho Vegas, Cristina Rosenvinge,

Coque Malla Jorge Malla Valle (born 22 October 1969, in Madrid), better known as Coque Malla, is a Spanish musician and actor, frontman of the group Los Ronaldos (founded in 1985). His mother was the actress Amparo Valle, who died on 29 September 2016. Fi ...

, Amaral, Nine Stories, Tórtel, etc. She has also opened for artists such as

Eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order (biology), order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 Family (biology), families, 164 genus, genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the earl ...

Richard Hawley Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. After his first band Treebound Story (formed while he was still at school) broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Long ...

, and

Matthew E. White Matthew E. White (born August 14, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and arranger. He has worked as a collaborator, producer, and arranger for acts including Bedouine, Natalie Prass, Cocoon, Foxygen, Justin Vernon, Hiss Golden ...

Discography

;Albums * ''Ashfield Avenue '' (2008) – Absolute Beginners Records * ''Alondra Bentley Sings for Children, It's Holidays! '' (2012) – Gran Derby Records * ''The Garden Room'' (2012) – Gran Derby Records * ''Resolutions'' (2015) – Gran Derby Records ;Soundtrack albums * '' Loving Eimish'' OST (2012) – Gran Derby Records

References

External links

Alondra Bentley at Gran Derby Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Alondra 1983 births Living people Spanish women singer-songwriters Spanish singer-songwriters 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers 21st-century Spanish singers Entertainers from Lancaster, Lancashire People from Murcia