Angélica Garcia is an American singer-songwriter based in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

. She has released three studio albums, and her song "Jícama" became widely known when

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

selected the track for his 2019 year-end list.

Early life and education

Angélica Garcia was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and raised in El Monte in the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...

east of Los Angeles. Garcia's mother, who is of Mexican and Salvadoran descent, was a freestyle musician who performed under the mononym

Angelica ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 90 species of tall Biennial plant, biennial and Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous, herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as ...

and scored a top-40 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with her cover of the

Rosie and the Originals Rosie and the Originals were an American 1960s musical group best known for their single " Angel Baby". Fronted by lead singer Rosie Hamlin, the group produced two singles (including "Angel Baby") for Highland Records and, like many other mus ...

's song, " Angel Baby". She studied creative writing at Cooperative Arts High in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, then returned to Southern California and graduated from the

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA, ) is a visual and performing arts high school located on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is a public school, ...

where she studied

vocal jazz Vocal jazz or jazz singing is a genre within jazz music where the voice is used as an instrument. Vocal jazz began in the early twentieth century. Jazz music has its roots in blues and ragtime and can also traced back to the Dixieland jazz, New Or ...

and sang at the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz ...

Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...

. When she was 17, Garcia's family moved to

Accomac, Virginia Accomac is a town in and the county seat of Accomack County, Virginia, United States. The population was 526 at the 2020 census. History Though Accomack County was established as one of Virginia's eight original shires in 1634, the governme ...

, before she moved on her own to Richmond.

Career

In 2022, her record ''Echo Eléctrico'' was included on the shortlist for the inaugural Newlin Music Prize in Richmond, VA. Garcia appears in the

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic raci ...

Forza Horizon 5 ''Forza Horizon 5'' is a 2021 racing game developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is the fifth ''Forza Horizon'' title and twelfth main instalment in the ''Forza'' series. The game is set in a fictionalised represen ...

'' as the DJ of the in-game rock-oriented radio station Horizon XS, which includes her song "Karma the Knife" from '' Cha Cha Palace'' in its soundtrack.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Medicine for Birds'' (2016) *'' Cha Cha Palace'' (2020) *'' Gemelo'' (2024)

Extented plays

*''The Big Machine EP'' (2018) *''Echo Eléctrico'' (2021)

References

Singers from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American musicians of Mexican descent American people of Salvadoran descent People from El Monte, California Singer-songwriters from California Spanish-language singers of the United States {{US-singer-songwriter-stub