Blas Cantó Moreno (born 26 October 1991) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence as a member of the Spanish band Auryn. In 2017, he embarked on a solo career. His debut studio album '' Complicado'' was released in September 2018, the album peaked at number one on the Spanish Albums Chart. He was going to represent at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This w ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, with the song "

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" but the competition was cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He represented Spain instead in

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...

with the song " Voy a quedarme".

Biography

2000–2004: Beginnings

In 2000, Cantó participated in the children's talent show ''Veo Veo'', at eight-years old. In 2004, he participated in ''Eurojunior'', the national selection process organised by (TVE) to select the Spanish entry for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004. He advanced to the national final with the song "Sentir", but lost to

María Isabel María Isabel López Rodríguez (born 4 January 1995), known professionally as María Isabel, is a Spanish singer. She rose to prominence after she won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 for with the song " Antes muerta que sencilla". ...

, who went on to win the European final with the song "

Antes muerta que sencilla "Antes muerta que sencilla" ( English: "I'd rather be dead than plain") is a song composed and written by Spanish singer María Isabel in 2004, when she was nine years old. It in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 held in Lillehammer, winn ...

2009–2016: Auryn

In 2009, Cantó founded the boy band Auryn together with Álvaro Gango, Carlos Marco, David Lafuente and . In 2011, the band participated in '' Destino Eurovisión'', the national selection process organised by TVE to select the Spanish entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

. The band advanced to the national final's top three, but lost in the televote to Lucía Pérez. Auryn went on to gain popularity after their appearance on ''Destino Eurovisión''. The band released their first single "Breathe in the Light" later in 2011, as well as their debut album '' Endless Road, 7058'', both reaching the top 10 of the Spanish Singles and Albums Charts respectively. Their follow-up album ''

Anti-Heroes An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as Ideal (ethics), idealism ...

'' was released in 2013 and went straight to number one on the Spanish Albums Chart and was certified platinum. Their third album '' Circus Avenue'' was preceded by the group's first number one single "Puppeteer", and reached number one on the Spanish Albums Chart where it stayed for 5 consecutive weeks, as well as a platinum certification. The band released their fourth album ''

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'' in December 2015, seven months before going on hiatus.

2016–2017: ''Tu Cara Me Suena''

In July 2016, Cantó was announced to join the cast of the fifth season of television show '' Tu cara me suena'' of the singing show series '' Your Face Sounds Familiar'', in which celebrity contestants impersonate a different iconic music artist on stage each week. Shortly after, Auryn announced that they were going into hiatus, as various members of the band, including Cantó, were expecting to launch solo projects. The fifth season of ''Tu cara me suena'' premiered on Antena 3 on 7 October 2016. In the season finale that took place on 3 March 2017, he was declared the winner with 55% of the televote. Performances

2017–present: Solo career

After signing to Warner Music Spain, Cantó released his debut solo single " In Your Bed" on 3 March 2017, the same day as the finale of ''Tu Cara Me Suena''. On 9 March 2018, Cantó released his first solo Spanish-language single, "

Él no soy yo is a song by Spanish singer Blas Cantó. It was released as a digital download and for streaming on 9 March 2018, as the third single from Cantó's debut studio album '' Complicado''. The song was written by Antonio Rayo, Leroy Sanchez, Manuel ...

". The single went on to achieve a PROMUSICAE platinum certification. Cantó released his debut solo album, titled '' Complicado'', on 14 September 2018, and debuted atop the Spanish Albums Chart. On 5 October 2019, TVE announced Cantó as the Spanish entrant at the

. He was going to compete with the song "

". After the contest was cancelled, TVE announced that Cantó would represent Spain at the

. On 29 June 2021, following his participation at Eurovision, Cantó released the single "Americana" featuring the Californian band

Echosmith Echosmith is an American indie pop band formed in February 2006 in Chino, California. Originally formed as a quartet of siblings, the band currently consists of Sydney, Noah, and Graham Sierota, following the departure of eldest sibling Jamie in ...

. The official video of the single was released the same day on his official YouTube channel. One month later, a lyric video of the song was released, this version as a solo single with lyrics fully in Spanish.

Eurovision Song Contest

2020

On 5 October 2019, TVE announced Cantó as the Spanish entrant at the

. He was going to compete with the song "

". After the contest was cancelled due to the coronavirus global pandemic, TVE announced that Cantó would represent Spain at the

2021

For the 2021 finals, titled "Destino Eurovisión 2021", he has proposed various songs and two were chosen for the final to be picked from: "Memoria" and " Voy a quedarme". The final was held on 20 February 2021, with "Voy a quedarme" winning and being chosen to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. In the final on 22 May 2021, he placed 24th out of 26, scoring 6 points.

Discography

Albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantó, Blas Living people 1991 births Warner Music Spain artists People from Murcia Singers from the Region of Murcia Spanish LGBTQ singers English-language singers from Spain Spanish male songwriters 21st-century Spanish male singers 21st-century Spanish singer-songwriters Eurovision Song Contest entrants