Juan Fernando Velasco (born January 17, 1972, in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

) is an

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians () are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...

musician.

Biography

Juan Fernando Velasco was born January 17, 1972, in

, Ecuador. He has had three albums in which some of the most popular songs are Ecuadorian Pasillo.

Second album

In 2002, Velasco released his second album, ''Tanto amor''. The album reached

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

status in

and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and also was a success in other countries. The songs "Chao Lola", "Dicen", "Hoy que no estás", "Si alguna vez te amé", and "Salud" were in the first places on the charts in Ecuador, Colombia,

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

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and

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. In 2004, he received the "Orden Vicente Rocafuerte" – the highest award granted by the Ecuadorian government to an artist. He was also named "Peace Ambassador" by the Interamerican Platform of Human Rights.

Initial works

Velasco's music career started when he, together with some school friends, created the band "Tercer Mundo" (Third World), which became well known in Ecuador. After ten years with the band, he decided to continue his career alone. In 1999 he released his first solo album, ''Para que no me olvides''. The album became an instant success, qualified for the Viña del Mar festival in Chile, and was later certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. The song "Para que no me olvides" became a hit in

Present

Since 2005, Velasco lives in Miami. In 2007, he released his third album called ''A tu lado''. The album features contributions by Jorge Villamizar (ex member of the group Bacilos) and the rapper Gerardo Mejía and the participation of well-known musicians and engineers like Pichón Dal Mont, Mario Breuer,

Xavier Garza Xavier Garza (born 14 October 1968) is an author and illustrator of children's books and professor of art at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio. Life and career Xavier Garza was born in Rio Grande City in Texas's Lower Rio Grande Valley in 1 ...

, Carlos Villavicencio and the Grammy award-winning producer Andrés Castro. The disc was nominated in 2007 for the MTV Latin Awards (Mexico, October 18, 2007) and also for the Latin Grammy Awards (Las Vegas, November 8, 2007). Invited by Juanes, Velasco was one of seven musicians who participated in the Concert "Paz Sin Fronteras", together with Miguel Bosé, Juan Luis Guerra, Ricardo Montaner, Alejandro Sanz and Carlos Vives. The concert took place on March 16, 2008, at the Simon Bolivar bridge in Cucuta, on the border between Colombia and Venezuela.

Discography

Albums

''Para que no me olvides'' (1999, Union Music)

#"Lo que tu silencio otorga" #"Dejame" #"Me voy" #"Son uno mismo" #"A donde vas" #"Se van" #"Para que no me olvides" #"Reina" #"Galaxia azul" #"Latinoamerica"

''Tanto amor'' (2002, Union Music)

#"Hoy que no estas" #"Chao Lola" #"Dicen" #"Si alguna vez te ame" #"De rodar y rodar" #"Tarjetitas" #"El aguacate" #"Tanto amor" #"A tajitos de caña" #"Dame un instante" #"Angel de luz" #"Salud"

''A tu lado'' (2007, Union Music)

#"A tu lado" #"Yo naci aqui" #"Se que te iras" #"Frente a frente" #"Si te pierdo" #"Cancion de las simples cosas" #"El alma en los labios" #"Sueños al hombro" #"Nunca" #"No te escuche" #"Si no pudiera estar" #"Frente a frente" (remix) Gerardo Mejia

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velasco, Juan Fernando Living people 1972 births Musicians from Quito Ecuadorian people of Spanish descent 21st-century Ecuadorian male singers