León Rubén Larregui Marín (born December 1, 1973) is a Mexican

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, and producer, best known as the

lead vocalist The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

of the Mexican band Zoé. As a solo artist, he has recorded three

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

: in 2012 he released his debut album "''Solstis''", and four years later, in 2016, he released "''Voluma''". A year after releasing "''Voluma''", he reunited with Zoé to work on the album "''Aztlán''", which was released in 2018. Later, in 2021, Zoé released their most recent album, "''Sonidos de Karmática Resonancia''". In 2023, Larregui released "''Prismarama''", his latest solo album. Just days after its release, he began touring the album in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

throughout the month of May, later continuing in

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 ...

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

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 ...

Early life

León Larregui is the first son of Rubén Larregui del Toro (January 11, 1943 – 2008) and María Jeannina Marín Tomassi (March 20, 1950 – March 8, 2014). Due to his father’s job, the family moved frequently. Larregui spent his early years in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, then lived in

Torreón Torreón () is a city and seat of Torreón Municipality in the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Coahuila. The city's population is 720,848 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in the state of Coahuila. Also Torreón is par ...

, attended middle school in

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...

, and later returned to Mexico City for university. Upon his return to Cuernavaca, he met Sergio Acosta, a musician from Torreón, with whom he would later team up to form what would become the band Zoé. He began studying Visual Arts at the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving "La Esmeralda." At that time, he worked as a graphic animator and was also involved in the

art design Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

for several films during that period. He appeared in the music video for the song “ ''Se quiere, se mata''” by Colombian singer

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

, playing the role of Braulio.

Career

On November 28, 1997, León Larregui, along with Sergio Acosta, Jesús Báez, and Ángel Mosqueda, formed the

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band Zoé. The lyrics of their songs often revolve around spiritual exploration, with

metaphoric A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

references to the

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

(Larregui himself once explained that as a child he wanted to be an

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

) and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

. This lyrical style has been difficult for some listeners to grasp. He also writes songs inspired by fictional stories he creates,

anecdotes An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Anecdotes may be real ...

films A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of Visual arts, visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are gen ...

books A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

, or things he hears. In December 2011, he announced he would take a short break from Zoé but planned to resume work on the band’s next album by mid-year, aiming for a 2013 release. After twenty years with Zoé, he began his solo career in 2012, clarifying that the band would continue. He explained his solo material would be different to avoid competing with the group's sound and announced a debut album for summer 2012. On July 10, the first single, “''Como tú,''” was released on the radio.

Discography

* ''Solstis'' (2012) * ''Voluma'' (2016) * ''Volumixes (EP)'' (2016) * ''Prismarama'' (2023)

References

1973 births Living people Mexican musicians Mexican male composers Latin music songwriters Rock songwriters {{mexico-musician-stub