Biography:

Having sold more than 5.500.000 albums worldwide, LOVG is the most international Spanish group of the moment .
Not just 5.500.000 sales, which they achieved based on hard work and above all on good songs, but also the enormous public success and massive media interest they arouse in each country, city and town they reach with their songs and concerts, have taken La oreja de Van Gogh to the summit of international Spanish Pop.
The millions of sales of their albums: 57 Platinum Discs, 13 Gold Discs worldwide; and the awards: Ondas Awards (1998- 2003), Musica Awards (1999 - 2003), Amigo Award (1999), International MTV Award for Best Spanish Artist (2001), MTV Latino Award for Best Group (2004), Gold and Silver Torch, The prestigious ‘Seagull’ and the Popular Award at the Viña del Mar Festival (2005) etc. are the best example of the international recognition that La Oreja de Van Gogh have acquired, this group of young people from Northern Spain who played together at University and in local bars for their friends in 1996, before winning the San Sebastian Pop Rock Festival in 1997.
Their unique musical style and the unmistakeable voice of Amaia, their singer, have been enlisted by other artists in collaborations on songs such as "Sin Miedo a Nada" with Alex Ubago, "Puede Ser" with El Canto del Loco, or the cover of "París - Dernier Rendez-Vous" in French with Pablo Villafranca. Their latest collaborations have been for a Tribute to Pablo Neruda, a Trubute to Duncan Dhu and Alejandro Fernandez’s album "Mexico-Madrid en Directo".
After years of intense touring (Musica Award for Best Tour 2003), and the release of their 3rd album "Lo Que Te Conté Mientras Te Hacías la Dormida" in April 2003, the flow of Gold and Platinum Discs was never-ending, even in countries as difficult to break as USA, Mexico, Argentina etc…and then of course, there have been the International Tours: Spain, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala. On 30th September 2004 they played at the mythical Olympia in Paris, after their sold-out show in La Cigale, and the group continue to win fans in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.
Also tours in Mexico and USA, where they performed in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Chicago, Puerto Rico, Phoenix and Texas after their album "Lo Que te Conté Mientras Te Hacías La Dormida" went Platinum in the USA.
More concerts in America followed in April 2005 and from there they travelled to Japan to play a sold-out show in Tokyo on 25th July 2005…..
….. and Now…. “guapa”

La Oreja de Van Gogh presents guapa, their new album celebrating the 10th anniversary of the group’s formation

“guapa (Beautiful) is the story of a person who refuses to give up on the marvellous journey to find themself”, writes La Oreja de Van Gogh in the insert for guapa, their fourth studio album. Ten years have passed since Pablo Benegas, Xabi San Martín, Álvaro Fuentes and Haritz Garde persuaded Amaia Montero to become the voice of a group which was just starting out, and which could offer her little more than a dream. Today, a decade later, LOVG has sold five million albums all over the world and been awarded 25 Platinum Discs in Spain and 26 in America, with a discography which is both select and impeccable: three studio records, a live album and a DVD.

guapa is a special album combining as it does elements of anniversary, celebration and culmination. True to their previous style of working, LOVG has not rushed into guapa (their last record, Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida, came out in 2003); they have worked calmly and the meticulous care taken in the composition, arrangements and recording have once again produced fantastic results: a dozen new songs faithful to a style which has set the tone for Spanish pop over the last decade. guapa is a stronger LOVG, tougher in the way the songs are treated, with the maturity that comes with time and demonstrating a serious and coherent attitude. guapa contains the musical hallmarks of the band from San Sebastián which have given each of their songs a unique identity. guapa is LOVG with more energy than ever.

The album opens with Noche (Night, “Son tan fuertes mis latidos, que el sonido de mi voz no se escucha cuando a gritos pide que me haga mayor” – “My heart beats so loudly that it drowns out the sound of my voice crying out for me to grow”), a medium tempo in the style of LOVG rock. The first single of the album is Muñeca de trapo (Rag Doll “Me abrazaría al diablo sin dudar, por ver tu cara al escucharme hablar” – “I would embrace the devil just to see your face as you listen to my words”), which starts off with the voice of Amaia shrouded in synthesizers and a crescendo leading to a chorus full of energy and backed by harsh, distorted guitars. A strong song, halfway between ballad and medium tempo, dealing with the themes which recur throughout the album: silence, lack of communication, the lost, the impossible... a bridge which links guapa with the previous work of LOVG.

Dulce locura (Sweet madness, “Vendo el inventario de recuerdos de la historia más bonita que en la vida escuché” – “I sell the stock of memories of the most beautiful story I ever heard”) is another song of longing which mixes a classically phrased piano with the intensity of rock. Perdida (Lost, “Yo crucé la línea blanca un día, fue una noche con su amanecer. Puse un par de rombos en mi vida, hice un viaje al mundo que no ves” – “I crossed the white line one day, it was a night turning to dawn. I placed a sign upon my life and travelled to the world you do not see”) has a certain gospel air before changing to dramatic pop style. Vuelve (Come back, “Un cumpleaños más sin ti, un regalo sin abrir” – “Another birthday without you, another unopened present”) maintains the level of intensity and deals with abandonment over a base of distorted guitars and synthesizers. Escapar (Escape, “De pronto tú, y mi reloj vuelve a marcar el tiempo. De pronto yo, y tú tan guapo que ni sabes verlo” - “Suddenly you, and once again my watch marks time. Suddenly me, and you so handsome you don’t even see it”) is a song of hope combining reggae and pop, a seal of identity on all LOVG records.

The halfway point on guapa comes with Irreversible (“Como hacer un surco en un vinilo o pintar un trazo en un Van Gogh, mi corazón se ha vuelto irreversible desde el momento que el destino lo marcó” - “Like scoring a groove on a vinyl record or a painting a brush stroke on a Van Gogh, there is no turning back for my heart since the moment it was touched by fate”), a ballad which starts off with acoustic guitars and tremolo which give it a classical feel. A diez centímetros de ti (Ten centimetres away from you, “A diez centímetros de ti, a diez años luz de mañana, que importan las ciencias exactas si tú and yo somos así” – “Ten centimetres away from you, ten light years away from tomorrow, what does science matter if this is the way we are”) shows LOVG’s more electronic and dynamic side, but is also seasoned with rock. The song V.O.S. (Original language with subtitles, “Si algún día nos cruzamos, no respondas ni hagas caso a los subtítulos que bajo mi sonrisa sabes ver” - “If we should meet one day, do not respond or pay heed to the subtitles you see below my smile”) has a free and easy style with a certain aroma of old cabaret, of the seventies. Apareces tú (And you appear, “Y de repente apareces tú, mientras me hablas hago que estoy dormida” - “And suddenly you appear, and while you talk to me I pretend to be asleep”) has a certain flavour of the sixties in the chorus, while Manhattan (“Sola en el hotel de la calle del Perdón, los recuerdos con espinas dirán que te he roto el corazón” – “Alone in the hotel on the street of Forgiveness, the memories with thorns will say I broke your heart”) begins with Bacharach-style harmonies which lead to a rock overlaid with frontier melancholy. And the album finishes with Mi vida sin ti (My life without you, “Un día más vuelve a empezar, duerme la luna en San Sebastián. Busco café, oigo llover and pienso en ti” – “Yet another day begins, the moon sleeps in San Sebastián. I look for a place to have a coffee, I hear the rain and think of you”), which begins with a bossa nova rythmn and ends in dance style with a flavour of the sea. This is the end of guapa which, as with other LOVG albums, has a hidden surprise. Cuantos cuentos cuento (How many tales I tell, “Y es que a veces no puedo evitar que se escapen volando mis mil mariposas que sueñan contigo a diario” – “Sometimes I cannot stop my thousands of butterflies that dream of you each day from flying away”), is a true Mexican-style folk song, with mariachi and accordion included, which unites feelings and cultures.

Produced by Nigel Walker and La Oreja de Van Gogh and recorded in France and Spain, guapa presents 12 new songs and is one of the most long-awaited albums of recent years in Spain and America, where Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Central America, Ecuador, The United States, Mexico and Venezuela have certified the extent of the group’s popularity with Platinum Discs. From a group which is celebrating ten years of hits, this new album is the strongest and most powerful of their career, and is dedicated to others who have been true to their dreams and hopes. Because, as LOVG says, guapa “is the story of a person who makes time a secret ally which, each morning in front of the mirror of the soul, will make them feel just that little bit more beautiful”.