Ezequiel Peña

Mexican Ezequiel Peña grew up in San José del Valle inside a low-income household. Local traditional sounds shaped his early path, prompting him to launch his career at age twelve. International notice arrived in the mid-nineties once he partnered with Marco Antonio Solís for the 1994 album Yo Vendo Unos Ojos Verdes and the 1996 follow-up Orgullo Ranchero. In 1998 he joined Banda Pioneros to record No Mas Contigo. Maintaining a pace of nearly one album annually, he delivered El Nuevo Charro de Mexico in 2000, Viva la Banda in 2003, and El de Nayarit in 2005—the project that first displayed his norteño style—alongside Nuestra Tradicion: La Charreria, a tribute to the Mexican cowboy tradition known as charro. Already viewed as a leading figure in both mariachi and banda, Peña earned a 2007 Grammy nomination in the Best Banda Album category for A Mucha Honra, released the year before.