Biography
Fito Páez, born Rodolfo Páez on March 13, 1963, in Rosario, Argentina, works as a singer, songwriter, author, and film director. He helped establish the politically charged artist collective La Trova Rosarina and ranks among the most cherished icons in Argentine rock. Regional success arrived throughout the 1980s, yet international recognition followed the 1992 release of El Amor Después del Amor, the highest-selling rock album ever issued in Argentina. After sustained pop-chart dominance, he shifted back toward rock on the 2006 Latin Grammy winner El Mundo Cabe en una Canción. In 2007 he wrote and directed the acclaimed feature De Quién es el Portaligas?. Two years later he headlined the Bicentennial Revolución de Mayo on its principal stage, delivering a two-hour set to an audience of two million. The experimental double album La Ciudad Liberada appeared in 2017, succeeded in 2020 by the star-studded La Conquista del Espacio and by the autobiographical Los Años Salvajes the following year.
At age thirteen Páez formed his debut group, Staff. He joined El Banquette alongside Rubén Goldín and Jorge Llonch in 1977, then began solo pub performances the next year. Immediately after graduation he toured with assorted bands and issued his first solo LP, 1984’s Del ’63, initially promoted in Rosario before gaining critical and radio traction in Buenos Aires. Prominent Argentine musicians Daniel Wirtz, Fabián Gallardo, Tweety González, and Paul Dorge contributed to the sessions, earning Páez early respect as a composer and paving the way for 1985’s Giros.
Its demo drew praise from Luis Alberto Spinetta, who soon partnered with Páez on the 1986 double album La La La; the pair toured Latin America in support. That same year Páez joined Spinetta, Juan Carlos Baglietto, Silvina Garré, and Antonio Tarragó Ros at the Thousand Days of Democracy Festival. Ciudad de Pobres Corazones, released in 1987 and dedicated to his slain aunt and grandmother, adopted a stark political stance while displaying richer songwriting and bolder polyrhythmic exploration.
Páez first handled production duties on 1988’s Ey, recorded in New York and Havana with Guillermo Vadalá, Guillermo Colombres, Osvaldo Fattoruso, and the brass and reed sections of Afrocuba; the set proved one of his most even-handed efforts. Tercer Mundo followed in 1990, examining Latin American cultural roots alongside themes of poverty and exploitation.
El Amor Después del Amor, issued in 1992, became Páez’s global breakthrough and commercial apex, moving several million copies. Arena shows during its tour regularly sold out to crowds exceeding 40,000, and a subsequent UNICEF benefit concert raised more than $420,000. Phil Manzanera produced the follow-up, Circo Beat, which yielded the hits “Mariposa Tecknicolor” and “Tema de Piluso”; a companion release, Circo Beat Brazil, offered Brazilian remixes. In 1994 Páez made his directorial debut with La Balada de Donna Helena. Later ’90s projects included the charting acoustic album Euforia and 1998’s Sabrina & Páez: Enemios Intimos.
Phil Ramone produced 2000’s Abre, whose orchestral settings highlighted Páez’s vocals and earned him his first Latin Grammy Awards while topping charts across several countries. During a tour break that November, Páez and Ramone cut the thirteen-track Rey Sol in Miami. In 2001 Páez wrote, directed, and produced Vidas Privadas, starring then-wife Cecilia Roth; the couple separated later that year.
Naturaleza Sangre, released in 2004, returned to roots-rock with guest appearances by Charly García, Luis Alberto Spinetta, and Brazil’s Rita Lee. The nearly symphonic acoustic set Moda y Pueblo arrived in 2005, opening with Páez’s musical setting of Federico García Lorca’s “Romance de la Pena Negra.” El Mundo Cabe en una Canción won the Latin Grammy for Best Rock Solo Vocal Album and earned gold certification. The 2007 album Rodolfo presented Páez accompanied chiefly by piano, balanced by two instrumentals; it reached Argentina’s Top Ten and secured another Latin Grammy for Best Singer/Songwriter Album. That year he also wrote, directed, and produced the hit comedy De Quién Es el Portaligas?. After a two-year tour he collaborated with producer Liminha in Brazil, resulting in 2010’s Confia. Canciones Para Aliens, issued the next year, collected covers by and associated with Victor Jara, Nino Bravo, Queen, and Charly García; the Music to Space project later beamed the album into space via electromagnetic waves.
In 2012 Páez marked the twentieth anniversary of El Amor Después del Amor with a concert tour and live recording. The following year he published his first novel, La Puta Diabla, and issued three separate albums celebrating his fiftieth birthday. El Sacrificio premiered at a September concert, followed by the benefit album Dreaming Rosario in October, with all proceeds donated to victims of Rosario’s gas explosions. November brought the love-song collection Yo Te Amo. In 2014 he released the tribute Rock & Roll Revolution honoring García. Liminha returned as producer for 2015’s Locura Total, recorded across Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Miami in collaboration with Brazilian artist Paulinho Moska; the pair toured South America in support. The electronically enhanced double album La Ciudad Liberada, containing eighteen tracks, topped the Argentine charts in 2017 despite controversy over its cover art portraying Páez as a nude woman. The next year he published his second novel, Los Días de Kirchner, and scored brother-in-law Juan Pablo Kolodziej’s film Camino Sinuoso, which starred his wife, Eugenia Kolodziej.
Early in 2019 Páez traveled to Los Angeles to work with co-producers Gustavo Borner and Diego Olivero, enlisting drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., percussionist Lenny Castro, bassist Guillermo Vadalá, a horn section, the Nashville Recording Orchestra, singer Lali Espósito, and keyboardist Hernán Coronel of Mala Fama. The resulting La Conquista del Espacio appeared at the close of 2020, reached Argentina’s Top Five, charted inside the Top Ten on the Top Latin Albums and streaming lists, and captured the Carlos Gardel de Oro Award plus two Latin Grammys: Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album and Best Pop/Rock Song for “La Canción de las Bestias.” His twenty-seventh studio album, the autobiographical Los Años Salvajes, arrived in November 2021; later that month the Latin Grammy Foundation presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
At age thirteen Páez formed his debut group, Staff. He joined El Banquette alongside Rubén Goldín and Jorge Llonch in 1977, then began solo pub performances the next year. Immediately after graduation he toured with assorted bands and issued his first solo LP, 1984’s Del ’63, initially promoted in Rosario before gaining critical and radio traction in Buenos Aires. Prominent Argentine musicians Daniel Wirtz, Fabián Gallardo, Tweety González, and Paul Dorge contributed to the sessions, earning Páez early respect as a composer and paving the way for 1985’s Giros.
Its demo drew praise from Luis Alberto Spinetta, who soon partnered with Páez on the 1986 double album La La La; the pair toured Latin America in support. That same year Páez joined Spinetta, Juan Carlos Baglietto, Silvina Garré, and Antonio Tarragó Ros at the Thousand Days of Democracy Festival. Ciudad de Pobres Corazones, released in 1987 and dedicated to his slain aunt and grandmother, adopted a stark political stance while displaying richer songwriting and bolder polyrhythmic exploration.
Páez first handled production duties on 1988’s Ey, recorded in New York and Havana with Guillermo Vadalá, Guillermo Colombres, Osvaldo Fattoruso, and the brass and reed sections of Afrocuba; the set proved one of his most even-handed efforts. Tercer Mundo followed in 1990, examining Latin American cultural roots alongside themes of poverty and exploitation.
El Amor Después del Amor, issued in 1992, became Páez’s global breakthrough and commercial apex, moving several million copies. Arena shows during its tour regularly sold out to crowds exceeding 40,000, and a subsequent UNICEF benefit concert raised more than $420,000. Phil Manzanera produced the follow-up, Circo Beat, which yielded the hits “Mariposa Tecknicolor” and “Tema de Piluso”; a companion release, Circo Beat Brazil, offered Brazilian remixes. In 1994 Páez made his directorial debut with La Balada de Donna Helena. Later ’90s projects included the charting acoustic album Euforia and 1998’s Sabrina & Páez: Enemios Intimos.
Phil Ramone produced 2000’s Abre, whose orchestral settings highlighted Páez’s vocals and earned him his first Latin Grammy Awards while topping charts across several countries. During a tour break that November, Páez and Ramone cut the thirteen-track Rey Sol in Miami. In 2001 Páez wrote, directed, and produced Vidas Privadas, starring then-wife Cecilia Roth; the couple separated later that year.
Naturaleza Sangre, released in 2004, returned to roots-rock with guest appearances by Charly García, Luis Alberto Spinetta, and Brazil’s Rita Lee. The nearly symphonic acoustic set Moda y Pueblo arrived in 2005, opening with Páez’s musical setting of Federico García Lorca’s “Romance de la Pena Negra.” El Mundo Cabe en una Canción won the Latin Grammy for Best Rock Solo Vocal Album and earned gold certification. The 2007 album Rodolfo presented Páez accompanied chiefly by piano, balanced by two instrumentals; it reached Argentina’s Top Ten and secured another Latin Grammy for Best Singer/Songwriter Album. That year he also wrote, directed, and produced the hit comedy De Quién Es el Portaligas?. After a two-year tour he collaborated with producer Liminha in Brazil, resulting in 2010’s Confia. Canciones Para Aliens, issued the next year, collected covers by and associated with Victor Jara, Nino Bravo, Queen, and Charly García; the Music to Space project later beamed the album into space via electromagnetic waves.
In 2012 Páez marked the twentieth anniversary of El Amor Después del Amor with a concert tour and live recording. The following year he published his first novel, La Puta Diabla, and issued three separate albums celebrating his fiftieth birthday. El Sacrificio premiered at a September concert, followed by the benefit album Dreaming Rosario in October, with all proceeds donated to victims of Rosario’s gas explosions. November brought the love-song collection Yo Te Amo. In 2014 he released the tribute Rock & Roll Revolution honoring García. Liminha returned as producer for 2015’s Locura Total, recorded across Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Miami in collaboration with Brazilian artist Paulinho Moska; the pair toured South America in support. The electronically enhanced double album La Ciudad Liberada, containing eighteen tracks, topped the Argentine charts in 2017 despite controversy over its cover art portraying Páez as a nude woman. The next year he published his second novel, Los Días de Kirchner, and scored brother-in-law Juan Pablo Kolodziej’s film Camino Sinuoso, which starred his wife, Eugenia Kolodziej.
Early in 2019 Páez traveled to Los Angeles to work with co-producers Gustavo Borner and Diego Olivero, enlisting drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., percussionist Lenny Castro, bassist Guillermo Vadalá, a horn section, the Nashville Recording Orchestra, singer Lali Espósito, and keyboardist Hernán Coronel of Mala Fama. The resulting La Conquista del Espacio appeared at the close of 2020, reached Argentina’s Top Five, charted inside the Top Ten on the Top Latin Albums and streaming lists, and captured the Carlos Gardel de Oro Award plus two Latin Grammys: Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album and Best Pop/Rock Song for “La Canción de las Bestias.” His twenty-seventh studio album, the autobiographical Los Años Salvajes, arrived in November 2021; later that month the Latin Grammy Foundation presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Albums
Lucha Rock
2012
Musicos Poetas Y Locos
2003
Incomparables
2000
Coleccion Aniversario
1999
Lo Mejor De Los Mejores
1995
Cronica
1990
Ey!
1988
Ciudad De Pobres Corazones
1987
Giros
1985
Del 63
1984
Singles
