Gonzalo Yañez

Gonzalo Yañez, a guitarist and Latin pop artist hailing from Chile, built an international profile both through his own releases and through partnerships with fellow musicians. He entered the world on May 8, 1983, in Montevideo, Uruguay, before relocating to Chile in 1995 and establishing himself in Santiago. Near the start of the new millennium he assembled the group No Me Acuerdo alongside fellow students; the lineup featured Yañez on vocals and guitar, Rodrigo Jeldres on guitar, Lucas Márquez on guitar and keyboard, Francisco Díaz on bass, and Rodrigo Bob Letelier on drums. The ensemble issued its first full-length effort, Nada Que Perder, via Warner Music in 2001. Shortly afterward No Me Acuerdo enlisted Los Prisioneros frontman Jorge González to helm the single “Cada Día Más” and the matching EP that appeared on Warner Music in 2003. Although the band dissolved prior to finishing a follow-up album, Yañez completed the project independently and issued it in 2004 on Warner Music under his own name as his inaugural solo long-player. González also recruited him to contribute to the storied Chilean rock outfit’s later comeback release, Manzana (2004), and to the subsequent tour across the Americas. At the same time Yañez began lending his production and songwriting skills to outside projects, beginning with Argentine pop singer María Jimena Pereyra’s Esa Luz (2004) and continuing with Ximena Abarca’s Provocación (2006), Kel’s No Molestar! (2008), Denise Rosenthal’s El Blog de la Feña (2008), Uruz’s self-titled album (2008), and additional efforts. He returned to his solo path in 2005 with the four-track EP Me Hiciste Pagar, issued on La Oreja, then unveiled his second solo album, De Ida y Vuelta, on the same imprint the next year. His third album, Dispara, surfaced in 2008 through the Chilean label Feria Music and was reissued that year for wider distribution by the American imprint Nacional Records under the title Gonzalo Yañez.