Ignacio Peña

Born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rican singer/songwriter Ignacio Peña grew up under a strict household in Guaynabo and Santurce. Drawn to prominent rock acts of the early 1980s, the soccer-loving youth set aside football for music despite his parents’ disapproval. He acquired his first guitar in 1987 and introduced himself as a songwriter with the track “Don't Let Me Fall.”

Following studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, the emerging talent turned to jingle production until the chance arose to cut his debut album. Pablo Manavello produced El Mundo Al Revés, which was tracked in Miami and Nashville before Universal Latino issued it after Peña’s December 2000 appearance at Puerto Rico’s Hard Rock Cafe. The following year he achieved international recognition by opening for Neil Young and Oasis in Buenos Aires and sharing the stage with Sting, Maná, and los Amigos Invisibles at the Caracas Pop Festival.