Joss Favela

Sinaloan Joss Favela has established himself as both a charting recording artist and an award-winning songwriter whose command of Mexican folk traditions extends across banda and norteño styles. He captured the Composer of the Year honor from ASCAP at an earlier age than any previous recipient and has earned multiple Latin Grammy nominations. Although he entered the studio at 13, Favela first built his reputation by producing and penning material for leading Mexican Regional figures such as Gerardo Ortiz, Alejandro Fernandez, and La Banda el Recodo. His 2016 release Hecho a Mano received a 2017 Grammy nomination in the Best Regional Mexican Music Album category.

Born in Culiacan in December 1990, Favela picked up the guitar at nine and began composing at twelve. During his early teens he won a contest that led to an appearance on the Televisa reality program Código Fama; the audience reaction prompted a recording deal. Over the following two years he issued the banda collection La Reynalda and the norteño ballad set Andar Conmigo. At fifteen he relocated to Monterrey, joined the pop trio 3Ball Mty alongside Antonio Hernandez and Erick Rincón, and concentrated on songwriting. Throughout the next decade his compositions appeared in Mexican television and film while also being cut by Los Recoditos, Noel Torres, Gerardo Ortiz and Kevin Ortiz, Larry Hernandez, La Arrolladora Banda el Limón, and Banda el Recodo, each becoming a chart success. Favela secured two ASCAP trophies, including the Composer of the Year prize in 2015—the youngest artist to achieve it—and had collected the award three times by age twenty-seven, in addition to his Latin Grammy nominations.

Late in 2015 he resumed his own recording career under a Sony contract with the single “Me Gusta Verte Arrepentida,” which rose to number twenty-five on the Regional Mexican Songs chart and entered the streaming top twenty. The follow-up “Cuando Fuimos Nada,” released early in 2016, climbed to number twenty and set the stage for the August arrival of Hecho a Mano, which reached number six on the Mexican Regional Albums chart. In subsequent years he balanced touring and outside writing with additional top-twenty singles such as “No Vuelvas a Llamarme” and “Porque No Te Enamoras” in 2017 and “Me Hubieras Dicho” in 2018. After a four-year gap, Favela delivered his second Sony album, Caminando, in June 2019; he wrote every one of its thirteen tracks and handled production duties, enlisting El Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan on two selections and featuring Becky G on “Pienso en Ti.” The project peaked at number eighteen on the Mexican Regional Albums chart.