KALIMBA

Mexican pop-R&B vocalist Kalimba, born Kalimba Marichal Ibar on July 26, 1982, in Mexico City, entered the performance arena while still a child. Drawn to multiple musical idioms, he also accepted acting roles at an unusually early stage. His screen career quickly expanded, yielding appearances in the telenovela Carrusel de las Americas as well as the theatrical part of Simba in The Lion King. At age 11 he shifted his primary focus to music, which soon placed him in La Onda Vaselina, one of Mexico’s most successful youth pop groups. After a temporary turn toward athletics, he resumed his pop trajectory, first with La Onda and later with OV7, the same ensemble reconfigured for a modestly older listenership. Those sustained years of activity made him a familiar and warmly regarded figure among Latino adolescents. In 2004, at age 21, he issued his first solo album, Aerosoul, which earned strong critical notice alongside solid commercial results; its single “Tocando Fondo” reached several Billboard Latin charts.