León Larregui

León Larregui commands attention with an airy falsetto that glides naturally over his richly expressive tenor. He first gained renown as the charismatic frontman and guitarist of the Latin Grammy Award-winning Mexican neo psych-rock veterans Zoé, yet he has also built a parallel career as a charting solo artist while lending his voice to projects by numerous leading Latin acts such as Enrique Bunbury, Natalia LaFourcade, Carla Morrison, and Mon Laferte. His compositions blend intricate pop melodies with Latin and rock rhythms, pairing acoustic textures alongside electronic ones. Alongside Morrison he recorded the single “Mensajero,” which climbed the playlists at regional U.S. indie-rock stations, and he shared two duets with Laferte, among them “Rue Vieille Du Temple.” In 2015 he joined Bunbury on the latter’s MTV Unplugged session.

Born in Cuernavaca to a Mexican father and an Italian mother, Larregui relocated repeatedly because of his father’s career—first to Mexico City, then to Torreón, and back to Cuernavaca for high school, where he took up the guitar. He later enrolled at Mexico City’s National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving, earning a degree in plastic arts and animation; there he met future Zoé guitarist Sergio Acosta, another Cuernavaca native. After graduation Larregui worked briefly as a graphic animator in film, but steady employment proved elusive, so he modeled for Armani to cover expenses. During his modeling and acting period he appeared in 1995 as the lead in Shakira’s hit video “Se Quiere, Se Mata.”

Following a concert the pair attended together in 1997, Larregui and Acosta assembled Zoé with Jesús Báez on keyboards and Ángel Mosqueda on bass; drummer Rodrigo Guardiola came aboard shortly afterward. Early progress proved slow: although Sony signed the group, mounting frustrations prompted a temporary split, during which members scored films and produced music for advertisements. Their fortunes shifted in late 2005 when the independent Noiselab label issued the EP The Room, which earned gold certification. The band’s first full-length for the imprint, 2006’s Memo Rex Commander y el Corazón Atómico de la Vía Láctea, debuted at number one on the Mexican charts and later achieved gold status. Two additional successful albums followed before the group moved to EMI for 2009’s Reptilectric Revisitado. Between 2005 and 2011 the members maintained a relentless schedule of tours, self-directed videos, and film and studio work. After releasing the soundtrack to Música de Fondo: MTV Unplugged in 2011, Larregui informed his bandmates that he required a hiatus.

EMI issued his debut solo album, Solstis, in August 2012; it entered the Mexican Top 10 and ultimately received double-platinum certification, driven largely by the second single “Brillas.” Once a brief tour concluded, Larregui rejoined Zoé for 2013’s Prográmaton. Fellow members fully endorsed his solo path, recognizing that the material he wrote for himself diverged sharply from the band’s sound. He maintained his role in Zoé while also touring with Bunbury and other artists and contributing to additional recordings. In 2016 Universal released his second solo LP, Voluma, which incorporated cumbia, ranchera, bossa nova, classic rock, and electronica; the set reached the Top 10 on the Latin pop charts and registered on streaming and download rankings. Later that year EMI issued the remix collection Volumixes, and in 2017 the live album Metropolis appeared on the charts, all while Larregui continued fronting Zoé.