Leiva

Spain

Bio

Since launching his solo career, Leiva has established himself as an essential songwriter in the Spanish-language rock scene, with a personal style that remains true to himself and has turned his music into a genre of reference. Behind this public and professional recognition—earned step by step—lie years of unwavering faith and constant hard work, a sharp compositional spark, a deep passion for music, and a kind of magic that only the greats possess.

Leiva has been closely linked to music since his adolescence, starting with Malahierba, his first band. That project gave him the necessary footing to later join forces with his neighbors Rubén Pozo and Tuli to form Pereza, the band with which he made his recording debut in 2001 with their self-titled album.
The meteoric rise of Pereza—later reconfigured as a duo (Rubén Pozo and Leiva)—became particularly notable from their third album, Animales (2005). This was followed by two pivotal records, Aproximaciones (2007) and Aviones (2009), which reflected Leiva’s maturity as a songwriter of timeless songs deeply rooted in popular culture, such as “Lady Madrid” and “Estrella Polar.” During this golden period, Pereza sold out the iconic Las Ventas arena in Madrid, and after the successful Aviones tour, Leiva and Rubén decided to pursue their respective solo careers.

Leiva began his solo project in 2012 with the release of Diciembre, his debut album, which won Rolling Stone magazine’s Album of the Year award. It was followed by Pólvora (2014), a commercial success in Spain whose tour took him to two of Argentina’s most important festivals—Cosquín Rock and Lollapalooza Argentina—and to a particularly emotional milestone when he opened for The Rolling Stones at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. These first two albums eventually achieved Platinum and Double Platinum certification, respectively. With his next release, Monstruos (2016), he continued to earn Latin Grammy nominations, and strong sales quickly led to Platinum status, marking the full consolidation of his solo career. The tour opened with his first sold-out show at Madrid’s WiZink Center and included stops in Mexico (for the first time) and Argentina.

His work as a producer reached a turning point in 2017 with 11, the album by Argentine artist Abel Pintos, co-produced by Leiva, and Lo niego todo, the most recent studio album to date by the universally acclaimed Joaquín Sabina. Since then, Leiva has worked closely with Sabina on the production and much of the songwriting of his new music. During the Lo niego todo tour, Leiva opened for Sabina at three legendary venues: London’s Royal Albert Hall, Paris’s Olympia, and Buenos Aires’ Luna Park.

Over the years, Leiva’s songwriting talent has been sought after by many prominent Latin American artists for whom he has written songs, including Bunbury, Joaquín Sabina, Ximena Sariñana, Gaby Moreno, Kany García, Rosario Flores, Iván Ferreiro, and Loquillo, among others. He has also taken part in numerous collaborations, such as a cover of Aute’s “Slowly” alongside Mexican artist Natalia Lafourcade—whom he joined onstage at the renowned Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL)—and “Sixteen,” with Fito Cabrales and Carlos Tarque.
The film world has also called on his artistic skills. He began his work in cinema with the soundtrack for Todo lo que tú quieras (dir. Achero Mañas), continued with Temporal, and fully developed this facet with La llamada (dir. Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo). For this soundtrack, he was nominated for a Gaudí Award in 2018, and its main theme, “La llamada,” earned him his first Goya Award for Best Original Song that same year.

Most recently, Leiva has released “Gigante,” his sixth studio album, is the definitive testament of the Madrid-born artist: an essential self-portrait made up of powerful songs, where naturalness prevails in a balance between solidity and vulnerability, vertigo and abandon. It is a record that reveals the unmistakable creative clarity that runs through him, the fullness of a compositional sensitivity that transports us to a unique, evocative, overwhelming, and deeply emotional universe.