Guadalajara, MX · latin-rock · pop-rock

Maná

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The biggest Latin rock band there has ever been — three decades of stadium-scale ballads and reggae-tinged rock, singalongs guaranteed in any language.

Maná's roots go back to Sombrero Verde, a band Fher Olvera, Ulises Calleros and Juan Calleros played in around Guadalajara from the mid-1970s until it split in 1983. Three years later they placed a newspaper advertisement for a drummer, which brought in fifteen-year-old Alex González, and the group renamed itself Maná, releasing its debut album on A&M Records in 1987.

The band's music combines straightforward rock arrangements with reggae and ska rhythms, Latin percussion and a strong strain of balladry, later broadening into calypso and pop rock textures. Songs including 'Rayando el Sol,' 'Oye Mi Amor' and 'Clavado en un Bar' became standards across Latin America.

After switching from PolyGram to Warner, 'Rayando el Sol' became the band's first major hit, taken from the album Falta Amor, and Maná toured Latin America more than 250 times behind it. In 1991 keyboardist Iván González and guitarist César 'Vampiro' López joined, while Ulises Calleros stepped back to manage the group.

Their 1992 album ¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños? sold more than ten million copies, becoming the best-selling Spanish-language rock album ever made, and was supported by a 268-date tour across 17 countries. López and González left in 1994, and Cuando los Ángeles Lloran, released the following year, marked a deliberate change in direction.

Later albums included Sueños Líquidos, Revolución de Amor, Amar es Combatir, Drama y Luz and Cama Incendiada, with guitarist Sergio Vallín and bassist Juan Calleros rounding out the current lineup alongside Olvera and González. The band has sold more than 45 million records worldwide, won four Grammy and eight Latin Grammy Awards, and paired that success with long-running environmental campaigning and stadium-scale touring.

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latin-rockpop-rock