Today December 27, 2015, the versatile Joan Manuel Serrat turns 72. Barcelonian with a Catalan father and Aragonese mother, he began actively in the world of music when he formed a group with three friends at the age of 20. On 1965 was his first appearance in a public broadcast medium, on Radio Barcelona.
Su first full-length album released in 1967. These are years in which the singer-songwriter began to record in Spanish, which caused great controversy in Catalonia. But he goes on and gradually becomes an artist of international stature.
His adventure in America does not bring him immediate success. He had to spend time and visit various cities until he formed a musical quartet in Buenos Aires. The group formed by Gabriel Rosales, Enric Oliva, Enroc López and himself, tours Mexico, Chile, Venezuela and Argentina. Fame was coming little by little, and it earned him the consideration of the “Latin American from Barcelona”.
They were difficult years for him, with challenges to the Franco regime by locking himself in the Monserrat monastery, with ongoing political overtones of his activity, for his popularity worldwide, for his support for Salvador Allende. Despite everything and in the worst moments, he managed to be on the list of the 10 best-selling albums for almost a year, and several weeks as number one, despite having against the censorship of the time.
In 1971 he arrived his most charismatic album, “Mediterráneo”. The following years are of trips and concerts throughout Cuba. After a few years of prohibition, in 1983 Serrat's live music reached Argentina and Uruguay, and in 1990 a Chilean soccer stadium hosted what will be the most emotional concert of his life.
Joan Manuel has never stopped working, composing songs, touring around the world. Among his most emblematic and well-known songs, are “A guitar”, “Mediterranean”, “To live”, “The south also exists”, and many more.