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Alex Cuba is a multiple La4n Grammy/Grammy/Juno winning singer, songwriter, producer and musician, born Alexis Puentes in Artemisa, Cuba. His ?rst musical memory was playing claves (a Cuban rhythm instrument) at the age of 4 alongside his father on national TV, and went on to study guitar, then electric and upright bass, touring and recording nationally and internationally. His sound is the unique con?uence of tradition and global in?uences and his career is a coherent development of an immaculate creative. His 2022 Grammy Win for Best Latin Pop for “Mendó” as producer, artist and engineer pays tribute to Alex Cuba’s voice like melted chocolate and cosmopolitan song writing that engage the listener on a deep level.
In 1999, Alex moved to Victoria, Canada, where he recorded an album, “Morumba Cubana”, alongde his twin brother Adonis, as The Puentes Brothers. Alex went on to record his solo debut album “Humo De Tobaco” in which earned him a Juno award for World Music Album of the Year in 2006. Followed by “Agua Del Pozo”, in 2007 which also earned him another Juno award for World Music Album of the Year in 2008. From there, Alex released his third album, a self-titled project Alex Cuba in 2009 taking home the award for Best New Artist at the 2010 Latin Grammy Awards, where it was also nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Album and followed by a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album in 2011, the year he took home a BMI Latin Award for his song-writing on Nelly Furtado’s #1 Spanish hit “Manos Al Aire”. In 2012, Alex released Ruido En El Sistema, receiving his second Socan Hagood Hardy Award for outstanding achievement in Jazz and World Music. He also won his second Latin Grammy Award – this time as a songwriter, alongside co-writer Yoel Henriquez received the award for Best Tropical Song for the Milly Quezada’s single, “Toma Mi Vida”feat. Juan Luis Guerra. In 2013, he again brought home a Latin Grammy for the video “Eres Tu” from “Ruido En El Sistema”, a video produced entirely in his hometown of Smithers.
Alex Cuba’s 5th studio album, Healer, which traded in horns for guitars and vocal harmonies. With ?ve duets with singer songwriters, four being Canadian, Ron Sexsmith, David Myles, Alejandra Ribera and Kuba Oms as well as New Yorker Anya Marina. The album won a Latin Grammy for best Singer-songwriter and nominated for a Grammy as best Latin Pop in 2016.
In 2017, Alex completed his 6th album “Lo Unico Constante”, delving deeper into Alex’s song- writing roots, focusing on nylon string guitar and upright bass. Looking at the “?lin” movement in Cuba of the forties that fused jazz and trova, music that in?uenced his writing style to this day. The album was nominated for both a Latin Grammy for Best Singer-Songwriter and Grammy for Best Latin Pop.
In 2019 Alex Cuba embarked on a completely self-produced/arranged collection of songs featuring 5 collaborations, this time with Latin American singer songwriters, and expressing a genre he refers to as Latin-Americana recorded in Gibsons BC with John “Beetle” Bailey and mixed at John’s Drive Shed studio in Ontario. The album received a Latin Grammy Nomination and performance at the televised Award Show in Miami November 2020.
By 2021, Alex was recording at home and adding recording engineer to his credits as musician, singer-songwriter, producer. The second album boasts Alex recording all instruments and
inviting collaborations to the songs, from the healing voice of Grammy Award winning Lila Downs on “Mundo Nuevo”, to his colourful collaboration with world-renowned ?amenco artist, Antonio Carmona, and commissioning a 13-piece horn band from his native country of Cuba, Alex’s vibrant eighth studio album, “Mendó”, took home the 2022 Grammy for best Latin Pop Album! It was Alex Cuba’s 4th nomination and ?rst win, a tremendous accomplishment for an independent artist and his most proud moment for an album made in his living room during the year no one could travel.
In 2023, Alex had a rush of creation in producing and releasing a young Flamenco singer- songwriter, Aaron Miguel’s Sé and pulng out his own “El Swing Que Yo Tengo” in May. He started performing in the US again and recorded NPR’s Tiny Desk concert, looking to the next projects including a mini-documentary and album, “Voces De Mi Familia” celebrating the musical roots of his family, and and of course new music and songs recorded in his studio
His musical evolution for years was all about searching for the simplicity and soul in Cuban music – taking apart the complex arrangements, mixing it with North American in?uences, adopting the melodic simplicity of pop music, looking to Cuban folk traditions for inspiration – he’s always exploring, always creating something fresh and new, and always, it seems, gelng it just right.
“I always believed, from the beginning of my career in Canada, that if music is beautiful, it will cross the language. Because we are all humans.” Alex Cuba
He's like Marvin Gaye singing soul to a new generation Boston Globe"
He's like Marvin Gaye singing soul to a new generation