La Oreja de Van Gogh

La Oreja de Van Gogh (Spanish pronunciation: [la oˈɾexa ðe βaŋ ˈɡoɣ]; English: "Van Gogh's Ear") is a pop band from San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain. The lyrical themes of their songs typically include love, friendship and relationships. They have released 9 studio albums and have achieved commercial success with the singles "Puedes Contar Conmigo" (2003), "Rosas" (2003), "Muñeca de Trapo (2006), "Dulce Locura" (2006), "El Último Vals" (2008), and "Inmortal" (2009).
The lead singer of the band was Amaia Montero from the formation of the band in 1996 until 2007, when she left to pursue a solo career. From 2008 to 2024, the lead singer of the band was Leire Martínez. The band currently is without a lead singer; a decision on a replacement is pending. The band's lyrics and compositions are written primarily by Xabi San Martín as well as by Pablo Benegas.
The band was formed under the name Los Sin Nombre (The Nameless) in 1996 by four college students from San Sebastián: Xabi San Martín (keyboard), Pablo Benegas (guitar), Álvaro Fuentes (bass guitar) and Haritz Garde (drums). They recorded cover versions of songs from bands such as U2, Pearl Jam and Nirvana, usually with San Martín providing lead vocals.
As they began to write songs, the band wanted to recruit a female lead vocalist. They met Amaia Montero at a friend's party, and after listening to her sing "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinéad O'Connor, Benegas convinced her to join the group. She subsequently became the lead singer of the band. Montero suggested La Oreja de Van Gogh (Van Gogh's Ear) as the name of the band, inspired by the story of Vincent van Gogh severing one of his ears.
The band rose to prominence when it won a local pop-rock music festival in San Sebastian, giving the group the chance to record a 4-song EP. This encouraged the band to send some of their songs to major record companies, with Sony Music-scout Jennifer Ces being the first one interested in the band after listening to only one of the band's songs. She urged them to send her more of their songs to see if they had enough material for an LP. After composing and submitting over 20 tracks in a very short period of time, Ces reacted very positively and signed the band to Epic Records, a subsidiary of Sony.
In 1998, La Oreja de Van Gogh released its debut album Dile al sol (Tell the Sun), produced by Alejo Stivel, earning praise from contemporary critics and performing well in the Spanish Albums Chart. The album sold more than 800,000 copies and was certified 7-time platinum, and the band received an Ondas Award for Best New Act.
The success of the band was further increased with the release of El viaje de Copperpot (Copperpot's Journey, a reference to the character Chester Copperpot from the movie The Goonies) in 2000 and Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida (What I Told You While You Pretended to Be Asleep) in 2003. Both albums were produced by Nigel Walker and sold more than 2 million copies worldwide each, establishing La Oreja de Van Gogh as one of the most popular bands in Spain and in Latin America. El viaje de Copperpot was certified diamond in Spain for shipments of over 1,000,000, and singles "La Playa" ("The Beach"), "Puedes Contar Conmigo" ("You Can Count on Me") and "Rosas" ("Roses"), amongst others, were international hits in most Spanish-speaking countries.
In 2006, the band released its fourth and last studio album with Amaia Montero. Guapa (Beautiful) was the best-selling album of 2006 in Spain and won a Latin Grammy for Best Pop Album by a Duo or Group and a 40 Principales Award for Best Spanish Album. Singles "Muñeca de Trapo" ("Rag Doll") and "Dulce Locura" ("Sweet Madness") were also very successful, peaking at number 1 in many charts, including the Mexican Singles Chart and the Argentinian Charts. Late in the same year, the band re-released the album as a new edition called Más Guapa (More Beautiful), which included a second CD with tracks made for but cut from all of the band's albums since 1998, including both unreleased songs and some alternative versions of previously released tracks. "En Mi Lado del Sofá" ("On My Side of the Sofa") was released as La Oreja de Van Gogh's last single before replacing Montero as lead singer.
In 2007, Amaia Montero left the group and Xabi, Pablo, Álvaro and Haritz held an audition for a new vocalist.
In July 2008, Leire Martínez, a contestant on Factor X, joined the band as lead singer. The song "El Último Vals" was the first single of their new album A las cinco en el Astoria (At Five O'Clock At the Astoria).
In 2009, they released Nuestra casa a la izquierda del tiempo (Our home on the left side of time), which consisted of re-recordings of their older songs with Martinez, the new vocalist, plus one new song.
Their next studio album was Cometas por el cielo (Comets in the sky), released in 2011, with the first single sharing the name of the album.
By 2011, the band had sold more than 8 million albums worldwide.
In 2013, they released a live album called Primera Fila (First Row), a live recording of previous songs as well as some new tracks including the single El primer día del resto de mi vida (The First Day of the Rest of my Life).
In 2016, they released El planeta imaginario (The Imaginary Planet), and in December of that same year, went on tour.
On April 13, 2020, the group released "Abrázame", the first single of their new album, Un susurro en la tormenta (A Whisper in the Storm), that was released in September 2020. On July 2, the band released another song, "Te pareces tanto a mí".
In October 2024, Leire and the group parted ways.
Timeline
Studio albums