Kevin Johansen

Known for his eclectic, cosmopolitan brand of pop music, US-born singer-songwriter Kevin Johansen (June 21, 1964) has had quite an interesting journey since the beginning of his solo career in the mid-90s. Born in Fairbanks, Alaska, to an American father and an Argentine mother, he spent most of his childhood in the United States and later relocated to Buenos Aires as a teenager following his parents' divorce. During that time, Kevin Johansen briefly participated in the local underground rock scene with the band Instrucción Cívica, which released two albums before breaking up in 1986. A few years later, he and his wife moved to New York City, where he performed at legendary venues such as CBGB, the Mercury Lounge, and the Knitting Factory. Released in 2000, his bilingual studio debut The Nada garnered critical praise for its fearless juxtaposition of different Latin music genres with pop, funk, and rock. Not long after he returned to Argentina later that year, Kevin Johansen embarked on a Spanish tour to promote the album. In 2002, his second LP Sur o No Sur enjoyed great popularity among Argentine audiences thanks to the single "Down with My Baby," featured prominently in the soap opera Resistiré. This success earned the album three nominations for the Latin Grammys, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Music Video. Over the next few years, Kevin Johansen continued exploring Latin music in albums like City Zen (2004), Logo (2007), Bi (2012), Mis Américas (2016), and Algo Ritmos (2019). Since 2008, he has also been collaborating with cartoonist Liniers during his shows, creating a multidisciplinary experience that was captured in the live albums Kevin Johansen + The Nada + Liniers = Vivo en Buenos Aires (2010) and Kevin Johansen + The Nada + Liniers: (Bi)vo en México (2014). Tú Ve, his eighth studio full-length, arrived in 2022 and featured guest spots by Natalia Lafourcade, Jorge Drexler, and David Byrne, as well as a cover of Erasure's "A Little Respect."