José María López Sanfeliu, better known as Kiko Veneno, was born April 3, 1952 in Figueras, northeastern Spain and grew up in Cadiz, southern Spain.
Kiko later moved to Sevilla and in 1975 he formed a highly influential band called Veneno with brothers Rafael and Raimundo Amador. Veneno released a self-titled essential album, Veneno (1977). The group combined flamenco with blues and rock.
He participated in Camarón de la Isla’s famed La leyenda del Tiempo de Camarón (1982).
Later, he made songs incorporating various musical genres: electropop in Si tu, si yo (1984); melodic rock in Small Wild (1987); pop with African airs on Dice la gente (2010); tropicalist pop in El pimiento Indomable (2012) and avant-garde flamenco in the movie Entre dos aguas (2018).
Among his biggest commercial successes are flamenco pop recordings Échate un cantecito (1992) and Esta el bien cariño (1995).
In 2019, Kiko released Sombrero Roto, a book+audio album with electronic cadences.
In 2020, Kiko Veneno and Derby Motoreta’s Burrito Kachimba, the rising stars of psychedelic flamenco rock, recorded a song titled “Alas del Mar.”
Kiko Veneno won the National Prize for Fine Arts and National Prize for Modern Music.
Discography:
Veneno
Veneno (CBS, 1977).
El pueblo guapeao (Twins, 1989).
Solo albums
Seré mecánico por ti (Epic, 1981)
Pequeño salvaje (Nuevos Medios, 1987)
Échate un cantecito (BMG Ariola, 1992)
Está muy bien eso del cariño (BMG, 1995)
Punta Paloma (BMG, 1997)
Puro veneno (BMG, 1998)
La familia pollo (BMG, 2000)
El hombre invisible (Nuevos Medios, 2005)
Dice la Gente (Warner, 2010)
Sensación Térmica (2013)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.