Draco Rosa

Robi Draco Rosa is a multiple Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Since beginning his career with Menudo at age 14, he has enjoyed hit singles and charting albums as a solo performer. He makes music in styles ranging from funky club jams and polished hard and industrial rock to progressive pop ballads and experimental electronic soundscapes that criss-cross Latin and Anglo music traditions. His ever-evolving sound and visionary music have drawn critical comparisons to David Bowie and Prince. 1996′s Vagabundo was a high-water mark for experimental Latin pop, while 2004′s chart-topping Mad Love established his reputation globally. 2013′s Vida was released just after treatment from his first encounter with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It consisted of 16 hits performed as duets with artists he admired. The set took home the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year, and the Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album. In 2018, after emerging from cancer treatment for a second time, he released Monte Sagrado, a wildly experimental rock album recorded at his Phantom Vox farm studio in Puerto Rico. In 2021, he followed it with the thematically linked, digital-only release Sound Healing 1:11.
Born Robert Edward Rosa Suárez on June 27, 1969 in Long Island, New York, he grew up in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico. He began his performance career at a young age, joining the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo in 1984. Then known as Robby Rosa, he made his debut on the band’s first English-language album, Reaching Out (1984). He was featured on one of their biggest hits, “Sabes a Chocolate,” before leaving the band in 1987. Renaming himself Draco Rosa, he founded the short-lived English-language alternative rock band Maggie's Dream, which released an eponymous album in 1990. He subsequently made his solo album debut with Frio (1994), a rock en español effort released under the name Robi. His next album, Vagabundo (1996), his first release as Robi Draco Rosa, marked a sharp change in direction. Recorded in England with Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, Vagabundo is an ambitious concept album hailed by critics as a rock en español classic. In the wake of this critical success, Rosa released Songbirds & Roosters (1998), comprised of English-language versions of material from Frio and Vagabundo, and Libertad del Alma (2001), a compilation. In the meantime, he solidified his reputation as a gifted songwriter when “Livin’ la Vida Loca,” a song he wrote for former Menudo bandmate Ricky Martin, became an international smash hit in 1999. Rosa resumed his solo career in 2004 with Mad Love, an English-language album, and Como Me Acuerdo, a Spanish-language compilation with a couple new songs. Subsequent albums include Draco al Natural (2005), Ensayos al Natural (2005), Vino (2008), Teatro (2008), and Amor Vincit Omnia (2009).
In April of 2011, he was diagnosed with cancer; specifically, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, near his liver. He was treated in both Texas and California. In 2012, while still in recovery, he decided to go back to work; he planned his next album and began the recording sessions. He also took part in a sold-out concert in a soccer stadium with Juan Luis Guerra and Rubén Blades. In December he was declared cancer free and Vida was finished. Though the song titles were familiar as Rosa hits, they were radically rearranged and re-recorded as duets with a host of Latin music all-stars including, Blades, Guerra, Shakira, Mana, Marc Anthony, Calle 13, and many others. The album was released in March of 2013 but the cancer had returned; after a second bone marrow transplant, recovery, and a quarantine of four additional months, Rosa returned to the stage in 2017 playing Vagabundo in its entirety, as well as other career highlights. The following year he released Vagabundo 22, a deluxe remastered version of the album for its 22nd anniversary containing live bonus tracks from the set’s anniversary tour. Billboard named the original studio album one of its “50 Greatest Latin Albums of the Last 50 Years.”
Upon its 2018 release, Rosa claimed he already had nine new songs ready to record and with two more songs, he entered Phantom Vox, the studio he’d built on his 100-acre farm in the central mountain range of Utuado, Puerto Rico. Self-produced, the 11-song album showcased a more experimental hard rock sound than he’d ever explored before. In early October, first single “333” was released, along with its self-directed video that closely resembled the classic style of Japanese animation. Near the end of the month, Monte Sagrado was released via Sony, featuring cover art by Rosa’s son, noted illustrator and visual artist Revel Rosa. It topped the Latin Pop albums chart.
In late 2020, Rosa issued the single “Quiero Vivir,” with lyrics inspired by the late Mexican poet Jaime Sabines. The track’s electronic backdrop, laconic pace, and tender harmonies revealed him to be heading in yet another musical direction. In November of 2021, Rosa released the digital-only Sound Healing 1:11. The set was linked thematically to the material on Monte Sagrado, but offered an entirely different sound, redolent with experimental ambient, dub, and mystical lyrics. Its 11 songs were spread over an hour and 11 minutes and were recorded at Phantom Vox. The vast majority of instruments, voices, and programming were recorded by Rosa, with orchestral arrangements performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. - Jason Birchmeier & Thom Jurek