Felipe Peláez
Revered in Colombia for putting a modern spin on the vallenato tradition, Felipe Peláez -- sometimes referred to as Pipe Peláez -- is a Venezuela-born singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist equally comfortable performing salsa, merengue, urbano, and straight-ahead pop. His dynamic 2002 solo debut album, Felipe Peláez y Su Son Guajira, featured strong production and inventive use of tropical rhythms. However, it was 2005's Entre Amigos -- and the subsequent single "Borracha" -- which established him as a vallenato performer. He was involved in the creation of 2010's Irrepetible, a Latin Grammy-winning salsa album by Gilberto Santa Rosa, while Diferente -- a 2012 collaborative long-player with Manuel Julián -- was commercially successful. Later in the 2010s, he embraced urbano and "Vivo Pensando en Ti" -- a 2018 single featuring Maluma -- racked up over 150 million streams within three years of its release. Consequently, 2022's aptly titled Diverso was a genre-rich set, featuring many of the styles visited by Peláez during the first two decades of his solo recording career.
Peláez was born in 1976 and raised in Maicao, a city in northern Columbia. His parents elected for him to be born in Maracaibo, just over the border in Venezuela, as they felt that it had better hospitals. Age 16, he moved away to study communications, engineering, and music in Bogotá, Columbia's sprawling capital city. It was here that Rafael Ricardo -- accordionist and half of an acclaimed vallenato act with Otto Serge -- saw him perform live, subsequently asking him to join their band. As a result, the duo's 11th album, 1994's Imaginate -- their first for Sony -- opened with "Soñando Contigo," an early Peláez composition. In the late '90s, he regularly sang with Victor Reyes' Los Amigos de Sol, and played guitar and assisted with musical direction for such luminaries as Rafael Orozco and Joe Arroyo.
Sony issued Peláez's solo debut, while its follow-up -- 2005's Entre Amigos -- was released on Codiscos. This became a continual pattern, as he flitted between these two labels for much of his career. Not only was 2006's frenetic "Borracha" a hit, but it also became a popular song at subsequent Barranquilla carnivals. Leading up to the 2010 Santa Rosa Grammy win, he spent the next few years collaborating, recording 2008's A Mi Manera and 2009's A Paso Firme with Zabaleta, and 2010's Mas Que Palabras with Manuel Julián. In 2011, De Otra Maneca, a guitar-based album, was nominated for a Latin Grammy. All in all, the 2010s was a fruitful decade for Peláez. He built on the success of 2012's Diferente, issuing five further studio albums before the end of the decade, as well as his first retrospective and live releases. Highlights included 2016's Vestirte de Amor -- the title track of which held the Colombian number one spot for eight weeks -- and 2018's forward-looking Ponle Actitud. He was signed by Arte Music in time for 2021's Esencia and 2022's Diverso.
© James Wilkinson. /TiVo
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Hola, Qué Tal?
World - Released by Arte Producciones on 16 Apr 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Falsa de Mi Vida
World - Released by Arte Producciones on 4 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Solo un Idiota
World - Released by Arte Producciones on 20 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Por los Buenostiempos
World - Released by Arte Producciones on 24 Apr 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Culpables
Daniel Calderón, Felipe Peláez
Latin America - Released by Codiscos on 16 Jan 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felipe Pelaéz Y Sus Amigos, 10 Años
Latin America - Released by Codiscos on 12 Mar 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Que Te Quede Claro
World - Released by Arte Producciones on 19 Mar 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Me Caso Contigo (Versión Balada) (Balada)
Latin America - Released by Codiscos on 9 Sep 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Culpables
Daniel Calderón, Felipe Peláez, Los Inquietos Del Vallenato
Latin America - Released by Codiscos on 16 Jan 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vestirte de Amor (La Flor - Acústica)
Latin America - Released by Codiscos on 26 Feb 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vestirte de Amor (La Flor)
Latin America - Released by Codiscos on 22 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Que Canten los Niños
Pop - Released by Arte Producciones on 29 Jan 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Parranderos
Grupo di Betico, Felipe Peláez
World - Released by HAUS Music & Sound on 24 May 2024
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo