Alejandro Sanz - Early Life

Early Life

Sanz was born in Madrid, Spain, on December 18, 1968, the youngest son of María Pizarro and Jesús Sánchez. He grew up in the high-crime neighborhood of Moratalaz in eastern Madrid. Sanz recalled that "Back then, kids grew up on the street...I was a bit like the group troubadour; the one who played the guitar and sang. That kept me out of a lot of trouble." Sanz's father, a door-to-door book salesman, played guitar professionally, which inspired seven-year-old Sanz to learn to play the instrument. He pursued the instrument with an intensity that eventually frustrated his mother, who broke his guitar one morning after his playing kept the family from sleeping.

He was exposed to traditional flamenco music as a child while vacationing each summer in his parents' native Andalucía in southern Spain. Originally, Sanz intended to become a flamenco performer, but he found the music teachers to be overly strict. Commenting on his early experiences, Sanz explained, "Flamenco can be very hard on beginners. If you lose the rhythm, they toss you out with, 'You're no good, boy!' They're very strict and very cruel. But it's also a marvelous education, because you either learn to play or else." He felt that he could not compete with his peers, and decided to focus on creating pop music with flamenco influences, viewing flamenco to be a "lifestyle" better suited to others.