Angélica Garcia is an American singer-songwriter based in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. She has released two studio albums, and her song "Jícama" became widely known when

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

selected the track for his 2019 year-end list.

Early life and career

Angélica Garcia was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and raised in El Monte in the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...

east of Los Angeles. Garcia's mother, who is of Mexican and Salvadoran descent, was a freestyle musician who performed under the mononym Angelica and scored a top-40 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with her 1991 cover of the Rosie and the Originals's song, " Angel Baby". She studied creative writing at Cooperative Arts High in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, then returned to Southern California and graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts where she studied vocal jazz and sang at the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jaz ...

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

. When she was 17, Garcia's family moved to Accomac, Virginia, before she moved on her own to Richmond. In 2022, her record ''Echo Eléctrico'' was included on the shortlist for the inaugural Newlin Music Prize in Richmond, VA. Garcia appears in the racing video game ''

Forza Horizon 5 ''Forza Horizon 5'' is a 2021 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is the fifth ''Forza Horizon'' title and twelfth main instalment in the ''Forza'' series. The game is set in a fictionalised r ...

'' as the DJ of the in-game rock-oriented radio station Horizon XS, which includes her song "Karma the Knife" from ''

Cha Cha Palace ''Cha Cha Palace'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Angélica Garcia. It was released on February 28, 2020, following the inclusion of the track "Jícama" on Barack Obama's year-end music list in 2019. Its lead single was ...

'' in its soundtrack.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Medicine for Birds'' (2016) *''

'' (2020) *'' Gemelo'' (2024)

EPs

*''The Big Machine EP'' (2018) *''Echo Eléctrico'' (2021)

References

Singers from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American musicians of Mexican descent American people of Salvadoran descent People from El Monte, California Singer-songwriters from California {{US-singer-songwriter-stub