Carlos Jean Arriaga (born 15 February 1973) is a Spanish DJ and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

born in the region of Galicia in Northwestern Spain. He is the co-founder of the group Najwajean, and has been a producer for some of the most important Spanish and

Latin-American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas a ...

artists of the 2000s, earning seven

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been r ...

nominations.

Biography

1973-1998: Early life

He was born on February 15, 1973 in Ferrol, an industrial city in the northwest of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, in the province of

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

. His parents are Jean Robert Jean, Haitian, and Julia Arriaga, a Spaniard from Galicia.

1998-2010: Najwajean and solo projects

In 1998, he joined Spanish actress/singer

Najwa Nimri Najwa Nimri Urrutikoetxea (; born 14 February 1972) is a Spanish actress and singer. Early life Nimri's mother is from Pamplona and her father, Karam Nimri, is Jordanian. She has a brother named Karim Nimri, a half-brother named Andre Nimri an ...

to form the

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band Najwajean, releasing their first album, entitled ''No Blood'', that same year. It was followed by original soundtracks for the films ''Asfalto'' and ''

Guerreros ''Guerreros'' () is a 2002 Spanish war film directed by Daniel Calparsoro which stars Eloy Azorín and Eduardo Noriega. Plot The plot follows a group of Spanish soldiers and their French allies stationed in the border between Kosovo and the re ...

'', both directed by Daniel Calparsoso. Meanwhile, he launched a career as a solo artist, releasing his debut album, ''Planet Jean'', in 2000. Two years later, he released ''Back to the Earth'', which included the internationally acclaimed single "Mr. Dabada", and also a compilation album as part of Najwajean, ''Selection''. He continued working alternatively as a solo singer and in Najwajean, with the releases of ''Mr. Miracle'' (2006) and ''Till It Breaks'' (2008), respectively. "Mr. Dabada" was featured in a TV commercial for

Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core is a line of streamlined midrange consumer, workstation and enthusiast computer central processing units (CPUs) marketed by Intel Corporation. These processors displaced the existing mid- to high-end Pentium processors at the time o ...

microprocessor, which was aired in most American and European countries. Since 2000, Jean has also become one of the best-known music producers in Spain, having worked with a variety of pop artists, including

Alejandro Sanz Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro, better known as Alejandro Sanz (; born 18 December 1968), is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. Sanz has won 22 Latin Grammy Awards and four Grammy Awards. He has received the Latin Grammy for Latin Grammy Awar ...

Miguel Bosé Luis Miguel González Bosé (born 3 April 1956), usually known as Miguel Bosé, is a Spanish pop new wave singer and actor. Early life Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of Italian actress Lucia Bosè (19 ...

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and

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. Following the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

, Jean released the charity single ''Ay Haití'', in which he gathered together some of the most important Spanish and

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

artists of the moment to raise money for the earthquake victims. 25 artists collaborated in the song, including

La Oreja de Van Gogh La Oreja de Van Gogh (; English: "Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh's Ear") is a Spanish Pop music, pop band from San Sebastián, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. The band's lyrics and compositions are written primarily by Xabi San Martín, and addition ...

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...

Juanes file:Juanes ZMF 2015 jm49108.jpg, Juanes at the Zelt Musik Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany file:Juanes ZMF 2015 jm49211.jpg, Juanes at the Zelt Musik Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez (born 9 August 19 ...

José Mercé José Mercé (born José Soto Soto in 1955 in Jerez de la Frontera) is a Spanish flamenco singer. As a 12-year-old he performed at flamenco festivals. Later he moved to Madrid where he recorded his first album in 1968. Family He is the great- ...

and

. Jean's father, Jean Robert Jean, who was born in Haiti, had a part too in the song. Other personalities also appeared in the music video, such as

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

football player

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Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

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Atlético Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

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, and actress

Paz Vega María de la Paz Campos Trigos (born 2 January 1976), known professionally as Paz Vega (), is a Spanish actress. She became popular for her performance in comedy television series ''7 vidas''. Her film credits include ''Sex and Lucia'' (2001), ...

. The song reached number one on the

Spanish singles chart Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, and stayed on top for two weeks.

2011-present: ''Plan B'' and ''Introducing Carlos Jean''

In 2011, he started the initiative ''Plan B'' as an alternative way of music production by intercollaboration between musicians. It consisted of Jean uploading a music base to the Internet so that anyone could edit it and send it back with some addition, which could range from lyrics to background noise. It was sponsored by

Ballantine's Ballantine's is a range of Blended Scotch whiskies produced by Pernod Ricard in Dumbarton, Scotland. The Ballantine's flavour is dependent on fingerprint malts from Miltonduff and Glenburgie, blended with 50 single malts and four single gra ...

, and counted with collaborations from both famous and anonymous artists. Following the success of such a revolutionary idea, his career was given a boost, with the compilation album ''Introducing Carlos Jean'' being released in May 2011. It contained some of the songs from the ''Plan B'' as well as hits from his previous three albums. It produced 2 top five singles, "Lead the Way" and "Gimme the Base (DJ)". He also started appearing on a regular basis in the TV programme ''

El Hormiguero ''El Hormiguero'' (, Spanish for "The Anthill") is a Spanish television program with a live audience focusing on comedy, science, and guest interviews running since September 2006. It is hosted and produced by screenwriter Pablo Motos. The show ...

'', in which new ''Plan B'' tracks were created, presented or remixed live. Some achieved tremendous popularity, reaching number one in the Spanish

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

. The ''Hormiguero'' remix of single "Lead the Way" peaked at number 9 on the Spanish singles chart. During his time on the show he held live castings that resulted in the formation of boy band Why Five and girl band Check Baby Check; however, both acts were short-lived.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

*2000: ''Planet Jean'' *2002: ''Back to the Earth'' *2006: ''Mr. Miracle'' (SPA #67)

Compilation albums

*2011: ''Introducing Carlos Jean'' (SPA #7)

As part of Najwajean

*1998: ''No Blood'' (SPA #80) *2001: ''Asfalto OST'' (SPA #175) *2002: ''Guerreros OST'' (SPA #88) *2002: ''Selection'' (SPA #108) *2008: ''Till It Breaks'' (SPA #16)

Singles

*2000: "Give Me the 70's" *2002: "Mr. Dabada" *2006: "Have a Nice Day" *2011: "Lead the Way" feat. Electric Nana (SPA #4) *2011: "Lead the Way (El Hormiguero remix)" feat. Electric Nana (SPA #9) *2011: "Gimme the Base (DJ)" feat. Mandy Santos (SPA #4) *2011: "Keep the Trance" feat. Mandy Santos (SPA #12) *2012: "Blackstar" feat. Ferrara (SPA #7) *2013: "Forza" Santander's Tribute to Scuderia Ferrari

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jean, Carlos 1973 births Living people People from Ferrol, Spain Spanish house musicians Musicians from Galicia (Spain) Spanish people of Haitian descent Electronica musicians Latin music record producers Spanish record producers