José Fernando Arbex Miró (28 May 1941 – 5 July 2003) was an influential Spanish musician and songwriter from

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, who enjoyed success both with his own groups and also with other artists. While still in his teens, he was the drummer in Los Estudiantes, and in 1965 he formed the very successful pop band

Los Brincos Los Brincos (The Jumps) were one of the most successful Spanish rock bands of the 1960s, and were sometimes called the “Spanish Beatles”. The group was formed in 1964. The members were Fernando Arbex (drums), Manuel González (bass), Juan Par ...

(often seen as the "Spanish Beatles") in which he also played drums. After that group split in the late 1960s, Arbex formed the progressive rock trio Alacran with

Iñaki Egaña Ignacio "Iñaki" Egaña Azpeitia (born 24 October 1948 in Portugalete, Basque Country) is a Spanish musician and songwriter, active since the late 1960s in various rock and blues groups and as a solo artist. He is primarily a bass guitar player a ...

and Oscar Lasprilla. When Lasprilla left the band and moved to England, Arbex and Egaña founded the Latin disco and rock-orientated

Barrabás Barrabás are a Spanish musical group, most successful in the 1970s and 1980s when they were led by drummer and producer Fernando Arbex. The group's musical style was initially Latin rock with jazz and funk influences, and later developed into ...

, who went on to considerable European success throughout the 1970s. Their most successful hit single "Woman" found its way on to the charts in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Alongside his career as a musician, Arbex acted as a producer and songwriter for many successful acts, including

Jose Feliciano Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Germ ...

, Emilio Aragón, Miguel Bosé and Middle of the Road. He also recorded works outside the world of popular music. He composed the original music for the first Spanish Musical "La Maja de Goya", and music for

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

. In 2000, he reformed Los Brincos for an extremely successful special concert in

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 ...

, and also recorded with a reformed Barrabás. Fernando Arbex died in 2003 after a long illness.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbex, Fernando 1941 births 2003 deaths Musicians from Madrid Spanish songwriters Spanish drummers 20th-century Spanish musicians 20th-century drummers