Carlos Alberto García López (9 September 1958 – 27 September 2014), better known as El Negro García López, was an Argentine guitarist and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

musician, and one of the most influential instrumentalists of

Argentine rock Argentine rock (known locally as ''rock nacional'' , "national rock" in the sense of "local", "not international") is rock music composed or performed by Argentina, Argentine bands or artists mostly in Spanish. Argentine rock was the earliest inc ...

. Alongside Patricia Sosa, he formed part of La Torre, one of the most popular rock bands in early 1980s Argentina. He would later form part of

Charly García Carlos Alberto García Moreno (born October 23, 1951), better known by his stage name Charly García, is an Argentine singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and record producer, considered one of the most important rock musicians in ...

's ensemble, Los Enfermeros, before launching his own project, the García López Band, in 1992. In 2012, García López was named the 12th most influential guitarist in Argentine rock by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine. He died in 2014 in a car accident on his way back to Buenos Aires from filming a music video.

Early life

Carlos Alberto García López was born on 9 September 1958 in the Floresta neighborhood of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He was born into an

Afro-Argentine Afro-Argentines (), also known as Black Argentines (), are Argentines who have predominantly or total Sub-Saharan African ancestry. The Afro-Argentine population is the result of people being brought over during the Atlantic slave trade, transat ...

family with musical roots: his father, Manuel, played in a tropical music band under the name of "Paul Da Cruz", while his older brother Antonio played the bass and his younger sister Raquel danced and sang. From an early age he was exposed to music of many different genres: jazz, salsa, tango, Argentine folk, and rock. When he was 15 years old he formed the band ''Cronos'', which became relatively popular in the local scene and played as an opening act for Pappo's Blues in Uruguay.

Musical career

In 1981, having met singer Patricia Sosa, García López joined her as part of La Torre, a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

act built upon the foundations of a previous band, Nomady Soul, which featured a different guitarist (Pilu Camacho). La Torre's self-titled debut album was released shortly after the end of the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

, in 1982, to critical acclaim. The song ''Colapso nervioso'' was particularly well-received, and saw considerable airtime on local radio. In 1984, he collaborated with

Fito Páez Rodolfo Páez, popularly known as Fito Páez (; born 13 March 1963), is an Argentine rock and roll musician and filmmaker. He was member of the "Trova Rosarina" and is known as "The Troubadour of Argentine Rock", and is considered an important ...

for the release of his debut album, ''Del 63''. García López left La Torre in 1985, following the release of ''Sólo quiero rock & roll'' and a successful tour throughout Spain. He would then join Miguel Matos's band, ZAS, with whom he produced ''Solos en América'' (1986). The album reached regional success, and the band toured across Latin America throughout 1986. Already an established guitarist by the end of the decade, García López joined forces with

to record his fifth studio album, ''Cómo conseguir chicas'' (1989). Further collaborations with Charly include ''Filosofía barata y zapatos de goma'' (1990) and '' Say No More'' (1990). In 1998, he once again collaborated with Fito Páez in ''Enemigos íntimos'' (1998).

The García López Band

The 1990s also saw the birth of his own ensemble, the García López Band, alongside former La Torre drummer Beto Topini and bassist Mariano Kon (who had former part of Moscú and TocToc alongside Charly García). The band saw moderate success and they toured extensively throughout Argentina, headlining the 1992 Festival Rock in

La Falda La Falda is a town in the province of Córdoba, Argentina, located from Córdoba and 800 km from Buenos Aires. It had about 15,000 inhabitants at the . La Falda lies at the foot of two small mountains (Cerro El Cuadrado and Cerro La Bande ...

. That same year, the García López Band released ''Da Cruz'', their debut album produced at Estudios Panda and Estudios Del Cielito. The first lineup of the García López Band eventually collapsed, and following a fallout with Charly García, García López moved to

México City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, where he "re-founded" his band with the Uruguayan "Pato" Dana in the bass and Freddy Valeriani in the

piccolo bass A piccolo bass is either an electric bass or acoustic double bass which has been tuned to a higher frequency, usually one octave higher than conventional bass tuning. This allows bass players to use higher registers during soloing while retaining ...

. Later on, they would be joined by another Uruguayan, Roberto Rodino, in the drums. In 2005, García López returned to Buenos Aires to record a new studio album at Panda. The resulting product, ''Números rojos'' (2006), saw a renewed partnership with Charly García, who played the keyboard and sang in the title track and ''Olvida Lo Pasado''. In 2010, he released ''Esta vez invita el Negro'' under

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

Death

On 27 September 2014, García López died in a car crash on Ruta 76 while returning to Buenos Aires from Sierra de la Ventana, where he was recording a music video for ''Frenesí'', alongside Almafuerte. He was 56 years old. A number of musicians expressed their condolences following García López's death. On 1 October 2014, during the half-time of a football match between

All Boys Club Atlético All Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Floresta, Buenos Aires. The institution is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Arge ...

and

Sarmiento de Junín Sarmiento may refer to: Places Argentina *Sarmiento Department, San Juan, a subdivision of the San Juan Province *Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, a subdivision of the Santiago del Estero Province *Sarmiento Department, Chubut, a subdivi ...

Estadio Islas Malvinas Estadio Islas Malvinas is a association football, football stadium located in the Monte Castro neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is owned and operated by All Boys, Club Atlético All Boys. The stadium holds 21,500 spectators and opened i ...

in Floresta, García López's friends and family were gifted with a special All Boys shirt made for him, who had been a lifelong fan and follower of the neighborhood club. The act was closed with the All Boys anthem, performed by García López himself.

Discography

;As a solo artist * ''Da Cruz'' (1992) * ''Números rojos'' (2006) * ''Esta vez invita el Negro'' (2010) * ''Frenesí'' (2013)

References

External links

Biography of El Negro García López at cmtv.com.ar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Lopez, Carlos 1958 births 2014 deaths Musicians from Buenos Aires Afro-Argentine musicians Argentine male guitarists Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery Road incident deaths in Argentina 20th-century Argentine guitarists 20th-century Argentine musicians 20th-century Argentine male musicians 21st-century Argentine guitarists 21st-century Argentine male musicians