Óscar Armando Díaz de León Huez, known professionally as Carín León, (born 26 July 1989) is a Mexican singer-songwriter who specializes in

regional Mexican music Regional styles of Mexican music vary greatly from state to state. Norteño, banda, duranguense, Son mexicano and other Mexican country music genres are often known as regional Mexican music because each state produces different musical sounds ...

Career

León began playing the guitar at the age of 15. His first band was Los Reales, before founding Grupo Arranke with four friends in 2010. The group gained traction with their song "A Través del Vaso". He was a member of Grupo Arranke for seven years, until starting a solo career in 2018. His career took off with his solo version of "A Través del Vaso". His other songs "Me La Avente" and " Tú", a cover of the 1999 song by

Noelia Noelia Lorenzo (née Monge; born August 31, 1979) mostly known as Noelia, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and entrepreneur who rose to fame in 1999. Her self-titled debut album was certified as a RIAA gold album in the United States. ...

, both charted on Billboard's

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

Latin Airplay Latin Airplay is a chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It was established on October 20, 2012. This chart lists the 50 most-played songs on Spanish-language radio stations across the country ...

, and

Regional Mexican Airplay In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

charts. In 2021, he also released a cover of "

More Than Words "More Than Words" is a song by American rock band Extreme. It is an acoustic rock ballad featuring guitar work by Nuno Bettencourt and the vocals of Gary Cherone (with harmony vocals from Bettencourt). They both wrote the song, which was produc ...

" by Extreme and later a version of " Moscas en la Casa" by

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

, which was part of his album ''Pistiembre Todo El Año''. During the global shutdown of major venues and concert halls due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, León pivoted into podcasts, alternative radio and emerging platforms for greater distribution. This was also in large part thanks to the dramatic overall increase in interest in regional Mexican music globally, as noted by

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. León appeared on NPR's ' Tiny Desk' on September 19, 2022. León won the

Latin Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Song The Latin Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Song is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and creates a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

for the song "Como lo Hice Yo" alongside

Édgar Barrera Edgar Barrera (born April 18, 1990), also known by his professional name Edge, is an American songwriter, producer, and musician based in Miami, Florida. He has won a total of 26 Latin Grammy Awards and 1 Grammy Award including "Producer of The Y ...

and

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

. In 2022, he was the third most streamed Mexican artist on

. His single " Que Vuelvas" with

Grupo Frontera Grupo Frontera is an American regional Mexican band from Edinburg, Texas. The band currently consists of vocalist and bajo quinto player Adelaido "Payo" Solís III, accordionist and fellow vocalist Juan Javier Cantú, congas player Julian Peña Jr ...

was number one for six weeks on the

chart in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. León won his second Latin Grammy in

; this time for the Best Norteño Album with his third studio album, ''Colmillo de Leche''. On February 23, 2024, León made his debut performance in one of country music's most prestigious venues, the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. On April 14, 2024, León debuted at the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

during its first weekend. Six days later, he was presented with the key to the City of Coachella by the city council. The next day, León again performed at the Coachella Festival during its second weekend. On April 26, León debuted at Coachella's country music-themed sister festival,

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

. On October 4, 2024, León made his debut at the

Austin City Limits Music Festival Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, on two consecutive three-day weekends and is inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series ''Austin City Limits''. The festival is pro ...

Zilker Park Zilker Metropolitan Park is a recreational area in south Austin, Texas, at the juncture of Barton Creek and the Colorado River that comprises over of publicly owned land. It is named after its benefactor, Andrew Jackson Zilker, who donated t ...

. The following day, he debuted on

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American Concert, live music Television show, television program recorded and produced by KLRU, Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", an ...

at the

Moody Center Moody Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in Austin, Texas. The arena, which replaced the Frank Erwin Center, stands on a former parking lot located immediately south of UT's soccer/track and ...

. León received his third Latin Grammy in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

; this time for the Best Contemporary Mexican Music Album with his fourth studio album, ''Boca Chueca, Vol. 1''. Said album also won the Grammy Award for Best Música Mexicana Album in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

. On February 26, 2025, León debuted at the

Viña del Mar International Song Festival The Viña del Mar International Song Festival () is an annual international music festival held every third week of February in Viña del Mar, Chile. Started in 1960 it is the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America, and one of the long ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, where he received the Silver and Golden Gaviota awards. On March 9, 2025, León made his debut at Rodeo Houston, where he performed in front of 70,603 fans. On May 16, 2025, León appeared on NPR's 'Tiny Desk' for a second time.

Personal life

León was born in

Hermosillo Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo municipality, the state's ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

, to Óscar Díaz de León and Carmen Julia Huez. He has a girlfriend and two children.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

* ''Desvelada con Banda y Mariachi (En Vivo)'' (2018) * ''A Puro Pelo (100 % En Vivo)'' (2018) * ''Pa' las de Vidrio (En Vivo)'' (2018) * ''Amanecida con Todo y con Todos'' (2018) * ''Borrachera con Taka Takas'' (2020) * ''Encerrados Pero Enfiestados (Live Vol. 1)'' (2020) * ''Encerrados Pero Enfiestados (Live Vol. 2)'' (2020) * ''Borrachera con Los Honorables'' (2020) * ''Pistiembre Todo El Año (En Vivo)'' (2021) * ''Cura Local (En Vivo)'' (2022) * ''U.V.V. Vol. 8 (En Vivo)'' (2023) * ''Palabra de To's'' (2024) * ''Palabra de To's (Seca)'' (2025) - Special edition of ''Palabra de To's'' with four new studio tracks

Singles

Charting singles

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * * *
Carín León
at

Billboard.com ''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Carin Latin Grammy Award winners Living people Grammy Award winners Singers from Sonora Mexican male singer-songwriters 1989 births Latin music songwriters People from Hermosillo 21st-century Mexican male singers