Antonio Vega

Considered one of the best Spanish pop/rock songwriters of his era, Antonio Vega is a singer/songwriter who experienced both critical and commercial success in the 1980s as a member of the band Nacha Pop prior to embarking on a similarly successful solo career in the '90s. He passed away relatively early in life, succumbing to lung cancer in 2009 at age 51. Born Antonio Vega Tallés on December 16, 1957, in Madrid, Spain, he founded Nacha Pop in 1978 with his cousin Nacho García Vega. The band made its eponymous album debut in 1980 with Nacha Pop, which includes the Vega-penned Spanish pop classic "La Chica de Ayer." Subsequent Nacha Pop albums, from Buena Disposición (1982) to El Momento (1987), were well received from both a critical and commercial standpoint, and the band's 1988 breakup was duly noted in the Spanish pop/rock world, closing the book on one of the genre's most significant bands of the decade. Vega subsequently embarked on a solo career and made his full-length album debut in 1991 with No Me Iré Mañana. Produced by Carlos Narea, who had worked on multiple Nacha Pop albums, No Me Iré Mañana was followed by the solo albums Océano de Sol (1994), produced by Phil Manzanera; Anatomía de una Ola (1998), produced by Joan Bibiloni; and De un Lugar Perdido (2001), produced by Nacho Béjar. His final solo album, the Top Ten hit 3000 Noches con Marga (2005), spawned the single "Angel de Orión." Vega died of lung cancer on May 12, 2009, at the age of 51. In the wake of his passing, the greatest-hits compilation Canciones 1980-2009 (2009) reached number three on the Spanish albums charts while one of his best-known solo hits, "El Sitio de Mi Recreo," reached the Top 30. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi