Gabriel Rios

Gabriel Ríos (2006)

Gabriel Ríos (born August 16, 1978 in San Juan ) is a Puerto Rican musician who is particularly successful in Belgium.

biography

Gabriel Riós grew up in the capital of his homeland, Puerto Rico. As a child he sang in the church choir, later played in a Beatles co-association and tried his hand at other styles. Because of a Belgian friend, he moved to Ghent in 1996 and began studying art there. In addition, he was also active in various local bands such as Nothing Bastards and L. Santo and eventually became self-employed as a musician.

Ríos released his debut album Ghostboy in early 2004. It was produced by Jo Bogaert, a former member of Technotronic . Musically, he mixes rock and hip-hop with Puerto Rican music styles such as Bomba and Plena . Initially, the album rose to the top 20 in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium and became one of the longest-lived albums in the charts. The album spent over two years in the top 100 and reached its highest position in July 2005 with number 6. Shortly before, it had also been released in the Netherlands and entered the charts there as well. A song from the album, Broad Daylight , had also been used in the film 06/05 (German title The 6th May ) by the murdered director Theo van Gogh . After being broadcast in early 2006, the single reached number 11 in the Nederlandse Top 40 and the album also climbed to number 24.

At the end of 2006, the Puerto Rican recorded the song What's This? Together with the Belgian Flip Kowlier and the American Michael Franti . and thus had his first top ten hit in the Belgian single charts. This was followed by the second studio album Angelhead , which reached number 2 in April 2007 and stayed in the charts for over a year.

After a long break, Gabriel Ríos got back in early 2010. Together with Natalia Druyts he recorded the classic Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen . The benefit single for the victims of the Haiti earthquake in January was a number one hit for the duo. The third album The Dangerous Return , which followed at the end of the year and on which he worked with the jazz pianist Jef Neve , could not, however, come close to the success of Rios' first two works.

This was followed by a longer period of time without publications before the song Gold was released in October 2013 . It reached number 4 in the Flemish charts and with 19 chart weeks was the most successful single from Rios to date. In particular by a remix of the Australian Tropical-house DJs Thomas Jack the song the following year via the Dutch-speaking area, it was announced and came to Norway in autumn 2014 to square one . The accompanying album This Marauder's Midnight debuted at number one on the Belgian charts.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		BE F	BE W	NL
2004	Ghostboy	BE F6th gold (118 weeks)BE F	-	NL24 (34 weeks) NL	in NL only in the charts in May 2005
2005	En vivo	BE F27 (26 weeks) BE F	-	NL40 (13 weeks) NL	Live album
2007	Angelhead	BE F2 platinum (55 weeks)BE F	BE W97 (1 week) BE W	NL34 (11 weeks) NL
2010	The Dangerous Return	BE F9 gold (19 weeks)BE F	-	-
2011	Two compilations	BE F78 (15 weeks) BE F	-	-	Double CD, compilation
2014	This Marauder's Midnight	BE F1 (65 weeks) BE F	BE W56 (6 weeks) BE W	NL95 (1 week) NL	in NL only in the charts in December 2015

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		BE F	BE W	NL
2006	Broad Daylight Ghostboy	-	-	NL11 (10 weeks) NL	Film: May sixth
	What's this?	BE F5 (4 weeks) BE F	-	-	Franti , Rios & Kowlier
2007	Angelhead / Porque te vas Angelhead	BE F15 (14 weeks) BE F	-	-
	Baby Lone Star Angelhead	BE F41 (4 weeks) BE F	-	-
2010	Hallelujah	BE F1 platinum (14 weeks)BE F	BE W6 (5 weeks) BE W	-	with Natalia ; Original: Leonard Cohen benefit single
	Dauphine The Dangerous Return	BE F16 (11 weeks) BE F	-	-
2013	Gold This Marauder's Midnight	BE F4th gold (20 weeks)BE F	BE W40 (1 week) BE W	NL- platinum NL	Number one in Norway

More songs

• Unrock (2005)
• I'm Gonna Die Tonight (2007)
• Stay / Voodoo Chile (2008)
• Straight Song (2011)
• You Will Go Far (2011)
• Tidal Wave (2011)
• Gulliver (2011)
• El ratón (2012)
• Police Sounds (2014)
• Song No. 7 (2014)
• Skip the Intro (2014)
• Swing Low (2014)

swell

1. ^ Top of all tijden albums , Ultratop, accessed on November 2, 2014
2. ↑ Gabriel Rios - Gold ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Twisted Male Mag, November 23, 2014  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Belgium Flanders Wallonia Netherlands Singles Albums
4. ↑ Awards for Music Sales: BE NL

Web links

• Official Homepage (English)
• Gabriel Ríos at Allmusic (English)
• European everyday life and Caribbean homesickness , Funkhaus Europa (23 May 2013)