David Bisbal

David Bisbal Ferre (born 5 June 1979) is a Spanish singer, songwriter, and actor.

He gained his initial fame as a runner-up on the interactive reality television show Operación Triunfo.

He has since released five studio albums, all of which topped the Spanish Albums Chart, in addition to recording a number of live albums.

He has toured throughout Europe and Latin America and is now considered to be a crossover international artist.

David Bisbal was born on 5 June 1979 in Almería, Spain.

His parents are José Bisbal, a professional boxer who was Spanish national Bantamweight and Featherweight champion and part of a trio of flamenco musicians, and Maria Ferre Montoya.

He is the youngest of three siblings, a brother named José María and a sister named María del Mar. As a child, Bisbal showed a talent for performing, but was always very shy about doing so in public.

Bisbal attended the secondary school IES Al-Andalus in Almería, but dropped out in his second to last year at around age 15.

After dropping out, his father took him to work in a greenhouse in Almería, which was his first known job.

A few years later he met the producer of Orchestra Expressions, a popular band in Almería.

After listening to and discovering his vocal quality, the producer offered him employment as the main singer of the group.

Through his work in Orchestra Expressions, he gradually began to develop as a singer, and to discover his passion for music.

David went on to audition for 'Pop Idol,' in Barcelona, Spain.

In 2001, he was one of 16 contestants in the first Spanish edition of 'Idol' designed to choose the representative for the 'Eurovision' festival of that year.

He came in second place to Rosa López.

Bisbal then performed at Eurovision with Rosa López, David Bustamante, Chenoa, Gisela and Geno, in the chorus.

In October 2001 he auditioned for the first ever edition of Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of Star Academy) where he was accepted and was one of the 16 contestants.

He reached the final, where he placed as the runner-up to Rosa López.

The top three contestants qualified for a secondary phase of the contest, where the prize was the chance of representing Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest.

He came second in the Eurovision phase with the song "Corazón Latino", losing to Rosa López.

She went on to sing "Europe's Living a Celebration" for Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 competition in Tallinn.

Bisbal accompanied her there as a backing vocalist.

Bisbal signed a contract with Vale Music Record label and released his first album, recorded in Miami under the title Corazón Latino with producer and songwriter Kike Santander.

The album went platinum 7 times by summer 2002, after having topped the Spanish charts.

The first single from the album, called Ave María, had a phenomenal success.

After winning a Latin Grammy, the album went platinum (over 1 million in sales).

After achieving fame as Operación Triunfo finalist, he signed a contract with label Vale Music, offering him the opportunity to record his first solo debut album.

The album, entitled Corazón Latino, was released in Summer 2002, recorded in Miami and produced by Kike Santander.

The album reached number one in its debut week selling over 600,000 copies, breaking sales records; the album stayed for seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Spanish Albums Chart.

With more than 1,300,000 copies sold in Spain, Bisbal was launched to the rest of the Spanish-speaking world; his debut album would be released on 15 October.

In January 2003, Bisbal received an Amigo award in Madrid's Palacio de Cristal de la Arganzuela.

On 31 October he began his first tour of Latin America in Argentina; he visited 12 countries and performed 17 live concerts.

In November, a special issue of Corazón Latino was released in Mexico.

The first single from Bisbal's second album, "Bulería", premiered on 15 December 2003.

It reached number 1 on the charts and radio stations of both Spain and Latin America.

On 11 February, the eponymous album was released.

On 10 February 2004, he released his second album entitled Bulería, again produced by his friend Kike Santander.

It found similar success in Spain and throughout Latin America, hitting the diamond certification with more than 1 million albums sold in Spain alone, and becoming the best Spanish seller of 2004.

As of 2019, David Bisbal has sold more than six million records in Spain and America, getting 69 platinum albums, 20 gold and two diamond.

Corazón Latino and Bulería have each received an IFPI Platinum Award, the official certification of having sold over one million copies across Europe.