Smithers-based Cuban-Canadian Latin music innovator Alex Cuba has just achieved a Grammy hat trick, earning his third career Grammy nomination for his current album Lo Único Constante.
The project, his sixth solo album, is nominated for Best Latin Pop Album alongside projects by Shakira, Juanes, La Santa Cecilia and Natalia Lafourcade.
It’s Alex’s second consecutive nomination in the category, coming on the heels of an equivalent nod for his 2015 album Healer.
“This is both exciting and scary,” said Alex of the nomination, which was announced Tuesday morning. “I’m proud to be recognized for my independent efforts once again from a little town in northern B.C.”
VIDEO and PHOTOS: Home is where it becomes real for Alex Cuba
Over the course of the past two years, Alex’s unique story has been told to Canadians through features on CBC’s The National and CTV’s W5, among other places. It’s the story of an artist raised in a musical family in Cuba who found love in Canada in 1995 while touring abroad in his father’s band.
It’s also the story of how settling in remote northern British Columbia with his wife inspired Alex to deconstruct Cuban music, taking apart its complexity, recapturing its soul, and infusing it with influences from North America and Europe — and ultimately creating a sound so completely original it has captured the imagination of the Latin music establishment, making Alex an in-demand collaborator and multiple award-winner.
Alex has won two Junos and four Latin Grammys for his work, he’s co-written with major Latin music stars such as Grammy winner Luis Enrique and Flamenco sensation Antonio Carmona, and he co-wrote Mi Plan, the debut Spanish language recording by Grammy-winning Canadian pop star Nelly Furtado.
And still he continues to innovate.
Last year, Alex performed at the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill by unveiling a new version of his song Directo with lyrics partially translated into Wit’suwet’in, a language spoken by the First Nations of the Bulkley Valley area where he lives.
This year, Alex took part in the Canada C3 voyage and co-wrote a song with Heather Rankin celebrating the coming together of artists from diverse backgrounds.
Alex recently released the second single and video from Lo Único Constante, the charming, upbeat, Piedad de Mi.
He is currently shooting a third video for El Dia de Hoy.
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– Submitted article