Claudia Brant

Biography

Born Claudia Alejandra Menkarski in July 21, 1968 in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she grew up. Influenced by her parents, who listened to a diverse range of music (Frank Sinatra to Nino Bravo), Claudia Brant discovered her love for music at the age of six, when she composed her first song. Seeing this, her parents gave her a guitar and she started playing it by ear. Then they put her in guitar lessons. Then she learned to play also bass and piano. Writing verses, however, was very easy for her and because she had no siblings she spent hours in her room trying to find chords and invent melodies, while writing her songs and recording her compositions on cassette. Her first experiences in music she lived it in the study. She worked in the recording of jingles and even got a contract with a label. Between the ages of 16 and 17 she worked in Argentina writing songs about the typical problems of adolescents. Diego Torres and Cristian Castro recorded her songs, which led her to Los Angeles, California. Later, she returned to Buenos Aires, where she studied architecture.

Professionally, she started composing at 19 or 20 years and started singing in 1991. It was in this year when she won the Festival OTI in Mexico with the theme ‘¿Dónde estás ahora?’ ('Where are you now? )". Between 2006 and 2007 she began working with regional Mexican music exponents. Despite all her success, "No me doy por vencido", a song recorded by Luis Fonsi (and composed by both artists) in 2008, has been the song most successful of Claudia Brant so far. The song reached # 1 in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Spain, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and most of Central and South America. She has also released five solo albums that include songs written for other artists. She composed songs like "Más" (More) by Ricky Martin, "Gritar" (Scream) and "Respira" (Beathe) by Luis Fonsi, "Camina conmigo" (Walk with me) by Haash or "Hasta el final" (Until the end) by Il Volo.

In 2011, she released the album "Manuscrito" (Manuscript), an album containing her own versions of musical hits composed by her but sung before by other artists: "No me doy por vencido", of Luis Fonsi, "Ni rosas ni juguetes", of Paulina Rubio, etc.).

Awards and Recognitions

She won the OTI Festival in 1991 and the Festival of Viña del Mar in 1994 or 1995 with the theme "Como ayer", as author and interpreter, being the first representative of Argentina to win it. The two songs were sung by her. Brant was awarded as Songwriter of the Year of Latina SESAC in three consecutive times in United States from the period 2006–07, addition to the Latin Grammy and Premio Oye (Hey Award.) Brant was nominated for Producer of the Year at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2004. In 2010, Claudia Brant was awarded three international awards: the Latin Grammy 2009 (from the Latin Academy of Recording United States) in Las Vegas for his song "Aquí estoy yo" (Here I Am), Hey Prize 2009 (Academy Mexican Music) in Guanajuato, México, by "No me doy por vencido" (No I give up) (that was included in the category of Song of the Year), and the title of Songwriter of the Year 2009 awarded by the Monitor Latino Convention in Los Angeles, California.

The latter has received the decision of a broad panel of representatives from radio and the music industry across the United States. To this is added to SESAC Latina Award # 1 in 2009 for his song "Aquí estoy yo" (Here I Am), that was performed by co-author Luis Fonsi with David Bisbal, Aleks Syntek and Noel Schajris and swept the charts in Latin America and Spain, and spent 35 weeks at the top of the Billboard chart in the U.S. She also received two nominations Latin Grammy for the album "Manuscrito (Manuscripts)" in early 2011, for best recording´s engineering and by Best Female Pop Vocal Album. In addition, in that same year, she received the third nomination in the twelfth edition of the Latin Grammys, that she shared with the Cuban Desmond Child, on the "Song of the Year" category for the song "Lo mejor de mi Vida eres tú" (Best of my life is you), played by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin and the Spanish Natalia Jimenez.

Personal life

Currently the artist is divorced and lives in Los Angeles since 1998, with her twins, a girl and a boy of 11 years of age. She dreams of making the crossover into English and record an album in her own voice, playing and recording her greatest hits.

Curiosities

Discography

Claudia Brant is not only a composer but also a singer. These are her records: