Sergio Vallín

Early music

Arriving in Aguascalientes, he had his first contact with music when he became part of a local student musical arrangement. At the age of ten he began to feel attracted to bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Doors. At thirteen, he received his first salary as a musician, when he began to give private guitar lessons to other young kids in his same age group. He formed the band "Wando" with his siblings Rocío and Fernando Vallín, and Emilio (who is now the drummer of Marco Antonio Solís' Band "Los Bukis"). "Wando" won first place in the contest "Valores Juveniles Bacardí" in 1993 in the group category with "Puedo gritarlo frente a ti". (Ana Bárbara won first prize in the singles category in the same contest).

During a Luis Miguel concert, Sergio met guitarist Kiko Cibrián, to whom he gave a copy of his guitar demo. The demo passed from person to person until it reached Fher Olvera, Maná vocalist, who was looking for a guitarist for the band after the departure of César "Vampiro" López. Olvera was greatly impressed with Vallín's style, and asked him to audition. Fher was very pleased with Sergio's audition, telling Sergio: "eres un bombon asesino", meaning "he's really good". Vallín was chosen after trying out more than eighty guitarists and since 1994 has formed part of Maná.

Maná

After a few collaborations with the band, doing covers of "Celoso" from Los Panchos and "Fool in the rain" from Led Zeppelin, Maná recorded Cuando los ángeles lloran in 1995, the first studio album with Sergio as lead guitar. The album Amar es Combatir is considered by many as being the best of Maná, and was also a "point of inflection" in his career because of Vallín's experience with classical guitar and because of rock and roll riffs on songs like "Arrancame El Corazon," "El Viaje," and "Bendita Tu Luz".

Vallín has recorded four other studio albums Sueños Líquidos (1997), Revolución de Amor (2002), Drama Y Luz (2011), and Cama Incendiada (2015) as well as the Maná MTV Unplugged (1999).

Composer

The song "Jalisco Power" alongside Carlos Santana holds special significance to Sergio Vallín. They subsequently composed "Corazón Espinado" specially for Santana which now features on his production Supernatural. Sergio has admitted that playing next to the idol of his early life has been one of the most gratifying events of his career.

Sergio's importance to the group has grown through the four albums. He debuted as a composer in Sueños Líquidos, with the flamenco influenced song "Ámame hasta que muera". He debuted as a singer in Revolución de Amor with the theme "¿Por qué te vas?" dedicated to his parents. In this album he also composed "No voy a ser tu esclavo" and collaborated again with Santana in the guitar solo of "Justicia Tierra y Libertad". In Amar es Combatir he wrote three songs: the cumbia "Somos Mar y Arena", "Relax", and "Bendita tu Luz". Sergio, who is considered one of the best Latin guitarists, is an admirer of flamenco, Paco de Lucía and Tomatito, and has become involved in projects outside of Maná. He has worked as the producer of new artists like Chío and Serralde, and is currently working on the project "Escuela de Música México Contemporáneo".

Studio album