Luis Burgos

Luis Burgos was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican father and a Dominican mother. He has lived in New York City for over twenty years. At the age of 13, he begged his mother to buy him a guitar after being fascinated by the cover of an album by the infamous heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. After four lessons with a Santurce guitar instructor, there was no more money, so Luis set off on his own. His talents as a musician, composer, lyricist, and producer have been self-taught ever since.

Growing up in Santurce, Luis spent many a weekend hanging around the informal corner jam sessions known as bembé, learning the interplay of rhythm and lyrical phrasing, as well as how to turn everyday stories about homeland, love, and life into poetry. He also worked diligently on his guitar skills, playing along to the eighties arena rock (Journey, Chicago, REO Speedwagon, Air Supply) then popular on Puerto Rican radio. These diverse musical interests soon left him straddling the border of the growing feud between rockeros y cocolos.

At the age of 14, Luis arrived in the Bronx, New York, with his guitar and that one Mötley Crüe album. A whole new world of music was about to open up to him. His high school classmates introduced him to the energy and attitude of heavy metal artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Guns ‘n Roses, and Metallica. At home with his sister’s family, with whom Luis was living at the time, he learned to love the Spanish lyrics of romantic songs by artists such as Juan Gabriel, Rocio Jurado, Emmanuel, and Rafael. He practiced electric guitar riffs to the sounds of Randy Rhoads and Carlos Santana, while learning traditional aguinaldos and boleros from his brother-in-law.

For ten years, Luis brought together this eclectic, only-in-New-York combination of influences as guitarist and songwriter for the six-piece band Candela Soul. The group performed hundreds of times in New York City venues, won a local radio station’s 2004 “Talento Local” contest, traveled internationally, and was featured in a four-part series on Latin alternative music that aired on National Public Radio. Candela Soul’s performance of Luis’ song “Te Encontré” received airplay on New York’s 105.9 FM Latino Mix, and his song “Azúcar Lola” appears on the twentieth anniversary compilation CD of the Canadian Festival Nuits D’Afrique.

This year, two of Luis' songs were chosen to appear on the compilation album "Cuervoton No. 4." Sponsored by Jose Cuervo Tequila and produced by Estudio 201, Luis' songs "Juana (remix)" and "Cana" are featured alongside songs by Nina Sky, Zion, and Lumidee.

Luis also has contributed his guitar and arranging talents to other projects and artists. He arranged the music for a version of the Cablevision/News 12 theme song “We’re Closer to You;” played guitar on tracks for recording artist George Lamond (re-mix of “Solo Palabras”) and rapper Enemigo (Univision Records); and co-wrote the theme music for the BET documentary “Bring That Year Back: 2006.”

Since 2006, Luis has decided to dedicate himself exclusively to songwriting. Alongside his years of reading Spanish-language poets and lyricists such as Federico Garcia Lorca, Julia de Burgos, Tite Curet Alonso, and Manuel Alejandro, his musical influences include hip-hop and world music.