Sergio Vallín

Sergio Vallín Loera (born May 26, 1973) is the lead guitarist of the Mexican band Maná. Vallín was born in Mexico City, where he lived up to the age of ten, when he moved with his family to Aguascalientes, capital of the state of the same name, which translates as "spring waters", making him consider himself as "Hidrocálido" meaning "Hydrocalid" since then.

Early music

Arriving in Aguascalientes, he has his first contact with music when he becomes part of a local student musical arrangement. So it was that from the age of ten he began to feel attracted to bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Doors. At thirteen, he receives his first salary as a musician, when he begins to give private guitar lessons to other young kids in his same age group. He forms "Wando" with his siblings Rocío and Fernando Vallín, and Emilio (who is now the drummer of Marco Antonio Solis "El Bucky". years. "Wando" won first place in the contest "Valores Juveniles Bacardí" in 1993 in the group category. Just to mentioned, Ana Barbara won first price 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 Sergio Vallín's style, and asked him to make an audition. Sergio was chosen after a casting of 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 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 "Déjame entrar".

Sergio has recorded three other studio albums Sueños Líquidos (1997), Revolución de Amor (2002) and Amar es Combatir (2006), as well as the "Unplugged" for MTV in 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 debuts 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" three songs have his authorship: the cumbia "Somos Mar y Arena", "Relax", and "Bendita tu Luz". Consacrated as one of the best Latin guitarists still playing, Sergio, who considers himself infatuated with flamenco and is an admirer of Paco de Lucía and Tomatito, has gotten 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".