Antón Álvarez Alfaro (born July 16, 1990), known professionally as C. Tangana, is a Spanish rapper, singer and songwriter.
Álvarez was born on July 16, 1990, in Madrid to Antón Álvarez Muñoz, a former journalist, and co-founder of the communication agency Evercom and Patricia Alfaro Águila-Real, a former preschool teacher, who now works for her son's business.
He has a younger sister named Ana.
His father was born in Vigo to an entirely Galician family, and came to Madrid to study at university, whereas, his mother was born in Ifni and is of Andalusian descent.
Álvarez grew up around the Latina and Carabanchel districts, and later as a teenager, moved with his family to Pozuelo de Alarcón.
He attended Colegio San Viator.
2005
He began his musical career while in high school, rapping under the pseudonym Crema and releasing a seven-track EP titled Él Es Crema (2005).
He gained recognition in Spain as a member of the band Agorazein.
In 2005, he gained recognition as Crema as his freestyle demos began spreading online.
He focused on rap music and released a seven-track EP titled Él Es Crema (2005) and then two more (Madrid Files and Septiembre) in 2006.
After finishing his baccalaureate he studied philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid.
2011
Álvarez formed the band Agorazein with a group of friends in 2011.
That year he released a work entitled "C. Tangana", which was generally well-received, attracted many new followers, and was adopted by Álvarez as his new stage name.
In 2011 the band released their debut album in Spanish as independent artists titled Kind of Red.
Between 2011 and 2012 Álvarez self-released two albums: C. Tangana (2011) and LOVE'S (2012).
Tangana had replaced his particular style of short and direct phrases with short Anglicized phrases.
While playing music, he made a living working in a Pans and Company and in a Vodafone call center.
2013
He began to shy away from the media in January 2013 because he did not feel comfortable with it.
2014
In 2014 he released his first EP as an independent artist titled Trouble + Presidente.
2015
In 2015 he left his job to fully work on music.
2016
In 2016, Tangana began performing as a solo act under the stage name C. Tangana.
After releasing a number of singles in 2016, including "Lo Hace Conmigo", "Los Chikos de Madriz" and "Antes de morirme", Tangana attained mainstream success in Spain with the release of "Mala Mujer", later included in his debut studio album Ídolo (2017).
Agorazein released their final album Siempre in November 2016 and have been on an indefinite hiatus since then.
In 2016, Tangana signed a record deal with Warner Chappell Music and started working regularly with friend and producer Alizzz.
His first release as a signed artist was "Antes de morirme", a flamenco-pop collaboration with then-girlfriend Rosalía.
Tangana continued releasing songs throughout 2016.
2017
In 2017, Álvarez embarked on a tour in Latin America called C. Tangana Latino Tour.
When the tour finished, he announced his official agreement with the record company Sony Music Entertainment.
In April he released the lead single off his debut album titled "Espabilao".
One month later, "Mala Mujer" was released on digital platforms as the album's second single.
The song became wildly popular in Spain and in parts of Latin America.
The track became a top-five hit in Spain, was named song of the summer, certified three times platinum there, and was also certified gold in the United States.
A remix featuring Farruko and French Montana was released in September.
2018
He continued to explore urbano and hip hop music on his mixtape Avida Dollars (2018), which spawned the top twenty single "Llorando en la Limo".
Tangana continued to release standalone singles to commercial success such as "Bien Duro", "Booty" and "Nunca Estoy".
He experimented with flamenco and Latin music on his second studio album El Madrileño (2021), which was nominated for the Premio Ruido and received a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Album of the Year.
El Madrileño became the best-selling album in Spain in 2021.
Throughout his career, C. Tangana has won nine Latin Grammy Awards as songwriter and as performer, two Premios Odeón and a LOS40 Music Award among others.
He has also been nominated for a Grammy Award, two MTV Europe Music Awards and two UK Music Video Awards.
The song was a sleeper hit until late 2018, when Rosalía's career started growing internationally and the song was included in the soundtrack of the Spanish Netflix show Élite.
