Alba Gárate (born December 18, 1980), better known by her stage name, Lantana, is a Spanish singer, songwriter, musician, producer and actress. She was born in Barcelona and raised in Fuengirola, Malaga. She moved to Madrid by the time she was 19 years old to study acting and pursue her musical career. She was signed with EMI/Virgin by 2006 and Rubie Music in 2010. She was nominated to several important Spanish awards, including The 21st Goya Awards, MTV Spain Awards, Televisión Española Awards Album of the Year and The Spanish Music Awards. She currently lives in Berlin, Germany.
Biography
Lantana was born in Barcelona and raised in the southern city of Fuengirola, Malaga. It was here where she started to feel her passion towards music. She remembers «I started writing on the school bus. I would sit by the window on rainy days and I would just make songs up». Her family had a pub and by the time she was 14, she started singing in rock bands and working in a local kareoke bar.[1] Later on she would move into the jazz scene, starting and directing several groups. She then moved to Madrid by the time she was 19 years old to pursue an acting career. Here she studied acting in ECAM and NIC of Madrid. She also studied with teachers such as Fernando Sansegundo, Fernando Piernas and Marta Alvarez. It was here where she began to sing standards and jazz in different clubs.
Music career
In Madrid she started to write her own songs again. She quickly began playing in singer-songwriter clubs and was soon noticed by then EMI/Virgin A&R, Javier Liñán, who offered her a record deal. At the same time, she acts in several short films and gets to be better known by her small role in the movie Azuloscurocasinegro by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, where she also wrote the original song "Imaginarte", which was nominated for "Best Original Song" at the Goya Awards
