Los Tres
Chilean rockers Los Tres ("The Three") emerged as one of South America's most influential rock acts in the 1990s, releasing nine albums between 1991 and 2000, and inspiring a wave of like-minded rockeros in their wake.
True its name, the group started as a trio in the University town of Concepción. Originally just Alvaro Henríquez, Roberto Lindl, and Pancho Molina, Los Tres added singer Ángel Parra in 1988 and moved to Santiago that same year. The group released its self-titled debut in 1991, and their mix of jazz, blues and rock-all sung in Spanish-helped galvanize the nascent rock en español movement (and helped them score a signing with Sony records, taking their music international).
Los Tres' biggest success came in 1995, with the release of their third album, La Espada y La Pared ("The Sword and the Wall"), which benefited from a push by MTV Latin America that made the singles "Dejate Caer" and "La Espada & La Pared" hits across South America. The band capitalized on their video star status by recording an "Unplugged" session for MTV Latin America the following year. The album that accompanied that performance was a hit throughout the region and, with its quadruple-platinum sales, remains Los Tres' best selling album to date.
After proving themselves in the commercial arena, Los Tres took a different direction in the second half of the '90s, exploring folk and traditional music through the lens of Latin rock. The group founded a folk festival in Santiago called Yein Fonda, and released an album of traditional cuecas and experimental, jazz-inflected huachacas called Peineta in 1988. But internal differences and poor sales of the band's subsequent pop records led to Los Tres' breakup in 2000.
The members went their individual ways, working on various new projects and bands-including the successful Angel Parra Trio-until February of 2006, when three of the band's four members remerged to announced a reunion. Alvaro Henríquez, Ángel Parra, and Roberto Lindl recorded and released Hagalo Usted Mismo ("Do It Yourself") the same year.-Tom Pryor