The definitive and authorized biography of Mecano
Forty years ago, a teenager named José María Cano asked his brother Nacho and his girlfriend Ana
to accompany him to concerts at university dorms and bars in Madrid. There they met Miguel Ángel Arenas,
“el Capi,” who suggested Ana be the lead vocalist and secured a contract with CBS.
This is how Mecano was born, without imagining it would become the most important pop phenomenon in Spanish musical history.
But there are still unanswered questions about the group that sold more than twenty-five million records worldwide:
how was Mecano formed? Why did they provoke so much animosity in the Madrid music scene?
What internal tensions led to their breakup?
This biography traces the group’s history and answers all these questions, showing how,
even after their separation, Mecano has continued to be heard on the radio and in the collective memory.
Author’s biography
Javier Adrados was born in Moradillo de Roa (Burgos) and from a young age felt a special fascination for the musical world,
particularly for Mecano. He began his career as a collaborator at the multinational Virgin and later moved to Sony Music,
where he worked on the development of artists such as La Oreja de Van Gogh. He currently works in promoting various artists
and in music journalism. He is the only authorized biographer of Mecano.
