Gabriela Flores
biography

Musically speaking, 2016 was a very productive year for Gabriela Flores. In January, this versatile bilingual singer/songwriter teamed up with Jairo Lugone, a talented young music producer from the City of Baigorria (Province of Santa Fe, Argentina) with whom she recorded enough tracks to fill an album. She explains, “Jairo Lugone is that needle in a haystack and I was lucky enough to find him…he’s humble, creative, hard-working and at 24, a true talent. He’s a pleasure to work with and in an area (Rosario, Argentina) where a good music producer is hard to come by, I couldn’t have been more fortunate”.
Gabriela was born in New York City on a snowy day in November…her parents named her Gabriela Renee. They had just moved from Argentina a few months earlier to the NYC area, with no work, no place to stay and a language barrier. But this didn’t stop the young immigrating couple from Buenos Aires; they were determined to live the American Dream.
Gabriela was just as determined when, at a very young age, she discovered her passion for music. The family relocated to Argentina for a couple of years and she was 8, to be exact, when a Buenos Aires recording studio hired her to sing a series of jingles for different TV spots. Around the same time the music director at the prestigious “Teatro Colon Argentino” (-The Argentine Columbus Theatre-, main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is ranked the third best opera house in the world by National Geographic, and is acoustically considered to be amongst the five best concert venues in the world) showed interest in this young soprano. After auditioning, Gabriela was invited to join the theatre’s Children’s Choir, a very coveted spot. And so her journey in music began.
Gabriela has travelled back and forth from the US to Argentina several times and has now settled in the Province of Santa Fe with her family. Wherever she’s gone, her love for music has followed. In the 90’s she met her husband, Javier Riva, a fully schooled musician turned producer; and that is when she feels her true training in music began. She recalls, “We met at the recording studio of a mutual friend (Nestor Yanani) in Buenos Aires, they were getting material ready for a tour. I wanted to sing professionally, not only record in a studio but actually sing on stage, with other musicians. And so within a couple of weeks I joined their band....we toured Argentina and the following year the East Coast in the US. No voice lessons could’ve ever taught me what I’ve learned performing on stage…talk about –on the job training-!

The release of a dance/pop CD soon followed, Javier and Gabriela performed under the stage name “Thru Box” and were signed to the Argentine label Roses Records. All songs were written by the duo. Towards the end their contract a tempting offer from Polygram Records took the couple back to the US. Javier continued producing for Polygram and eventually opened his own production company. Gabriela put together a band and started performing her original material in Manhattan’s underground scene, in venues such as The Village Underground, CBGBs, SOBs, The Bitter End, among others. As an ASCAP member she participated in several ASCAP Acoustic events and has also shared the stage with huge acts such as Thalia, Selena, Carlos Ponce and Marc Anthony, among others, in several music festivals.
In 2005, Gabriela was invited to perform in a series of shows at “Back-Stage at The Grammy’s” and had the honor to sit by Clive Davis at the Live Televised Award Show…she recalls, “It was unbelievable…I was there savoring it all, taking it all in…watching artists like Madonna and Kelly Clarkson perform on stage…I had this feeling of belonging…and knowing that for me, it’d only be a matter of time…”

“Gabriela Flores”, her self-titled CD, was independently released in 2007. In the pop/rock genre, it contains 15 tracks in both Spanish and English and its available thru cdbaby.com and ITunes.
Album reviews:
“Strong, edgy and powerful, pop-rock at its best... a radio friendly, label ready production aimed at both the American and Latin markets." -Beatriz Pintos, Radio DJ at Amor 93.1fm & Sirius Satellite Radio.
"...Gabriela Flores’ ready-for-the-spotlight CD is a constellation of originality, from the terrific lyrics, to the edgy, yet tender vocals that shine on song after song..." -Angelo Figueroa, founding editor of People en Español magazine, and current editorial director of Tu Ciudad Magazine.

In 2011, at a time when musically oriented reality shows were very popular, Gabriela decided to give it a try. She auditioned for the Argentine version of America’s Got Talent, “Talento Argentino 2011” and made it all the way to the semifinals with her rendition of Proud Mary. Gabriela recalls, “Performing on live national television in front of millions of viewers can either make you or brake you… I remember the adrenaline and my heart pumping like crazy…at that particular moment of truth, when there are no second takes, you know you either got it or you don’t. After my performance I was able to confidently say I was born to reach millions with my music…I felt it in my heart”.

The following day, after that “Talento Argentino 2011” live television appearance, Gabriela was bombarded with e-mails and facebook friend requests. Job offers swamped her inbox…but one particular proposal caught her attention: a six month contract to perform on a “Vegas Style” show called “Noche Brillante” (Glittery Night), along with other Argentine celebrities. She was game! This entailed performing weekend shows non-stop January thru July. Gabriela explains, “I had never done theatre, so this was another full dosage of on-the-job-training….priceless!”

Gabriela feels the best is still to come and believes something within her changed in 2016, she recalls:
“I began aligning myself with the Universe and pushing my fears aside…and great things started happening. I met my awesome producer….began writing tons of new and better material….I’ve been contacted by people in the industry who have really motivated me and helped me a great deal in this ongoing development stage, for which I’m so grateful. And one day, out of the blue, my affirmation presented itself:
-I’m making it Big in the Music Business and with the Funds, I will help Change Lives-“
[email protected]
www.gabrielaflores.com
www.facebook.com/gabrielafloresmusic
www.soundcloud.com/gabrielaflores

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