Rosendo

Born in Madrid in 1954 and long associated with Carabanchel, Rosendo Mercado Ruiz first appeared on the Spanish rock scene with Ñu in the mid-1970s, before founding the trio Leño in 1977, known for an urban hard rock grounded in rock’n’roll and blues rock. With Leño he recorded Leño (1979), Más madera (1980) and ¡Corre, corre! (1982), records that established a dry guitar style, tight riffs and a songwriting attentive to everyday language. After the band split in 1983, Rosendo pursued a solo career with Loco por incordiar (1985), Fuera de lugar (1986), Jugar al gua (1988), La tortuga (1992) and Para mal o para bien (1994). From the late 1990s he refocused on the guitar-bass-drums trio format and developed a sparser, often mid-tempo rock in which the weight of the lyrics became more apparent, leading some to associate him with the notion of rock d’auteur. His discography continued with A tientas y barrancas (1998), Canciones para normales y mero dementes (2001), Vergüenza torera (2013) and De escalde y trinchera (2017). Rosendo announced his withdrawal from the stage in 2018, after more than four decades of career.