Osamu Menéndez Santana, a prominent young Cuban composer and singer, comes from a family closely linked to the arts. His father is the guitarist of the group Mezcla, Pablo Menéndez, and his mother is the renowned actress Adria Santana, who is also the grandson of the prominent North American singer Bárbara Dane.

Osamu made his artistic debut in the 1990s as a member of the group Havana, in which he played guitar and, along with the rest of the band members, was influenced by 1970s rock. With Havana, he participated in notable concerts at the Casa de la Cultura de Plaza (Calzada No. 909, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana), as well as on countless other important stages across the country.

Between 1992 and 1996, he participated in his first album with the group Havana, released on a Mexican label. The group became one of the most popular Spanish-language alternative rock bands. In 1997, Osamu traveled to Mexico with Havana, and during this period, his style shifted slightly toward Latin rock.

After twelve long and successful years with Havana, he began to think about his first solo album. The CD was released during a minor crisis within the group and was titled “Come into My Life.”

Already in 2008, with a little more solidity and artistic maturity as a solo artist, Osamu Menéndez Santana released his second CD, “Rock con sabor.” With a total of ten tracks, he was able to fuse the languages ​​of rock and pop with those prominent in Cuban music. The album includes a cover of Juan Formell’s “La candela” and others such as “No voy en tren” by Argentine Charly García and “Dame una razón” co-written with the prominent Cuban singer-songwriter José Luis Barba.

His most recent CD under the Bis Music label is titled “Life Can Change” and was preceded by the promotional album “Life Isn’t So Hard” presented at the Astral cinema in Havana (Calzada de Infanta No. 501, Centro Habana, Havana) and where guests included José Luis “el Tosco” Cortés, Polito Ibáñez, Pedrito Calvo, the singer of Orishas El Ruso, Leoni Torres, David Torrens, Pablo Menéndez, El Adversario, Nassiry Lugo, the brass of Mezcla, Patricio Amaro, Iván Latour, a string quartet and the ICRT Ballet. On this CD as well as on the first, Osamu’s wife, Yoraisy Gómez, singer and actress, was in charge of all the backing vocals.