Francisco Fabián Céspedes Rodríguez, popularly known as Francisco Céspedes or simply Pancho Céspedes, is a prominent Cuban singer and composer; he was born in Santa Clara.

Music was always his passion, and for it, he gave up his medical studies and joined several Cuban orchestras, such as Pucho López’s group, with whom he traveled to Spain for the first time at the turn of the 1990s.

He was also a member of the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra, where he sang songs of his own creation and from the song movement known as Feeling. With the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra, Francisco toured throughout Cuba and later traveled to Mexico. He established his residence there with the goal of launching a musical career and obtained Mexican citizenship in 2003.

In Mexico, he began his career performing in bars and nightclubs. In 1992, the famous singer Luis Miguel selected a song by Francisco Céspedes, “Pensar en ti,” to include on his album, “Aries.” The song became one of the album’s standouts. Later in 1996, Luis Miguel added another song by the Cuban musician, “Qué tú te vas,” to his album, “Nothing is the same.”

In 1997, she participated in the Viña del Mar Festival, representing Mexico with her song “Hablo de ti.” She placed second at the event. That same year, she released her debut solo album, “Vida Loca.” Consisting of chart-topping songs such as “Vida Loca,” “Se Me Antoja,” “Remolino,” “Señora,” and “Todo es un misterio,” this album became one of her most successful internationally in countries such as Mexico, Spain, the United States, Peru, and Chile.

With Vida Loca, he won five times Platinum certification in that country, three Amigo Awards for “Best Latin New Artist,” “Best Latin Male Soloist,” and “Best Latin Album,” and an Ondas Award for “1998 Latin New Artist.”

The following two years, 1998 and 1999, Francisco Fabián Céspedes Rodríguez continued on an extended tour through several Latin American countries and Spain. In the latter, he performed several times as a result of the huge success of his album. Around this time, he was invited to sing in Spanish at Barbra Streisand’s wedding.

In 1999, her second production, ¿Dónde está la vida? (Where Is Life?), was released and earned platinum sales in Mexico. It achieved notable international success, as the song ¿Dónde está la vida? (Where Is Life?) was the theme song for the soap opera “La Casa en la Playa.”

Ay Corazón (Oh My Heart) is the title of his third album, recorded in 2002 in Mexico City. It allowed Francisco Céspedes to establish himself as a great composer and maintain both his high musical quality and international acclaim.

“They Say the Soul”/Greatest Hits, from 2004, consisted of two new songs, “They Say the Soul” and “Lloviendo ausencia” (It’s Raining Absence). It also included duets with Remolino, with Ana Belén; and Vida Loca, with Milton Nascimento.

The following year, Autorretrato was released, with the subtitle Okán Eyo, which in Yoruba means “things of the heart, problems of the soul,” summarizing the nature of the album. It consists of thirteen previously unreleased tracks. It was produced in Cuba by Francisco and Dagoberto González Jr., a prominent Cuban artist producer.

In 2006, he recorded a tribute album to traditional Cuban musician Ignacio Villa, Con el permiso de Bola (With Bola’s Permission). It was produced by José Luis de la Peña and Jacobo Calderón. It also included a DVD with a documentary about the making of the album. This video, which runs just over an hour, was directed and produced by Mexican filmmaker Aldo Rohlfs. The photography was done by Adolfo Pérez Butrón.

The album features twelve tracks made popular by Bola de Nieve. It features musicians such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano), Ignacio Berroa (drums), and Carlos del Puerto (double bass). Among the songs are: “Oh Love,” “Get Out of Me,” “I Can’t Be Happy,” “Drume Negrita,” “Goodbye Happiness,” “My Soul,” “Absence,” “You Have to Love Me,” and “If You Could Love Me,” among others. It also includes the tribute song “Bola de Nieve” by Carlos Varela.

With this production, Francisco Céspedes received a GRAMMY nomination in 2007. In September of that same year, he was awarded the Excellence Award at the LATIN PRIDE NATIONAL AWARDS (Latin Pride Award).

Later, in June 2009, his seventh album, titled Te Acuerdas, was introduced to the music world. On it, he collaborated with musicians such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano), Ignacio Berroa (drums), Armando Gola (bass), and Richard Galliano (accordion). For this album, Pancho Céspedes received Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations for Best Pop Album.

In 2010, he recorded a duet album with Armando Manzanero, called Armando un Pancho. On this album, Manzanero sang Céspedes’ songs, and Céspedes performed Manzanero’s songs.

In February 2011, Francisco Céspedes released his DVD-CD album, Más cerca de ti (Closer to You). It features a live recording of a concert the Cuban musician gave at a small bar in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Más cerca de ti was produced by Francisco Cespedes, Aneiro Tano, and Jorge Avedano. It consists of 18 tracks, five of which were premiered at that performance, and the rest are the pieces that made him famous. These include Donde esta la vida (Where is Life), Pensar en ti (Think of You), Nadie como tu (Nobody Like You), Morena (Morena), Senora (Senora), and Vida Loca (Crazy Life).

In his work as a composer, many of his boleros have been performed by international musical greats such as Luis Miguel, Ana Belen, and Milton Nascimento. His songs capture his experiences in a very romantic way.

He starred in the Walt Disney Animation Studios animated comedy film “The Princess and the Frog.” He co-authored the voice work for the Spanish version with Mexican comedian Victor Trujillo, among others. He plays Louis, a jazz-loving, trumpet-playing swamp-dwelling lizard. The film was executive produced by experienced director John Lasseter and Peter Del Vecho. He also provided the Spanish dubbing for The Prince of Egypt.

Discography: Vida Loca (1998); Where Is Life (2000); Oh Heart (2002); They Say the Soul (Greatest Hits) (2004); Self-Portrait (2005); With Bola’s Permission (2006); Do You Remember (2009); Armando un Pancho, a duet with Armando Manzanero (2010); Closer to You (2011).