Ramon Ayala and Virlan Garcia

Born to his music playing father Ramón Cobarrubias, Ayala picked up an accordion at the unusually young age of six and soon got rather proficient at it. Inspired to support his modest family’s situation the accordionist began playing in host of different public places and honed his skills and musical interests.

The musician’s first excursions into a band was the Los Jilgueros de Marin followed a little time after by the group Los Pavorreales. After moving to Reynosa, Mexico in the early 1960s, still only a teenager, Ayala pioneered modern conjunto music collaborating with the likes of Cornelio Reyna, the late bajo sexto guitarist, who together formed Los Relámpagos del Norte. It didn’t take long for the pair to start making waves within contemporary latin music, the duo released their first single “Yo No Llores” in 1963 ahead of their eponymously-titled debut album.

Until 1971, Los Relámpagos del Norte revolutionised the entire appeal of norteño music, which at the time was seen as wholly cantina music. The pair livened the sound up, modernised the lyrics and together recorded a total of 20 albums together, with a host of classics under their belt.

In 1971 Cornelio Reyna left the group and Ayala formed the Ramón Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte with vocalist Antonio Sauceda. However Sauceda soon left and made way for Eliseo Robles, who alongside Ayala proved to be legends of the norteño genre, artistically surpassing all of their peers and becoming the standard for the genre. During this time Ayala experienced his greatest commercial and critical success in both Mexico and the U.S. with hits including “Un Rinconcito En El Cielo” and Chappa de Mi Amor”.

By the mid-1980s Robles left the group struggling to handle the pressure and Antonio Coronado took tenure as the band’s singer. After eight albums with Ramón Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte Coronado also left the group making way for Mario Marichalar. The new singer took the band in a new, younger and livelier direction and appealed to a more youthful audience.

Ayala is revered for his founding of modern norteño music, has released of over 105 albums and is one of the highest-selling Latin artists of all time. He has been nominated for multiple Grammy awards, has won an American Grammy for his album “En Vivo… El Hombre Y Su Música” in 2001, and two Latin Grammy awards for the albums “Quémame Los Ojos” and “El Numero Cien”.