Kalimba

• Genre: Latin Pop

About

Born Kalimba Marichal in 1982, the pop star better known by his first name is one of the most recognizable faces among younger Mexican pop stars. Of Afro-Mexican extraction, Kalimba has always had a more international focus than some of his compatriots, and it shows in his music. Without alienating his Latin pop fan base, Kalimba draws on soul, jazz and funk to inform his eclectic sound, and he has an elastic voice that can bring equal fervor to ballads or up-tempo numbers. As a kid, Kalimba spent three years singing with the pop group La Onda Vaselina, which also included his sister M'balia. He then left to pursue soccer for several years, returning to La Onda (renamed OV7) for just a year before he recorded his solo debut, Aerosoul, at the tender age of 21. Best known in the U.S. for voicing Simba in the Disney film The Lion King, Kalimba released his sophomore effort, Negroklaro, in 2007.

- Sarah Bardeen