Abraham Mateo (born in San Fernando (Cadiz), Spain on August 25, 1998) is a Spanish teen actor and pop singer. Abraham was discovered in 2009, when he was ten, by producers of the record label EMI Music Spain, who happened across Abraham's videos in Youtube and his multiple performances in the television show Menuda Noche on the Canal Sur TV of Andalucia, Spain. His self-titled debut album, Abraham Mateo, was released in Spain in December 2009. The album was produced by the spanish composer and producer Jacobo Calderon, who has worked before with internationally recognized latin singers such as Raphael, David Bisbal, and Luis Fonsi.

Beginnings

In 2006, when he was seven, he sang for the first time in public at the regional music competition for children "Veo Veo" organized by the Teresa Rabal Foundation in Andalucia, being awarded with a special mention of the jury. Two years later, he won the revelation award at the national music contest held in Murcia being selected to represent Spain at the "Veo veo" international competition.

In 2005, Abraham auditioned for the television show "Menuda Noche" on the Canal Sur TV of Andalucia but was not cast for the show. Two years later he attended "Menuda Noche" to support his older brother Tony Mateo, who has been chosen to sing in the show, but Abraham was surprised by the show's presenter Juan y Medio and sang in place of his brother. Since then, Abraham has been a frequent guest of "Menuda Noche" singing in front of internationally recognized latin singers such as Raphael, David Bisbal, David Bustamante, and Juan Luis Guerra, who have praised Abraham for his strong vocal abilities and stage presence. Raphael said about him: "That's singing without imitating anyone! You are a great singer!", David Bustamante: "You sing like the angels! Impressive! I think he is unique!", and David Bisbal: "I have no words! He has a wonderful technique, a very nice voice and a nice tessitura! I predict a huge success!".

First album

Since his first appearances in "Menuda Noche", a friend of Abraham's family posted in Youtube videos of his performances, which soon enjoyed great popularity and caught the attention of producers of EMI Music Spain. Early 2009, when he was ten, he signed a contract with EMI Music Spain and released in December of the same year his debut album, recorded in Madrid, under the title Abraham Mateo.

The album produced by Jacobo Calderon and Jose Luis de la Peña contains twelve songs, seven of them were composed by Calderon himself and four tracks are covers of popular latin songs such as Raphael's "Cuando tu no estas" ("When you are not here"), Alejandro Sanz's "Los dos cogidos de la mano" ("The two holding hands"), Laura Pausini's "La soledad" ("La solitudine/The loneliness") and Luis Fonsi's "Imaginame sin ti" ("Imagine me without you"). The album includes a duet with the french teen singer Caroline Costa, the runner-up in the 2008 edition of the television contest Incroyable Talent, the french version of America's Got Talent. Abraham and Caroline recorded for the album a spanish version of Badfinger's "Without you", the song has also been covered with great success by Mariah Carey. To promote the album, Abraham has toured through several cities in Spain and performed in many spanish radio and television shows, including the popular television programs Mas que baile, Tu si que vales, the show of Maria Teresa Campos, and the Christmas Eve Special of the Telecinco channel. He was also invited to perform at the International Carnival Maspalomas in Gran Canaria.

In summer 2010, he recorded his first song in english, a cover version of the Celine Dion hit I surrender.

Acting

Abraham acted in the TV movies "Días sin Luz" (2009) and "Raphael: una historia de superacion personal" (2010) both produced by Antena 3 Films and broadcasted by the spanish television channel Antena 3. In the biopic "Raphael: una historia de superacion personal", he portrayed the worldwide acclamed spanish singer Raphael in the early years of his career and sang some of the vocal tracks.

Official Website: www.abraham-mateo.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.