Trailblazing

Chilean songwriter Christian Zalles is charting a course for success

By Karl Avanzini

Christian Zalles

Trailblazing and making his mark as one of the best songwriters in the Latin Music Industry, Cristian Zalles keeps enjoying the success of his long-running # 1 hit on Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks, "Cuidarte El Alma." The song, performed by world- renowned recording artist Cheyanne, remained in the Top 10 for over 22 weeks. With close to 40 songs published, 12 of them singles, Zalles has cemented his position as a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Cristian has been writing and singing music for 25 years and his perseverance has proven gold for this songwriter from Chile. He was one of the first songwriters signed to Warner/Chappell Music Latin, by the venerable and late Ellen Moraskie. Since then he has written for, among other artists, Ednita Nazario, Marcos Llunas, Tito Nieves, Julio Iglesias Jr, Angel Lopez and Cheyanne. As is if that were not enough, he recently won the award for Songwriter of the Year at the Premios La Gente 2004, and a nomination for Song of the Year for the Premio Lo Nuestro 2005 Awards. With many upcoming releases written by the talented songwriter, we can expect to hear a lot more from Christian Zalles.