David Bustamante is one of the most popular and beloved artists in the Spanish music scene. The Cantabrian singer’s career has been well known since his appearance in the early 2000s on Operación Triunfo. Since then, he has developed an extensive career with numerous albums and tours, in addition to participating in various television projects, boxing in La Velada del Año, or being the face of as many as thirteen different fragrances.
Nineteen platinum records, several gold albums and more than a thousand concerts back the musical career of David Bustamante, who has collaborated with music greats such as Juan Gabriel, Alejandro Fernández or Pablo López. His next big project is a starring role in the musical El Zorro, which debuts at Madrid’s Teatro La Latina at the end of the year. And he has already finished recording his next singer-songwriter-style album, whose release is scheduled for 2027.
But beyond his current successes, the man from San Vicente de la Barquera has spoken in numerous interviews about his childhood, his youth, his first steps in music, or his time as a bricklayer at the age of 14. “I earned 80,000 pesetas on the job. It was a life lesson to be on a roof, feeling cold and hot,” he said to the microphones of the podcast TheBundCast.
About those teenage years, in one of his many visits to El Hormiguero, David Bustamante recalled with humor that “I was a showy dresser, what outfits I wore”. I was neat, and my favorite look was pants that wouldn’t iron, hiking boots, a black leather waistcoat and a tightly fitted T-shirt showcasing my pecs. He didn’t forget to mention Pablo Motos, who at the time wore hair with a semi-mop with a blonde streak. It looked as if they had given me permission to leave prison.
The Musical Childhood of David Bustamante
Going further back in time, the singer has opened up about his early years in his Cantabrian hometown and how his initial flirtations with music unfolded. His first performance came at the age of twelve when he improvised at his cousin’s baptism, performing a song by Los Pecos. The young David later took three years of solfège, joined a tuna, and began performing in regional contests, local festivals, and theaters.
David Bisbal, Rosa López and David Bustamante in 2002.
But in his future musical career, a Christmas gift played a big role. At nine years old, David Bustamante wanted a guitar above all else and that is why he asked the Three Wise Men for it. But before discovering the instrument that would change his life, he lived a few moments of great disappointment that he has never forgotten. This is how he told Esquire magazine.
“As a child I always wanted to have a guitar and my parents pulled a prank on me. But I didn’t see it, because they hid it from me,” the artist recalled. “And then I saw the curtain a bit bulging there, I went over and a drama, or in other words, a crying jag, a happiness… because with that guitar everything started and with that guitar I have written the vast majority of the songs in my career.”
His Bittersweet Path Through Operación Triunfo
Ten years after that prank with a happy ending, David Bustamante made his triumphant entrance in the first gala of the musical competition Operación Triunfo 2001, where he finished in third place. The following year he was one of the backing singers in Rosa López’s performance at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song Europe’s Living a Celebration. But not everything was easy with his newly won fame. The singer became the target of criticism and jokes for his tendency to cry during the galas and the academy.
“Crying was something they used as a throwaway weapon; I never understood why they did it, and to this day I still don’t know,” he recalled in another appearance on El Hormiguero. Following this bitter experience, he wanted to send a message aimed especially at the younger audience: “It’s important to tell children that men also cry. I was one of the first to show my feelings on television.”
