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Andres Levin:: Biography

Born in Venezuela, Andres Levin spent his early years surrounded by music in his father’s recording studio. He started his own musical endeavors at the age of eight when he began playing guitar. Nine years later, Andres was awarded a full scholarship and left Caracas to study at The Berklee School of Music in Boston. A year later, Andres moved to New York City looking for more hands-on experience as a musician, recording engineer and producer. In New York, his time was divided between internships at top NYC studios and his composition studies at The Julliard School of Music and Brooklyn College.

After only a few weeks as an intern, Andres was hired by famed producer, Nile Rodgers as an in-house arranger and Synclavier programmer. With Nile, Andres collaborated as arranger, programmer and songwriter for Diana Ross, INXS, The B-52’s and many other high profile acts. In 1991, Andres started his own production company called 3rd Ear Music. He continued to write and produce tracks for artists such as Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, David Byrne, Mica Paris, Gladys Night and CC Peniston.

Having established himself within the R&B and Soul music community, Andres decided to devote more focus to the music of his heritage and began work with more Latin artists. Immediately embraced by the Latin music industry for his innovative sound, Levin’s production work quickly resulted in a number of GRAMMY nominated albums. During this time, Andres wrote and/or produced critically acclaimed records for both pioneering rock artists such as Aterciopelados, Los Amigos Invisibles, El Gran Silencio, Ely Guerra (and more), and famed Brazilian musicians such as Caetano Veloso, Marisa Monte, Carlinhos Brown and Arto Lindsay.

Levin’s work in these two Latin genres led to his contribution of tracks for the Red Hot Organization’s AIDS fundraising records Red Hot + Latin and Red Hot + Rio. The songs produced by Levin were so well received, that The Red Hot Organization asked Andres to take full production control of their next two album projects, Red Hot + Lisbon, and the Fela Kuti tribute album Red Hot + Riot (“#2 Album Of The Year”- New York Times and year-end TOP -10 lists of TIME, Rolling Stone & more). Over the course of these albums, Levin produced tracks for K.D. Lang, D’Angelo, Macy Gray, Meshell N’Degocello, Baaba Maal, Kelis, Common, and Dead Prez.

Following the Red Hot records, Levin decided to develop his own artistic outlet, founded his new production company Fun Machine and formed the group Yerba Buena in which he acts as bandleader, writer & producer. With a wealth of critical praise to their credit, the Grammy-nominated group has become the leading ambassadors of the modern Latin Fusion sound of New York City. Combining Afro-Cuban, Afro-Beat, Hip-hop and many more elements, Yerba has developed a highly unique musical style that Interview Magazine called “…the future sound of Afro-Latin Urban America” and the New York Times describes as “a musicologist's dream… a joyful, ever-evolving, border-hopping groove… something serious gained for [popular music].”

The continued success of both Levin’s production work and Yerba Buena has now brought Andres’ distinctive sound to the attention of Hollywood and he has begun to realize a long-desired career as a film composer. In 2006 Levin has already composed scores for “El Cantante” (the Jennifer Lopez/Marc Anthony biography of Latin Music legend Hector Lavoe) and the upcoming Lions Gate true crime thriller “Borderland”. Currently, Levin is teaming with Lopez’ production company once again, for the film “Reggaeton”. Songs by Levin have also been heard in recent years in popular TV shows and films like “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,” “Cheaper By The Dozen,” “ER,” “Entourage” and “3rd Watch.” Simultaneously, Levin has continued his collaboration with a vast array of world renowned artists, producing and/or writing recent records for Eliane Elias, Orishas, Ana Torroja, Paulina Rubio, Rob Thomas, and Miguel Bose.

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