Ignacio Uriarte (singer-songwriter)

Ignacio Uriarte is a New York based singer/songwriter.

Early life

Uriarte was born in Manhattan, New York.  He is the eldest of 3 boys born to Susan and Ignacio Uriarte.  Ignacio has dual citizenship, U.S and Chile. 

Ignacio began his music career in elementary school at the age of 9, he already stood out during school plays causing many audience members to predict great musical accomplishments in his future.  He had a noticeable stage presence and was anxious to do something more.  He auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera at the age of 10, by singing “Happy Birthday” for the Children’s Chorus Director, Elena Doria.  Throughout his four-and-a-half years in the chorus he sang in over 30 Operas with such opera greats as Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Ben Hepner, Roberto Alagna, Renee Fleming and Denyce Graves.  Ignacio also performed in several operas directed by Franco Zeffirelli.  By age 15 his voice had changed and he left the Opera. While at the Opera Uriarte was greatly influenced by the classical music yet began discovering rock music, his favorites being The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Clash, Tool and Korn.

After he left the Children’s chorus he sang with fellow Chorus member and friend Carl Kranz in various Church choirs in New York City.  The two performed a solo-duet of “Pie Jesu” at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine on the Upper-West side of Manhattan.

At 16 while at a friend’s house, a fellow classmate named Frank Dal Pra showed Uriarte an original song.  The two began collaborating, and wrote many songs together.  Soon thereafter Uriarte began teaching himself the guitar and bass-guitar.  Dal Pra on guitar and Uriarte on piano and bass and another highschool buddy Jack Velsco-Mills on drums, the trio performed in local talent shows and at a Fleetwood pub and restaurant “The Bayou”.  Uriarte was kicked out of high-school chorus for poor behavior.

During the summer before College, Uriarte was signed with Indie label Genius Ent.  He recorded 12 tracks with owners/producers Greg Yates and Roger Chui.  Unsatisfied with the recordings, and the image the label was portraying, Uriarte left for Rome to continue studying.

Uriarte spent a year studying at the American University of Rome.  While in Rome, Uriarte performed in the Piazzas in Trastevere including Campo de' Fiori and Piazza Trilussa, he also performed with Ed Elg and Frank Dal Pra in bars and clubs in Trastevere.

While in Rome famed Steely Dan session guitarist Elliot Randall contacted Uriarte and brought drummer Alex Cromarty from England to Rome for a week of rehearsals. Randall had seen Uriarte perform at “The Bayou” in New York and saw potential however, things turned sour between Cromarty, Uriarte and Randall.   The three made a mono-track recording entitled the “Rome Sessions”.  Although nothing substantial and lucrative materialized from the recording, Dal Pra and Uriarte flew Cromarty over with money they made at a birthday-party and recorded an EP.  Not having a work visa Alex had to return to England, where he currently plays in the Rock Band Deeds of the Nameless.

After a year in Rome Uriarte, Dal Pra and local drummer Vincent Giangola formed Dellacane and began playing the “Spinning Wheel” in Bronxville, NY  The band played frat-parties and sorority parties up the east coast including Amherst College, Fairfield University, Yale, Union College, Hamilton College and SUNY Purchase.  In New York, Dellacane built a small but loyal fanbase and played venues such as Mercury Lounge, Crash Mansion, Webster Hall, The Knitting Factory, Galapagos Art Space and The Bitter End, where they had a residency. 

Dellacane made it into the final round of the Emergenza Music Festival at Webster Hall in New York City in 2007, and Uriarte was interviewed for The New York Times. The band toured the east coast for a year and recorded two live EP’s but broke up in the fall of 08’.

In 2008, Uriarte contributed songs to the soundtrack of a documentary called "Single" , written, produced and directed by Richard Atkinson and Jane Scandurra of Go Pictures and Films, LLC.

Personal life

Uriarte is a 2004 Graduate of Bronxville High School, a public school outside Manhattan.  He received his B.A in English literature from Hunter College in May, 2009.

Influences

The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Mozart, Bach, The Libertines, The Clash, The [...] Pistols, Squeeze, The Strokes, Aerosmith, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Billy Joel, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael Jackson, The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Pavarotti, The Animals, The Kinks, The Gypsy Kings, Julio Iglesias, Debussy, Gilbert and Sullivan.