El Dasa

El Dasa (given name Dasahev López Saavedra) is a charting, Latin Grammy-nominated singer of regional Mexican music from Hermosillo, Sonora. His life is the inspiration for the El Vato television series from NBC Universo in which he stars. El Dasa began his musical career at age 15 as the frontman for Banda Costa Azul in his hometown; he stayed with the band for three years. In 2008, he participated in the sixth and final season of the talent reality show La Academia Última Generación, but was eliminated in an early round. Undaunted, he moved to Los Angeles at 18 and was taken under the wing of Vincente Fernandez; the great singer hired the younger man to be his driver. El Dasa was relentless, continually singing mariachis around Fernandez's band and the man himself, so much so that Fernandez, completely impressed by his vocal abilities, asked him on-stage to sing a duet at the Gibson Theater in Los Angeles. Under Fernandez's patronage, El Dasa was signed to Fonovisia, where he began cutting singles and touring with top-level artists including Fernandez, La Arrolladora Banda el Limón, and El Coyote y Su Banda. While his 2012 debut album, Pa' La Raza, received a great deal of airplay and press, it didn't chart. Fonovisa wasn't discouraged: the label's A&R team continued to issue singles and videos from it until his sophomore release, Alegre y Enamorado, in 2014. The latter album topped the Mexican Regional Albums chart and hit number two on Top Latin albums, it also entered the bottom half of the Top 200 and was nominated for two Latin Grammys. A slew of singles from both albums proceeded to chart as El Dasa toured endlessly promoting his recordings. He signed with NBC Universio in 2016 for the El Vato series while continuing to issue digital and video singles including "Ya Me Vi," "Perdí el Sombrero" (2016), "Edición Especial," and the title track from Hijo del Desierto (2017). ~ Thom Jurek