Kel
Birth nameRaquel Calderón Argandoña
Born (1991-02-14) February 14, 1991 (age 33)
Santiago, Chile
GenresPop, pop rock
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
InstrumentVocals
Years active2006 – present
LabelsYoung Money · Cash Money · Kon Live

Raquel Calderón Argandoña (born February 14, 1991) is a Chilean-American actress and singer.[1] She became known at a very early age for being a daughter of the television star Raquel Argandoña de la Fuente and the attorney Hernán Calderón Salinas.[2] Raquel began her acting career in 2006, in the television series Karkú. The band Six Pack, created by the series, gave start to her musical career. She went solo in 2008, releasing 3 singles and an album under the stage name Kel. Also, in February 2008, Raquel Calderón was crowned Miss Teen Chile 2008.

Professional career

edit

Television

edit

Calderón, the year 2006 began her career as actress in the infantile miniseries of TVN called Karkú. The series was released on February 5, 2007, and lasted some months.

As almost all the infantile and pre-teen series on the Chilean television, Karkú also created a musical group, with the series' actors as members. The group was called Six Pack.[1] Finally, they recorded a disc, that was released in 2007. In spite of the fact that the group did not have a main vocalist, Calderón made herself the main member attracting most attention, probably because she was relatively better known than the others. Six Pack, that debuted on stage on July 21, 2007, received mixed reviews.

Due to the group's success, Kel's recording company started preparing a solo career for her. She began taking singing and guitar classes with the Uruguayan singer and musician Gonzalo Yáñez.[3]

At the end of the year, her producing company My Friend obtained a contract with the television channel Canal 13 for a new juvenile teleseries called Antonia. The contract with a rival network displeased TVN.

On January 2, 2008, conflicts between Raquel, her father Hernán Calderón, and the My Friend Entertainment producing company resulted in an abrupt termination of her contract. Her participation in Karkú, Six Pack and Antonia was cancelled.

On January 10, 2008, shortly after losing her role in Karkú, she moved into Hidden Hills, CA, in the U.S. searching for better opportunities to develop a singing career. She made the top news in the chilean tabloids, that criticized her parents for letting Kel move alone at the age of 17 and buying her a $5 million house in a condo with her parents funds. She gained notoriety when she met rapper Tyga, her neighbor, and started dating him on the same year.

On June 2, 2008 she met long-time Tyga's friend, the Grammy-awarded producer Akon and signed a distribution deal with Kon Live to release one studio album. Shortly after she signed a record deal with Cash Money Records, label who where at the time trying to expand their genre to pop music, signing Austin Mahone too.

On February 1, 2009 rapper Tyga confirmed his engagement with Kel, and in February 3, 2009 they moved into a mediterranean-style mansion in Calabasas, CA, very near to her old house, without revealing the price. On March 20, 2009, Kel moved back to her old home in Hidden Hills citing personal reasons, which lead into a break-up with rapper Tyga. She said via Twitter that they needed time.

On April 20, 2009, after a month of rumors Kel confirmed they parted ways. Shortly after, in May 6, 2009, they went back together moving into another mansion in Kel's neighbourhood Hidden Hills, CA.

The couple married secretly in Barbados on December 24, 2009, outside the U.S., to avoid the media attention.

On early 2010, she began working on the production of her first album with Hit-Boy as the executive producer. She announced the title of her album via Facebook, naming it Something 'Bout Kel.

A song called Poor Me (Pour Me A Drink) leaked online on January 14, 2010 and eventually went viral. Her label, Cash Money Records, Kon Live and Kel decided to publish the song on January 16, 2010 via the iTunes store along with a music video on the Vevo platform. The song debuted at #1 at the Billboard Hot 100 making Kel's first big hit in the U.S. It was featured on an ad campaign for the Lamborghini Aventador 2011 model. It was written by Kel and produced by Hit-Boy and Detail.

The second single for the album, Luv Me Betta with uncredited vocals from Zendaya was released through Cash Money Records and Kon Live on February 14, 2010 for the Valentine's Day eve. Written by Kel and produced by british Diplo and Hit-Boy, critics noticed her dubstep influences on the beat. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 following the success of her first single.

It was also featured on an ad for soda company Pepsi which aired worldwide making the song an instant success on many countries outside the U.S., peaking at #1 in 20 countries, including United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, the first big song in her home country.

A music video for the song was released on March 1, 2010 via MTV and Vevo at the same time, hitting 5 million views in just 10 hours.

Her album went ready to pre-order on the iTunes Store on March 11, 2010 including two new songs named All In Fours and Rol' One For Ya featuring husband Tyga. These song was criticized by it's explicit content, perhaps both of them became great hits in the U.S.. Kel later released her full album for fist listen on Jay-Z's Tidal.

In February 2008, Raquel was crowned Miss Teen Chile 2008.

On March 16, 2008, Kel was an opening act for Belinda at her Movistar Arena (then Arena Santiago) concert. She sang 6 tracks from her album.[1]

On July 3, 2008 Kel released her first solo album, No Molestar!.[2][4] The album was produced by Gonzalo Yáñez and released via Feria Music Records.[2][5][6] No Molestar! was announced during the Viña del Mar International Song Festival but was delayed due to some setbacks.[7]

Punks incident

edit

At the release of her first disc No Molestar!, Chilean punks gathered outside the record shop in Santiago where Kel was going to release the album. The punks gathered to protest and express their disapproval of Kel's song "Me Creo Punky" ("I believe I'm a punk"), a pop song whose music video features Kel and other people dressed and behaving like punk stereotypes. The punks throwed objects from the street into the music store and police had to be called to the place. Despite the police action, the release event had to be cancelled. Kel later declared she was not scared by the punks.[8]

University

edit

Currently, Kel is a law student.[9] She entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile in 2010.

Controversy

edit

Raquel Calderón (Kel) does not compose her own songs, they are composed by the singer-songwriter Gonzalo Yáñez. The autograph session dedicated to the releases of her first album and the single "Me Creo Punky" on July 3, 2008, was cancelled due to the large gathering of punks who came to protest against the song "Me Creo Punky".

Discography

edit

Singles

edit

Studio albums

edit

Awards

edit
Year Nominee / work Award Result
2007 Raquel Calderón BKN Awards 2007, Actriz joven más BKN Nominated
Six Pack (group) Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica, Mejor artista nuevo centro Won

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "Raquelita Calderón lanzará disco solista teloneando show de Belinda en Chile". La Tercera (in Spanish). La Tercera. 2008-01-26. Archived from the original on 2008-02-13. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
  2. ^ a b c "Kel lanza su primer disco como solista". La Tercera (in Spanish). La Tercera. 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
  3. ^ "Quieren lanzar a Raquelita como solista". Terra.cl (in Spanish). TKG.cl. 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
  4. ^ "Kel: "El disco se llama No molestar, porque viene con hartos prejuicios"". La Tercera (in Spanish). La Tercera. 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
  5. ^ "El íntimo encuentro de Raquel Calderón y Paolo Meneguzzi" (in Spanish). 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
  6. ^ "Feria del Disco - Kel - No Molestar album details" (in Spanish). Feria del Disco. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
  7. ^ "Por fin Kel lanza su anunciado primer disco: "No molestar!"" (in Spanish). Empresa El Mercurio S.A.P. 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
  8. ^ "KEL Y LA ENEMISTAD DE LOS PUNKIES: "HAY COSAS MÁS IMPORTANTES POR LAS QUE SALIR A MANIFESTARSE"" (in Spanish). Terra.cl. 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
  9. ^ "Raquel Argandoña se quiebra en pantalla al hablar de duro incidente protagonizado por su hija". Empresa El Mercurio S.A.P. 2011-03-14. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
edit
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Miss Teen Chile
2008
Succeeded by


Category:1991 births Category:Living people Category:People from Santiago Category:Chilean television actresses Category:Chilean female models Category:Chilean women singers Category:Chilean people of Basque descent Category:University of Chile alumni