Early years (1994-1995) Childhood friends
Ricky Laureano and
Tito Auger formed the band in 1994 after looking for success in the
United States. Returning to
Puerto Rico, they joined long-time friends
Pedro and
Jorge Arraiza (with whom they had played before in
Los Arraiza Voladores) and officially started the band. After playing local gigs through the island, they started gaining the attention of the public and became one of the most sought bands in the island. Their
television debut was in
Voces en Función.
First Albums and Success (1996-1998) In April 1996, the band released their eponymous album
Fiel a la Vega, adding percussionist
Papo Román to its line-up. The
album spawned hits like "
Salimos de Aquí" and "
El Wanabí", both of which were released with videos. According to local
newspaper El Nuevo Día, the album was among the
Top 10 sellers of the year. In August 1996, the band played at
Hard Rock Cafe in
Old San Juan. In 1997, their first album was certified
gold for selling 50,000 units. Following the success of the album, the band held four sold-out concerts in July 1997 in the Performing Arts Center of
Guaynabo. The concert was released months later as the band's follow-up album, titled
El Concierto Acústico. In the concert, the band played acoustic versions of the songs in their first album as well as covers from
Latin American artists that influenced them such as
Roy Brown,
Leon Gieco,
Silvio Rodríguez, and
Haciendo Punto en Otro Son. The band continued to enjoy the success playing in front of 30,000 people at the Claridad Festival. That night an attendance record at the festival was set. That same year, they participated in the annual special show of
Banco Popular dedicated to
Bobby Capó. The band performed the song "Sale el Sol" in the show. In 1998, amidst relentless touring, they released
A Quien Pueda Interesar. The album was accompanied with videos for the songs "Bla, Bla, Bla", "Al Frente", and "El Panal". Following the success of this second album, they became the first Puerto Rican band to headline and sell out the
Roberto Clemente Coliseum. The concert was held on June 6, 1998. In November of the same year, they returned to the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, sharing the stage with local bands
Haciendo Punto en Otro Son and
Moliendo Vidrio. During the concert, the bands alternated sets performing the hit songs of each other, ending with a huge "junte" of all of the musicians singing several songs of each band. The concert was recorded and released later as an album titled
Un Junte para la Historia.
Deal with EMI Latin (1999-2001) In March 1999, the band organized a series of concerts at the
Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center where they performed their music with a symphonic orchestra, not The Puerto Rico Symphonic Orchestra, as it is sometimes stated. In the concert, they played their hits as well as covers from
Rubén Blades,
Danny Rivera,
Silvio Rodríguez, and Puerto Rican
Salsa superstars
El Gran Combo. At that time, the band finished negotiating a
record deal with
EMI Latin. Soon after, they released
Tres being their only CD with a major label. The band produced the hit singles "Canción en la Arena", "Solamente" and "Desde el Comienzo". In April 2000, the band toured the
East Coast of the United States with shows in
Miami,
Orlando,
New York City, and
Washington, DC. In June 2000, upon returning to
Puerto Rico, the band held a concert at the
Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum in
Bayamón. In August 2001, they collaborated with other artists in a song titled "Canción para Vieques", about the
Navy-Vieques protests.
Last albums (2001-2010) In November 2001, they parted ways with
EMI Latin. A month later, they released their second
live album titled
El Concierto Sinfónico. They followed it with presentations in the island and in
Florida, while they began to work in their fourth studio album. The album
La Prosperidad was released independently in December 2002 with the single "Hay que Edificar". They supported it with a national tour through all the island finishing on May 31, 2002, with a concert at the
Roberto Clemente Coliseum. In 2005, they released a greatest hits album to coincide with the band's tenth anniversary.
Desde el Comienzo: 1994-2004. On October 11, 2006,
percussionist Papo Román communicated by letter to his " friends, press, musicians and dear fieles" that he will be quitting the band after ten long years with them. He stated that, despite not regretting the time spent with the band, he needed to slow down and dedicate time to his family. Román is the father of six children, two of them teenage daughters. In 2007, the band was selected along with several
Latin rock groups to be part of a marketing campaign from
Absolut Vodka. The campaign features the popular
Absolut bottle silhouette using the motif of Fiel a la Vega's
first album. The other bands selected were
Los Amigos Invisibles (
Venezuela),
Charly García (
Argentina),
Los Jaivas (
Chile) and
Aterciopelados (
Colombia). In March 2007, the band recorded a live concert at the Ambassador Theater in
San Juan. At the end of the year, the concert was released in a
DVD titled
Sesiones: 10 Años Acústicos y Eléctricos. Also, according to their website, they started working on a new album. In April 2008, the band played at the
Movistar Music Fest 2008 in
Panama, with
Tego Calderón,
Calle 13, and
Zion. In early 2010, the band released the first single from their next album. The album, titled
Equilibrio, was released on February 9, 2010. On December of that year, the band started a series of concerts on the cities of
San Juan,
Ponce, and
Mayaguez. The concert in San Juan was supposed to be held at the
University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, but due to ongoing
strikes and protests at the university against the government, the band moved it to the Centro de Bellas Artes in
Caguas. During the concert, lead singer Tito Auger heavily criticized the government for its handling of the crisis at the university and the current state of the country. "In recent years, it has been made more evident that the alleged democracy that protects us is only a mask for the media, a simple
slogan. We are dominated by a
plutocracy, which is an industrial, business, and political class, that is getting stronger and richer" said Auger.
Recent years In recent years, the members have all been involved in their own projects. Singer Tito Auger has been performing with La Banda Acústica Rodante, which features fellow singers and musicians Mikie Rivera,
Rucco Gandía, Walter Morciglio, and Nore Feliciano, while guitarist Ricky Laureano has launched a solo career, releasing two albums and occasionally touring under the name of Laureano & Rodríguez, along with Joel Rodríguez. Laureano explained in an interview that "saying we [Fiel a la Vega] will continue to make music together is more complicated than ever because everybody is doing his own thing. Tito and I are dedicated full-time to music, Jorge is a chef, and Pedro is a professor; so it wouldn't be impossible, but it's an uphill battle." On October 18, 2014, Fiel a la Vega held a sold-out concert at Bahía Urbana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in front of nearly 5,500 people. During the concert, which lasted more than 3 hours, the band played songs that spanned their 18-year trajectory. The concert was also broadcast through the Internet. In October 2016 the band performed on the Coliseo of Puerto Rico to celebrate their 20th anniversary accompanied by former member Papo Román and keyboards played by Francisco "Quito" González. The concert had an attendance of 7,000 people and lasted three and a half hours commemorating their two decades playing music. On August 18, 2018, they sold out hotspot venue VIVO Beach Club with a show including hits from all their albums. The show featured giant projection screens on which videos allusive to the songs were shown. In October 2019 they sold out two shows at San Juan"s Luis A. Ferre Performing Arts Center of their acoustic show accompanied by a string quartet directed by Ricardo "Papoi" Dávila and with pianist Jorge "Bebo' Rivera. They followed up in November 2nd with "Rocktoberfest @ VIVO Beach Club" alongside Puerto Rican rock bands Vivanativa, La Secta and Millo Torres y el Tercer Planeta. hosted by comedian
Chente Ydrach. For this show Ocean Lab Brewery (located at VIVO Beach Club) produced one distinct beer for each of the bands and the host, to their specifications and those were the only beers available during the Fest. On July 27, 2020, they broadcast a live, socially distanced show over social media platforms which collected nearly half a million views in two days. In this show they played their 1998 album "A Quien Pueda Interesar" entirely. They also announced new material in the works. In August 2023, the band released
Prima•Vera, their sixth studio album and the first in more than 13 years. Guitarist Ricky Laureano said the new album represented "a musical rebirth for us and a testimony of our commitment to music". ==Band members==