Background Noemí Carrión, who originates from
Alicante,
Comunidad Valenciana, Spain, is a
solo artist who has also been part of numerous
groups including Nómadas and
Nieva. She was a singer in the popular Spanish group
La Década Prodigiosa and has also been a featured artiste with Mito and Sugar Reef. Carrión has sung with musicians from
Seguirdad Social,
UB40 and
Revólver, and been a guest vocalist for
recording artists such as
Marc Antoine. She has worked with numerous members of the Spanish
music industry, including
award-winning record producer
Antonio Escobar, Level Records (
Madrid) producer David Ferrero (
Mónica Naranjo,
Chambao) and
Universal Music producer Carlos Quintero (
Chenoa,
Beth), recording in many of the important
recording studios of Madrid. musical career at 16 in
Alicante, by winning various musical
contests in Spanish cities, recording for advertising
jingles, adding her voice to the songs of other artists and acting in shows. At 21, she settled in Madrid to study music,
composition, voice, guitar, percussion, violin,
modern dance,
dramatic art,
music history and music interpretation, for theater, movies and television. As well as 3 years of study at La Strada and El Almadén stage & drama schools, she took courses in
Hip Hop,
Latin American,
Jazz and
Street dance styles, in
interpretive charisma, in
dubbing (with the prestigious
José Padilla, and in acting interpretation with actress &
casting director Rosa Estévez. In 1997, she independently released
Fruta Prohibida, followed in 1998, by
Pachá Alicante.
Commercial success Carrión participated in the
Televisión Española festival show
Eurocanción, aired on
TVE1, as Noemí, becoming a
finalist in the
Spanish Eurovision Contest. In the competition, she scored 63 points, with her song "Sin Rencor", reaching 4th position, above
Merche (6th),
Sonia & Selena (9th) and
Natalia (11th). She has also sung at important
festivals in Spain including The
DJ Awards, Festival Freedom (
Torremolinos) and El Mediatic in Alicante. In 2002, her
dance-pop track, the
funky house anthem "Friday Night Forever" (
Sony Music Entertainment), written by
Swedish songwriters, Peder Ernerot & Gustav Lund, and
recorded under the
alias Naymi, hit the
charts of
Máxima FM and was well received in the clubs and on the radio. Distributed in Spain, Portugal, Italy, US, UK and Russia,
DJ Magazine (UK) gave the
record, which was recorded in English and in Spanish, top star ratings in September 2002. The Club mixes were produced by the most famous
DJs and
house producers in Spain – David Ferrero, Pedro Del Moral,
Dr Kucho! and
Wally López, who according to the same
DJ Magazine article, were "the entire Spanish 'A' list" and dominated the Spanish club scene throughout the 2000s. After Naymi's release of "Friday Night Forever", the song was
covered by
Belgian artist, Sonny O'Brien, in 2003.
Solo album In 2002-3, Naymi recorded her debut album for
Sony Music, produced by David Ferrero, Pedro Del Moral and Wally López, with vocals produced by
Dr Kucho! and
Antonio Escobar, which, due to changes within
Sony Europe, was not released. The album featured songs written by Carrión including
Pensado En Tí and
Por Tí, as well as
Alma Rota, written by Escobar, and another Ernerot & Lund song, "Superwoman", sung in English and in Spanish, which was later covered by O'Brien, in 2005.
Theater appearances Carrión has starred in various
musicals including
Pippi Calzaslargas in 2000 at the
Teatro Real de Madrid, and
We Will Rock You (a show inspired by rock group
Queen) at the
Teatro Calderón (Madrid), in 2003 and 2004, where she was personally selected by
Brian May to interpret
Meat Loaf, a co-starring role in the musical, where she made a solo interpretation of the Brian May
ballad "
No One But You", receiving excellent artistic criticism from the Spanish
press. She then appeared on the Spanish theatrical soundtrack double CD and special edition CD of the musical.
Television and movie work Carrión has performed
voice-overs and music for advertising
commercials including
Santander Central Hispano (
Alphaville's "Forever Young"), Caser Seguros,
Canal Isabel II,
IKEA,
Orange, Jazztel and
Viva La Resistencia, a
multi-channel campaign against
cervical cancer commissioned by Asociación Nacional para el desarrollo de la Salud en la Mujer, all of which aired on Spanish
networks. She has also appeared on television, performing
theme tunes and
cover songs as a soloist, as a member of a group, and as a
chorus girl for other artists. She has been the principal singer with the orchestra for the television series
A La Carta, presented by
Agustín Bravo, broadcast on
Antena 3 throughout 2004, and has also acted in film shoots for publicity films,
promotional films and
short films.
Guest appearances In 2005, she appeared in
Gente de Primera, a Spanish reality TV programme on
Televisión Española alongside guests
Marta Sanchez,
David Civera and
Pastora Soler. She has also recorded with French
smooth jazz guitarist Marc Antoine on his 2005 album
Modern Times (Rendezvous Entertainment), appearing on
Camden Town,
Samba Hood, and
Cantar Al Amor. Carrión was a soprano soloist on the 2005 Mexican
tour of Spanish singer,
Raphael and has recorded with
Pablo Moro (Carlito Records, Spain). In 2005, she appeared as a guest performer on
Vuelvo, the pop single of Spanish singer,
Yurena, alongside
Eva Cortés and Marian Rebolleda. Also in 2005, she performed as a vocalist in the children's television series
El Mundo Mágico De Brunelesky (
Telecinco), directed by Javier Espiniella, appearing on the CD recording of the show.
Pop development In 2006, Naymi's spectacular pop-dance rendition of
ABBA's "
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" (Blanco Y Negro, Spain, and Mas Label, Mexico), sung in English and also produced by David Ferrero, was released with group Mito, and like "Friday Night Forever", was well-received on the radio
airwaves. Later in 2006, Carrión appeared as a main character in the series ''L'Alqueria Blanca
(Canal 9, Valencia), for production company, Zenit TV. She also starred as a solo singer in the 2006 musical spectacle On Broadway'', directed by Victor Fernandez, at the 3D Scenica [http://www.3dscenica.com/portafolio/?proyecto=015 in Madrid, for production company Stage Entertaimet España.
Stage development In 2006 and 2007, Carrión performed with La Gran Orquesta Santiago in Madrid singing
Joan Manuel Serrat's "Hoy Puede Ser Un Gran Día", and in 2007, at the renowned
Circo Price theatre (Madrid), in the musical spectacle
Charivari directed by Rob Tannion. At this time, she also taught
popular music composition at the Marand School of Music and Dance, Madrid.
Rock launch In 2004, Carrión formed the Spanish pop-rock group
Nieva (meaning Snows), whose musical sound fuses electric guitars with
electronica. After 3 years of development, in 2007, the
duo performed
concerts in Spanish cities with a full band, before writing, recording and producing their debut album. In 2011, the group began the final
mixing and
mastering of
Sed De Mar (Sea of Thirst).
Later activities In 2009, Carrión performed at the
Reina Victoria theatre in Madrid as a singer in the cast of the musical spectacle
Historia Del Pop Español: 50 años de antología del pop en España, directed by Héctor Oliveira, starring on the show tour. Carrión later performed at the
26th Jazz Festival of Madrid in November 2009. Also in 2009, French
techno DJ, Ovejito Lindo, produced a
bootleg mashup "Moi Lolita versus Gimme", as
Alizée vs Mito & Naymi with British music magazine
NME featuring the production in the NME awards 2009 section of their website. In 2010, Italian label, Wondermark, released the pop-
samba track "Rio de Janeiro" by group Sugar Reef, featuring Naymi, which was sung in Spanish and distributed
digital stores in over 40 countries. The song was co-written, arranged, produced and mixed by
veteran music producer Tom East (Fobian, Charlotte Roel,
DJ Alligator, James Sampson, Eden, Nouveau Sisters). With vocals
engineered by David Ferrero, the production was based on the 1999
hit "Rio" by
Danish pop group Bluebeat (
Virgin Records), also produced by East, which had reached number 4 in the
MTV Europe video hit list. ==Recordings==