First steps His family was from
Bolaños de Calatrava, in the
province of Ciudad Real, but he was raised in
Carabanchel, where he still resides (as of 2005). After dropping out of
ICAI engineering school, he joined the band
Fresa as a guitarist, in 1972. Fresa usually played covers of hits of the time, and sometimes they also backed other soloists and singers. Following some changes, including singer
José Carlos Molina joining the band, this changed its name to
Ñu. In 1974 Rosendo discovered
Rory Gallagher's music, who became one of his main influences, together with other bands such as
Jethro Tull,
Canned Heat,
Cream,
Deep Purple and
Black Sabbath.
Leño period After being discharged from the compulsory military service in 1975, he took part in the recording of Ñu's first album. Molina and himself were not in very good terms, so Rosendo left the group in 1977. He then formed Leño, where he played the guitar and acted as a vocalist as well.
Chiqui Mariscal (bass player) and
Ramiro Penas (drums) also left Ñu to join him in Leño. They made their debut in 1978, acting as the support band at an
Asfalto's gig. They had been hired by
Vicente Romero (producer). Romero was founding
Chapa Discos ("Chapa Records") at that time, and published the collective disc
Viva el Rollo, Vol. II. Rock del Manzanares, which included two Leño's songs:
Este Madrid and
Aprendiendo a escuchar. Later in 1979 they published their first album, entitled
Leño. It was produced by
Teddy Bautista, and it characterises for including songs with long instrumental sections. Two songs:
El tren and
Este Madrid are remarkable. Chiqui Mariscal left the band in the middle of the recording sessions, and he was substituted by Tony Urbano; the disc sleeve portrays this fact. In 1980 they published their second album,
Más madera. It evidences Teddy Bautista's influence. The songs are shorter and have a lighter style. In 1981 Leño recorded live
En directo at the
Carolina club in Madrid. Despite its poor sound quality, the disc made it quite well at the shops, granting great success to the band. It includes one of Rosendo's best-known songs,
Maneras de vivir.
Luz Casal (chorus) and Teddy Bautista (keyboards) played with them. The last of their official releases is
¡Corre, corre!. This was made with more resources, due to the success of their previous live record. ¡Corre, corre! was recorded in London, and produced by
Carlos Narea. Notable songs include
Sorprendente and
¡Qué desilusión!. 1983 would see their last performances. Among Miguel Rios and Luz Casal, they took part in the tour
Rock de una noche de verano. This was a long series of gigs all around Spain, featuring a set of lights and sound assets as they never had been seen before. The tour was organized by
Miguel Ríos, and few years later it would be marked as a milestone in the Spanish rock history. At the end of the
Rock the una noche de verano tour, in the fall of 1983, and when they were at their best and most successful moment, Leño members decided to split off.
Solo period Rosendo's first solo disc (
Loco por incordiar) was pushed back until 1985, due to problems with his former label,
Zafiro (to which
Chapa Discos belonged). The disc was edited by
RCA, and produced by
Carlos Narea. It marked the moment of greatest commercial success in his career, thanks to songs like
Agradecido,
Pan de higo or
Loco por incordiar. However, his next album,
Fuera de lugar, edited next year, was negatively criticized. His last disc for RCA,
... a las lombrices, was published in 1987, and was received coldly.
Jo Dworniak was the producer, and
Rafael J. Vegas joined as a bass player. After leaving RCA, Rosendo started recording with
Twins. The first album with this label was
Jugar al gua (1988), which features songs with a different style (e.g., the
Del pulmón reggae), but also one of his key songs
Flojos de pantalón. The second record for Twins was
Directo (1989), a live disc including two songs by Leño. Later Twins joined
DRO, with whom Rosendo has kept on recording up to present (2005). The first album for DRO,
Deja que les diga que no, appeared in 1991. Eugenio Muñoz took part in the production, as he did in later discs. Next year Rosendo published the disc
La tortuga, containing a song that became quite popular:
Majete. With
Para mal o para bien (1994), he recorded for the first time in the
El Cortijo del Aire studio, in the
Cabo de Gata. Some outstanding songs are
¿De qué vas? and
Hasta de perfil. The latter criticizes power and three members of
Celtas Cortos collaborated on the song. His next album,
Listos para la reconversión was published in 1996. After that disc two of his musicians left, namely the keyboard player Gustavo Di Nóbile and the drummer Miguel Ángel Jiménez. Next year he recorded the soundtrack of
Hector Carré's movie
Dame algo, and in 1998 he changed the setup of the band to a trio (bass, drums and guitar, giving up the keyboard), and changed his lifelong
Fender Stratocaster guitar for a
Gibson, allegedly for its looks. The first disc of this stage is
A tientas y barrancas (1998), followed in 1999 by
Siempre hay una historia... en directo, which he recorded live in the yard of the Carabanchel prison. In 2001
Canciones para normales y mero dementes was published. This disc features a harder sound, which was also present in
Veo, veo... mamoneo (2002). In 2005
Lo malo es... ni darse cuenta was released. In 2006 he was awarded the
Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes. His latest album,
El endémico embustero y el incauto pertinaz, released in 2007, was recorded in the
PKO (Madrid) and
El Cortijo (Almería) studios. == Members ==