Breaking Artist: Jose Gonzalez

Who: A microbiologist turned rocker from Sweden who was planning a career in academics or pharmaceuticals until he released his first album, 2005's Veneer, and found fame with a cover of the Knife's "Heartbeats" on a TV commercial and The O.C.

Sounds Like: Jose Gonzalez's music instantly recalls other mellow introspective folk-rockers like Elliott Smith and Nick Drake, but the singer's significant South American influence sets him apart.

Three Things You Should Know:
1. Gonzalez, who considers himself an atheist, titled his new album In Our Nature in reference to the debate over whether human behavior is biologically dictated. Science, philosophy and religion are major lyrical themes for him. "I don't want to be too harsh, but there's very little evidence for 'intelligent design' or any sort of creator," he explains.
2. Before high school, Gonzalez spent a summer taking classical guitar lessons while also playing in a punk band. "I wore dreadlocks and rode a skateboard," the singer remembers. "The rest of the guys in the band were really bad at school -- I was the one who did the homework."
3. Gonzalez's parents are from Argentina, but they moved to Gothenburg, Sweden, for political reasons in 1976. The singer's two primary languages are Swedish and Spanish.

Get It: Jose Gonzalez's In Our Nature comes out September 25th.

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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