Jan Carlo DeFan
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| Jan Carlo | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jan Carlo DeFan |
| Born | December 26, 1977 |
| Origin |  Guadalajara, Jalisco,Mexico |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock Latin Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | *Rector , Academia de Música Fermatta Chairman, Fundacíon Abbywho Musician Recording artist Record Producer Record Label Executive |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Label(s) | Arista Records (2000–2002) Silverlight Records (2003–2005) Sony Music(2003–2005) Festival Mushroom(2003–2005) Abbywho Records (2005–present) |
| Website | www.elan-online.com |
Jan Carlo DeFan Kristal (born December 26, 1977 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico), is the *Rector of The Academia de Música Fermatta, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Fundación Abbywho (Abbywho Foundation), Former CEO and co-founder of Silverlight Records, CEO of Abbywho Music & Abbywho Records, producer, director, musician and author as well as lead guitarist for the Mexican rock band ELAN.
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[edit] Early Career In Music
Jan Carlo began to play the guitar at age 5 and started recording at age 10 in a makeshift studio he constructed with help from his father, made from old cassette and 1/4 inch "reel to reel" tape machines.
Jan Carlo grew up listening to his parents vinyl collection and then, trying to make records that sounded like them. At sixteen he began working as a record company scout and opened up his first production and management company with his younger sister Elan.
At 17, he became an A&R scout for Warner Music Mexico, becoming the youngest A&R executive in company’s history.
Jan Carlo became an A&R executive at Warner, working closely with a number of major Latin performers, including Café Tacuba, Francisco Cespedes, La Ley, El Tri and Maná to mention a few.
At age 21 after having one of the most successful years in Warner Music Mexico's sales history, Jan Carlo decided to move on and concentrate on ELAN (the band he started with his sister).
Jan Carlo has produced many world class musicians and engineers like Slash (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver), Jim Keltner (John Lennon), Leland Sklar (Phil Collins), Mark Howard (U2), Fabrizio Grossi (Toto), Jeff “The Pirate” Poe (Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson), Brian Paulson (Beck) as well as having worked alongside legendary A&R’s and producers like Richard Sweret (Sarah Mclachlan, N'Sync, Ace of Base), Josh Sarubin (Avril Lavigne), Pete Gambarg (Santana) and Mark Kamins (Madonna) to name a few.
[edit] ELAN
With almost 1.7 million units sold, ELAN is the most successful independent Latin American band from Mexico.
ELAN is made up of, lead vocalist and keyboard player Elan (Jan Carlo’s younger sister and co-producer, also the sole composer of the bands work), childhood friend and bass player Carlos Padilla Maqueo, and younger cousin and drummer Michel “Cheech” Bitar DeFan.
With four albums and 12 music videos to date, the band continues to record and tour.
In 2008, ELAN made the first successful nation wide tour in Mexico with over 18 concerts nationwide.
2003-2005 Street Child “Street Child”, the band’s first album, was the first album by a Mexican band, sung completely in the english language. Though it was released in 2003, the band had been at work on this album for almost 6 years by the time of its release.
On June 13, 2003, Elan’s first single "Midnight" was released in Mexico on their own label, Silverlight Records (licensed through Sony Music Mexico) to unexpected response.
Elan fans brought 3 national servers down in Mexico with email requests for the song "Midnight". Some radio stations had actually asked fans to please stop emailing all together. One radio station went as far as closing down their email accounts. “The phone lines have been jammed in most radio stations for days... with recorded messages saying that the phones were out of order or off the hook" said Rafael Villareal, a radio host.
Midnight reached #1 in airplay in most Mexican territories for ten weeks without relinquishing its position. "Midnight" climbed the "Pepsi Chart" to #12. On MTV Latin America, Elan's video went to the Top 10 Most Wanted and went to the Top 10 on the Top 20 Countdown. On Australian radio, it was the second most added song in its first week (second only to Eminem). The song reached number seven on the charts. Midnight reached the top ten across the boards (all radio formats) on airplay in the country. In MTV Australia it reached the Top Ten most requested and also the #10 on the "Top 30 Countdown".
The band released the album in Mexico first and Australia. The album was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. ELAN performed at award shows and special events such as Mexico’s National Academy of Music's Oye Awards, the Eres Magazine 15 Year Anniversary Celebration and the Sanborn’s 100th Anniversary Celebration. Elan traveled throughout Mexico, performing in San Luis Potosi, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Mexico City, Cuernavaca and Torreon on what became known as the Street Child Tour.
Along with close friend and collaborator Juan Carlos Paz y Puente, ELAN traveled to Mexico, to play for free, at schools, to promote music education. It was the first of its kind in Mexico.
In 2004, Grammy Award Winning singer/songwriter, Alejandro Sanz invited ELAN to open two shows for him in Mexico City on two sold out nights at the National Auditorium in Mexico City.
Elan also performed at the pre-show of the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America 2003 in Miami, Florida. In Australia, ELAN performed on The Panel, MTV Australia and Channel V to name a few. The band also performed two exclusive shows at "Boutique" in Melbourne and "The Basement" in Sydney.
2005 - 2007 "London Express"
Due to the grueling schedules and their charitable work with the Abbywho Foundation, the band decided to take a break before returning to the studio to record their second album.
"After returning from a promo tour in Australia and several in Mexico... filming 5 videos and playing award shows, and touring and playing everywhere we realized that life really is ‘what happens when you're busy making other plans’. We had been going nonstop since my sister was 16 and it was time for a break. We needed some rest and not only to be best friends but brother and sister, son and daughter too."
Together, Elan took a year to record the long awaited followup to their successful Street Child album. The line-up consisted of drummer Michel Bitar, bass player Carlos Padilla, and Jan Carlo on guitar, Elan plays piano and keyboards on the record and for the first time rhythm guitarist Jonathan Fraeulin. Titled “London Express”, the album contained thirteen new tracks. “London Express” found its roots in the music of The Beatles, which Elan described as "the only band that really changed everything”. Elan has adopted rhythmic patterns and textures and recording techniques from the British Invasion of the 1960s and crafted their own tribute to British rock, yet stamped with their own unique signature and poetry.
"Be Free" was the first single from Elan's "London Express" album. The video for the "Be Free" single was directed by renowned director, animator and painter Chris Roth and was in high rotation in Latin America's largest Music Video Networks.
"This Fool's Life" was the second single released from Elan's second album "London Express". "This Fool's Life" was for several months the single in English with the highest rotation on the radio in many Latin American countries. Being one of the most listened to songs in English in countries like Mexico.
The video for "This Fool's Life" was also an outstanding success. It broke several records in Music Video Networks like Telehit which is one of the largest music television networks in the world, broadcasting throughout Mexico, Central & South America, Europe and the United States, with a historic record breaking 12 weeks in the #1 position on the charts. In the entirety of Telehit's 13 year history no other video has come even close to Elan's 3 month #1 position on the chart by popular vote.
In Australia, [[Elan]'s "This Fool's Life" video debuted in the number one position in video streaming with over 100,000 streams for its first week in Australias' "Undercover", the most important music site in Australia. "This Fool's Life" had almost twice the amount of views in its debut week than all other videos. A third single "Whatever it Takes" was released on November 2006.
2007 -2008 What Can Be Done At This Point
On May 8th 2007 Elan released their third album "What Can Be Done At This Point".
The album consisted of 10 new original tracks and includes the track "What Can Be Done At This Point", song that gives the name to the album and that offers a posthumous tribute to the crew of the space shuttle "Challenger". The track contains original audio of the transmission between the "Challenger" and mission control of the day of the unforgettable tragedy. The rights to this audio clip were granted by NASA.
The first single from What Can Be Done At This Point was titled "Don't Want You In". The video for "Don't Want You In" jumped straight to the Top 10 charts in video networks like "Telehit". It was directed by Gulliver Parascandolo who also directed the videos for "This Fool's Life" and "Whatever It Takes".
On September 10th 2007 Elan was awarded an Independent Diamond Record Award for the certified sale of 1.5 million copies of their music.
2008 Shine
On March 10 2008 Elan released their fourth album titled "Shine".
[edit] Music and Independent Music
Jan Carlo and Elan co-founded Silverlight Records (now Abbywho, Inc).
A safe house, for talents like Elan, “When Elan and I opened our first management and production company, we wanted to let an artist be an artist, instead of trying to ‘mold’ or ‘make’ them into one. We would try to help them be the best that they could be.”
[edit] Music Education
As a senior board member of the Academia de Música Fermatta for eight years, Jan Carlo took over as *Rector in early 2007 (in officially credited colleges and universities in Mexico, Rector is the highest academic official).
The Academia de Música Fermatta is the most prestigious school of contemporary music in Latin America and is the only institution of its type officially incorporated by Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education to grant college degrees.
It has the most advanced technical curriculum for recording, production and engineering anywhere in the spanish speaking world. The institution has the only two Digi Design “Icon ES” recording consoles in Mexico.
Since his takeover as *Rector, scholarships have nearly doubled.
Jan Carlo lectures there often to students attending the campus, and gives seminars on Independent Latin Music Business.
[edit] Abbywho Foundation
The Abbywho Foundation was created for the betterment of Music Education in Mexico.
The Abbywho Foundation grants nearly 50 scholarships a year and funds music education programs such as the Cara a Cara master class series held at the Academia de Música Fermatta.
It also provides opportunities for graduates from the Academy to fulfill their social services required by law at orphanages throughout Mexico.
[edit] Martial Arts
Jan Carlo began martial arts at the age of 3.
He holds black belt ranks in two martial arts, Goju Ryu Karate Do and American Kickboxing.
Jan Carlo holds 4 world tittles at the NBL (National Black Belt League) and SKI (Sport Karate International) Super Grand World Games 1996 and 1 in 1997 (considered world tittles if awarded between 1st and 8th place) for the following divisions; Breaking, Continues Sparing and Traditional Japanese Forms as well as 3 European Cup Titles at the Emerald Isle Open in Dublin Ireland. He holds over 30 National Titles in Mexico including the National Championship held at the Juan de La Barrera Sports Center in Mexico City in 1996.
[edit] Personal Life
Persons close to the DeFan camp say that his best friend and younger sister is his closest confidant and there are few major decisions made without her knowledge. He also is said to be very close to his band-mates Michel Bitar, Carlos Padilla. His two closest executives are his cousins Gina Bitar and Jonathan Fraeulin.
