Abraham Mateo’s music and talent is well known all over the globe and his music videos have been viewed by millions. Today’s publication is actually a restored version of the one that was originally published 11 years ago on Rivenmaster ‘s Place. We were then and are now, extremely honored to bring you his full story. We assure you; this has been the most detailed, informative and comprehensive publication to ever be published about this astonishing young vocalist.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN:
The story of Abraham Mateo is the story of a 13-year-old Spanish boy who was born with a dream to be a great artist. Abraham was born on August 25,1998, in San Fernando, Cadiz, a town in the region of Andalusia, geographically positioned like an island between salt lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
Abraham was born into a family with musical roots. His grandpa has been active as tenor soloist with a church choir for over 50 years while his Mother Susana sings Boleros and Spanish music. Abraham’s older brother, Tony, (who will be featured here soon), also plays music and was finalist in the 2009 edition of the TV talent contest Si Que Vales, the Spanish version of America’s Got Talent. Tony has been a big influence on Abraham, who desired to sing just like his older brother. Each time Tony finished his rehearsals at home; Abraham would take the microphone and start to sing. When Abraham was three years old, he watched the TV talent show, and right after the show he started to sing the songs performed by his idol David Bustamante, David Bisbal, and other contestants. His family still has some recordings of Abraham singing Corazon Latino and El alma en pie by David Bisbal and songs by his idol Bustamante. At first, his parents laughed and found the way that Abraham moved as he sang to be humorous. However, they soon began to coach him and correct him if he went out of tune. Over time, Abraham improved his singing technique and by the age of six was singing mostly in tune and in rhythm. Abraham and his brother Tony frequently sang at home as though they were in a contest and their parents played the jury. Abraham’s first vocal coach was his mother Susana, who has always tried to present him with music that matched his vocal range. She taught Abraham vibrato and helped him to understand the lyrics of the songs, which often moved him to tears. Even at an early age Abraham preferred adult music over children’s music and especially enjoyed songs that were more challenging to sing. He confessed,
“I felt foolish singing children’s songs“
At home, his parents listened to romantic Latin music; in particularly, pop songs and ballads, so it’s only natural that Abraham would be greatly influenced by this genre of music. To this day he still admires great Latin singers such as Raphael and has tried to imitate their singing style. Abraham has progressively expanded his musical talent learning how to play musical instruments. He started playing flute at age six, piano and keyboard at age eight, and acoustic guitar at age ten, teaching himself how to play by ear. Expanding on his natural God given talent, Abraham began taking piano lessons at age ten and one year ago enrolled in guitar lessons where he has learned to read notes as well as different techniques to position his hands. In 2006, when Abraham was seven, his brother Tony was preparing for the audition of the “Veo Veo” competition, which is a contest for young talent in song and dance, organized by the Teresa Rabal Foundation. Abraham asked his parents if could also join the auditions. He prepared three songs: Yo soy aquel (I’m that one), the signature song of the internationally recognized Spanish singer Raphael, and Hoy tengo ganas de ti and Dos hombres y un destino by David Bustamante. It was his first time singing in public! The show presenter, the singer and actress Teresa Rabal, were simply amazed by Abraham’s stage presence and even more astounded by his demonstrative vocal performance, noting especially how he passionately concluded the song quickly pulling the mic away from his mouth.
Abraham impressed the panel as well as the audience and advanced through the competition, reaching the regional final, where he performed Yo soy aquel and was awarded with a special mention for his performance. Just after this contest, his parents sent a demo video to the TV show Menuda Noche on Canal Sur, a public broadcasting channel of Andalusia. Abraham’s dream was to perform in that show, aimed to promote young talent from Andalusia. They waited for weeks for an answer that never came. Then, he heard there would be a casting call for Menuda Noche in El Puerto de Santa Mara, a town near San Fernando. Abraham, at just eight years old, went to the audition, got positive feedback from the judges, and was told they would call him back. However, this once again resulted in disappointment. The following year when he turned nine, he auditioned for Menuda Noche again and waited in vain for a response. Refusing to give up on his dream, he began formal vocal training with the songwriter Pedro Gordillo, who acted as his vocal coach for one and half years.
As Abraham matured as a singer, he moved on to a new vocal coach Ruben Cárdenas, who continued to develop his vocal abilities for an additional year. One day, after school, he heard that his brother Tony was once again chosen to perform in Menuda Noche. While Abraham was happy for his brother, at the same time he was a bit sad and disillusioned because he failed two times at the audition. He asked his mother Susana;
“Mom, why don’t they call me? What must I do to be chosen for the show? His Mother replied; “You will go one day; you are still young. Your brother was eleven the first time he went to the show.”
Accepting his mother’s assurance, Abraham accompanied his brother to the recording of the show in Seville. When they arrived, the producers invited Abraham to be in the audience. During the show, the presenter Juan y Medio surprised Abraham, inviting him to the stage and asked him if he would like to sing instead of his brother. Abraham said no, because he did not want to take his brother’s place. Finally, the show presenter and producers persuaded him to perform in the show. When the music started, he realized it was his key! It was a complot by his family and the show producers! It was his night, his first performance on television! Despite having a cold, Abraham, who was nine years old, made the audience feel his emotions and the audience responded with a standing ovation, with a few people crying!
A few weeks later, Abraham was again invited to perform in Menuda Noche. The producers asked him to sing a song of his idol David Bustamante. What Abraham didn’t know was that his idol was in the show watching his performance. From the beginning of the song, Bustamante was impressed with Abraham’s singing prowess. After Abraham finished his performance, he could not believe his eyes when he saw his idol. Abraham ran to Bustamante, hugged him and cried, full of emotion. David Bustamante then said to Abraham;
“You sing like the angels! Impressive! I think you are unique!“
Since then, Abraham has been a frequent guest of Menuda Noche, singing in front of internationally recognized Latin singers such as Raphael, David Bisbal), and Juan Luis Guerra, who have praised his vocal talent and stage presence. Raphael said about him:
“That’s singing without imitating anyone” You are a great singer!”, David Bisbal exclaimed; “I have no words! He has a wonderful technique, a very nice voice and a nice tessitura! I predict a huge success”.
When Abraham was nine, he auditioned once again for the music contest “Veo Veo”, advancing through the competition and finally winning the revelation award at the national final, held in Murcia, a city in southeastern Spain. It has been until now the most important award in Abraham’s artistic carrier. Abraham jumped and was moved to tears when the show presenter, the Spanish actress and singer Teresa Rabal, announced the jury panel’s decision. He said to Rabal:
“I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it!”
It was in the beginning of 2009; representatives of the major record label EMI Music Spain went to Menuda Noche to invite Abraham to record an album for their label. Abraham, just ten years old, accepted the offer, signing a recording contract with EMI. To produce the album, EMI hired the Spanish songwriter and producer Jacobo Calderon, who has worked before with internationally recognized Latin singers such as Raphael, David Bisbal, Luis Fonsi, Ricardo Montaner, and with the American singer Miley Cyrus. Calderon started to compose songs for Abraham, and in the summer of 2009, Abraham recorded his self-titled debut album Abraham Mateo at EMI studios in Madrid. The album and the promotional single Vuelve Conmigo (Come back to me) came out on December 4.. The album contains twelve songs: Calderon himself composed seven tracks. Four tracks are covers of popular Latin songs by Raphael, Alejandro Sanz, Laura Pausini and Luis Fonsi. The album also includes a duet with the French teen singer Caroline Costa, the runner-up in the 2008 edition of the television contest Incroyable Talent, the French version of America’s Got Talent. Abraham and Caroline recorded for the album a Spanish version of Badfinger’s “Without You”. A video of this cover version currently has over 4.6 million views in YouTube.
These two sounded amazing together and their charismatic performance captured the hearts of Millions.
To promote his debut album, Abraham toured through several regions in Spain including Madrid, Canarias, Valencia, Galicia, Andalucia, and performed in many Spanish radio and television shows, including the popular television programs Tu Si Que Vales, The Show of Maria Teresa Campos, and the Christmas Eve Special of the Telecinco channel. Abraham was invited to perform at the TV show Mas Que Baile, the Spanish version of the American show Dancing with the Stars. He was also invited to perform at the International Carnival Maspalomas in Gran Canaria. Abraham began to record cover songs in English language during the summer of 2010, performing “I Surrender” by Celine Dion, “I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston, “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars, “Imagine” by John Lennon, and “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber. His video “I surrender” at the time of this original post had over 1.5 million views on YouTube. In the summer of 2011, he released an Italian version of the classical song Adagio by Lara Fabian, his first song in Italian. Shortly after releasing this song, he was invited to perform at a TV show presented by the Italian singer Rafaela Carra on the Italian channel Canale 5. He has also been invited to perform in Mexico and the USA. At the age of eleven, Abraham composed his first songs, mostly ballads and one rock song. These are romantic songs he has never released. Last summer, he became interested in the songs of Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Pitbull, Usher and Ne-Yo. He has already written three songs in a new style that he calls electro latino, like the songs of Juan Magan but with a romantic touch. That’s the kind of music Abraham wants to do now, although he will continue singing youthful ballads and pop. His upcoming studio album with EMI Music Spain, expected to be released this year, will include electro latino songs written by him and soulful ballads like Adele’s. He would like to record some English tracks, but this has to be decided by the record label. On November 29th, 2011, Abraham released a demo video of “Desde Que Te Fuiste” (Since You Went Away), a Latin dance song written by him and one of the tracks he is working on for the new album. The single was released on iTunes on December 9th, 2011.
At the time of this original post this video was not complete but here is his released version.
Taking the risk of changing his style to a more contemporary up-tempo music, he will surely attract more young fans but, at the same time, he is afraid to lose those fans that preferred his pop and ballads songs. Abraham just wants to make the people happy with his songs. His dream is that his fans enjoy his music and that they feel what he feels inside when he sings. This means more than anything else to Abraham! He would dye inside if he could not sing that kind of music. Abraham hopes to find a place in the music world, where he can express himself singing his own music, and to be respected and recognized for his work.
He especially enjoys performing for charity events such as the UNICEF Gala, an annual event on the TV channel Canal Sur. In April 2010, he performed at the benefit concert for Yasmina, a child from his hometown San Fernando, who suffers from Friedreich’s ataxia, an inherited disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system. See Video Together with the Mexican-American singer Gabriela Sepulveda, Abraham also recorded an original song dedicated to the Chilean miners rescued in 2010. (Watch this very special Video). Abraham enjoys collaborating with Youtube singers and with other musicians he meets in the TV show Menuda Noche. He and his brother Tony recently collaborated with 50 amazing YouTube singers to perform in a music video. They covered Pray by Justin Bieber. Last week he released a cover version of Come Home by OneRepublic as a duet with the American singer Sabrina Carpenter. Abraham also produces his own songs in his new home studio, a birthday present he received last year from his parents. In addition, he personally edits the music videos that are uploaded to his YouTube channels.
His music videos located on five YouTube channels, managed by him and his support team, have received over 25 million views in the last two years. Abraham has fan clubs in over 20 countries including Spain, the United States, most Latin American countries, Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal and even in Indonesia and the Philippines. In addition to singing, Abraham loves acting and has already been involved in several productions. At a very early age he easily memorized movie scripts and together with his brother Tony he imitated various actors at home. His family still has a recording of Abraham and Tony imitating characters of the movie Rush Hour. Abraham has never had formal training in acting but would like to study dramatic arts and to perform on Broadway. Something you may not have known is that Abraham acted in the TV movies DÃas Sin Luz (2009) and Raphael (2010), both produced by Antena 3 Films and broadcasted by the Spanish television channel Antena 3. In the biopic Raphael, Abraham portrayed the worldwide acclaimed Spanish singer Raphael in the early years of his career and sang some of the vocal tracks.
When Abraham is not busy with his singing and acting career, he enjoys many outdoor activities. He specially enjoys running, swimming, ice-skating, roller-skating, bike riding, especially riding bikes with his father, boxing, and playing tennis with his brother. He loves drawing, dancing and, like many teenagers, computer games. Abraham enjoys playing a computer game called Snubby Land and he passed all game levels without failing. His favorite book is Harry Potter. Abraham also spends his spare time watching movies. He loves The Karate Kid (2010) and the boxing saga Rocky. He lists his favorite actors as Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Brad Pitt, Sylvester Stallone and Leonardo Di Caprio. From an early age, Abraham had a passion for the songs of the Spanish singers David Bustamante and Raphael, the Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, the Mexican singers Luis Miguel, Alejandro Fernandez, and Cristian Castro, and the English-speaking singers Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Justin Bieber. Ultimately, he began interested in the songs of Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Pitbull, Usher and Ne-Yo. Abraham enjoys Italian, Spanish and Mexican food, especially pizza, spaghetti, eggs and potatoes, and Mexican tortillas.
Today Abraham continues to be one of the biggest music pop stars of his country and will continue to be for a long time to come!
His latest release was only a few weeks ago.
Abraham invites you to visit him on the following websites:
“It was over eleven years ago that I first published this article on the original site. It was the most visited article every published in both English and Spanish. I have done my best to restore the original English post and realize there still may be a few errors in translation. The Spanish version is still live on the old site however much of the text and links have been corrupted over time due to technology changes in web authoring. I hope you enjoy this restored FLASHBACK PUBLICATION. Leave a comment for Mateo to let him know you are still following and supporting his musical career.”
Rivenmaster has always taken pride in finding some of the best talent in the world and England born, 13-year-old Cormac Thompson is no exception. After making contact through my good friend Matthew Todd, I was delighted to finally be able to reach his parents to tell them of an amazing opportunity for Cormac to attend Prodigy Camp with Director Rick Stevenson in Washington State. It’s been a few months now since his experience in the states, and now I’m proud to introduce him here to the world with his complete story written largely by his mother Alison and father Anthony Thompson. Big thanks to Cormac’s family for allowing Rivenmaster to be a part of Cormac’s journey!
Cormac’s Story:
Cormac Thompson
Winning a school talent competition when he was 9 years old must seem like a long time ago now for the young British talent, Cormac Thompson but it was back in 2018 that he had his first taste of success. Singing and accompanying himself on the portable keyboard that his mum and dad got him for his birthday on e-bay! Keane’s “Somewhere only we Know” could be heard belting out from the Scout Hall.
Cormac’s first main break came though when he joined the children’s choir of Manchester’s, world famous, Halle Orchestra. Successfully auditioning to be their Christmas soloist, Cormac sang ‘Howard Blake’s’ iconic song ‘Walking in the Air’ to a full screening of the globally acclaimed film ‘The Snowman’. Accompanied by The Halle’s symphony orchestra, the concert was held at ‘The Bridgewater Hall, to a sell-out house of nearly 2,500. While only 9 yrs. old at the time, it was still a very memorable performance, even if a bit knee – shaky.
After this, Cormac started to take his singing a little bit more seriously but then along came 2020 and the pandemic, it looked like that was the end of that! …. Or was it?? Unable to visit his much – loved Nannie in Northern Ireland, he decided to record songs for her and put them up on YouTube (they are still there). What a surprise, for the then 11yr old, when his mum got an email from global record label Decca. Within weeks Cormac was auditioning again, this time at world famous London studio ‘Metropolis’ where the highlight for him was not just the experience itself but getting to play ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on Freddie Mercury’s very own Fazioli piano, housed in studio A.
On Site at Decca Music Video Shoot
The audition went well, Cormac was signed, and he spent the rest of the summer holidays keeping it a secret, learning songs and recording his debut album! Once the news was out, there was a flurry of media interest and Cormac’s unique story hit the headlines. TV and radio interviews, to promote the album, followed. Many on Zoom but not all and on the 4th, December 2020, finally people got to hear what all the fuss was about.
Peaking at #11 in the UK Classical charts and getting to #3 on Australia’s Classical Crossover charts; it was a great privilege for Cormac to be label mates with the likes of Andrea Bocelli, and Gregory Porter. Cormac’s album ‘Hear my Voice’ also won the coveted award for “Album of the Week” on Global Media’s station ‘Classic FM’ and it was really exciting for him to hear his songs played on national radio.
Outside TV Studio in London
A performance on national TV and another Christmas concert, with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast this time, brought the excitement of the album to a close. Cormac’s favorite bit by far, when he was in Northern Ireland, was finally getting to see his Nannie again.
Fast forward to May 2021 and undeterred when the record deal came to an end, with the support of his family, pianist / producer Dominic Ferris and his singing teacher, Daphne Sumbler, a now 12 yr. old Cormac, carried on recording. Some of his biggest hits to date, have been as an independent artist, racking up well over 7.5 million views and streams across all digital platforms.
Cormac’s unique way of taking well – known songs, like ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ from Les Misérables and ‘Bright Eyes’ from the 1978 film ‘Watership Down’ and re-imagining them to more current events, clearly demonstrates just what can be achieved with a little bit of thought and determination.
Prodigy Camp 2022
A finalist in the BBC’s Young Chorister of The Year competition (2021), he almost made it to the semi-final of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ too! 2022 continued to be a year of firsts when Cormac was offered a place at ‘Prodigy Camp’ in the USA. London to Leavenworth, Washington State beckoned. And it was here, surrounded by beautiful mountains and on the banks of ‘Icicle Creek’ that the next stage of the journey begins. A camp for talented teens, for the first time ever, Cormac was surrounded by people who loved to create things, just as much as he did. Whether it was writing songs or directing films, or campfire chats, it didn’t really matter, it was the atmosphere, the nurturing of the camp staff and the friendships that Cormac made, that will stay with him forever. In his own words ‘this has changed me’ what an accolade for an experience that only lasted 7 days and he just can’t wait to go back next year.
Cormac performing at Prodigy Camp Director Rick Stevenson looking on
The rest of 2022 went well, there was even time to squeeze in a bit of mountain biking, in between starting the new school and recording the 9 new tracks, for release in 2023. The song writing experiment that started at Prodigy Camp is well underway and the kit needed for it is on the Christmas list, e-Bay again maybe? It’s as good a place to start as any!
Cormac is beyond grateful to everyone who has supported him in his journey so far but there does need to be a special shout – out to his parents, Alison and Anthony, his singing teacher Daphne, pianist and producer Dominic Ferris and producer Jon Cohen and tenor Matthew Todd, not to mention the wonderful team at Prodigy Camp too, whose collective belief in him has made all of this possible.
Here is Cormac’s Latest Music Video “Bright Eyes”
A very special mention must also go to all the wonderful people who stream Cormac’s music, watch his videos on YouTube and follow and support him on social media too. None of this would have a great deal of point if no-one wanted to listen and it means the world to him that they do.
Like with any teenage boy who sings, a changing voice isn’t always an easy voice to manage. As a passionate advocate for young boy singers, Cormac hopes that what he has been able to achieve will inspire others. Very much at the beginning of his own journey on that, the next few years should be very interesting indeed for the young musician from England.
