Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel Ríos relocated to Belgium at age 17 to study painting at the Luca School of Arts in Ghent. After fronting several bands and recording a string of singles, he started making a name for himself in 2003 with his first album Ghostboy. Collaborating with the likes of Jo Bogaert (Technotronic), jazz pianist Jef Neve, Kobe Proesmans (The Colorist Orchestra) and multi-instrumentalist/producer Ruben Samama, Ríos has a series of eclectic albums under his belt. His musical journey has taken him from quirky Latin/Pop crooner (Ghostboy) to introspective singer-songwriter (This Marauder's Midnight). Most recently, his album Flore brought together a collection of re-invented Latin classics plus a handful of original tunes, one of which is a collaboration with Devendra Banhart. Delving further into the gothic Caribbean sound that characterized Flore, Ríos’ latest album Playa negra features mostly original material in Spanish. This album juxtaposes old son montunos with obscure elements of American and European popular music in an idiosyncratic mix that is very much his own.