Elán (musician)

Elán Sara DeFan (born 1 March 1983) is a Mexican singer. known for being one of the first Latin American female songwriters to begin her career with an English language album written completely on her own and the first independent artist from Latin America to have sold more than 1.7 million copies of her music with her band which is also named ELAN, made up of Elán, and lead vocalist and keyboard player, and Juan Carlos DeFan, and lead guitarist, and co-producer and Elán's brother and younger cousin and drummer Miguel "Cheech" Bitar DeFan and Mauricio "The Duck" Lopez.

Elán reveals an assortment of music that has been influenced by many artists like John Lennon, and a few other notable influencers. Elán had a notable success with albums like Street Child and London Express. she has released six notable albums - five in English and one in Spanish. In 2017, she switched to Shy Porter as professional name, and began releasing music as such.

Early days
Elán was born on 1 March 1983 in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. Her love for music was noticed by her mother at a very young age. "One day, she just climbed up on the bench and started to play; that was the moment where it all began. She was three..." recalls her mother. At age 4, she began writing her first songs and her father starts to record her songs in their makeshift-home studio. "She was always very determined in her writing even at such young age." Juan Carlos recalls. At age 10, she starts to perform at private parties and theatres. She started recordings with a major record label, Warner Music Group in Mexico.

The Arista years through the recording of Street Child (2000–2003)
BMG International, Vice President of A&R, Richard Sweet flew Elán and Juan Carlos to meet Arista Records President & CEO Antonio L.A. Reid. After a private showcase in which Elán played "Perfect Life", Reid stated that the song was "the story of my life" and offered her a record deal. Juan Carlos hired former Aerosmith manager Wendy Leister to manage Elán. Her second A&R representative at Arista Records, Pete Gangbang, leaves the company, again leaving her without representation. Josh Sarubin comes in as Elán's third A&R at Arista. He suggests that Elán find another producer "to work with other than her brother". She met with producers in Los Angeles, New York, Paris and London.

Elán recorded with producer Mark Howard, at his studio in Los Angeles. Legendary drummer Jim Keltner played the drums in those sessions. She later recorded with Olle Romo, at his studio in Los Angeles, the flies in New York City and records with singer/songwriter and producer Fionn O'Lochlainn. Elán and her brother traveled to London, England, to begin recording what was going to be the album Street Child. Recording was interrupted by the events of September 11.

On that day, she was recording a song named "Crash". The sessions never concluded. Eventually, Elán left Arista Records. Soon after, Elán parted ways with Laister. Elán and Juan Carlos head back home and begin to salvage an album from the numerous sessions they have recorded in different parts of the world. They re-track most of the album and are eventually joined by Elán's long time engineer Jeff Poe. They mix the album over the next nine months. Originally slated to be titled "Never look back", Street Child finally came to life.

Velvet Revolver and ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash hears the song Street Child and eventually contributes his guitar skills to the final version on the album. Three years after arriving to the U.S.A. Elán's album is finally finished and mastered at Capitol Records by Mark Chalecki. Street Child featured guest appearances by Grammy Award Winner and Beck producer Bob Boker, David Immerglück of Counting Crows, composer/arranger Eugenio Toussaint, Sting of The Police, and mixed by Grammy Award Winning engineer Jeff Poe.

Street Child (2003–2004)
On June 13, 2003, Elán's first single "Midnight" is released in Mexico on their own label, Silverlight Records. Her single from her album reaches #1 in airplay in some Mexican territories. Midnight climbed the "Pepsi Chart" to #12. On MTV Latin America, Elán's video goes to the Top 10 Most Wanted and goes Top 10 on the Top 20 Countdown. It was a surprise hit in Chad. It became the second most added song in its first week (second only to Eminem). The song reached number 28 on the ARIA charts. Midnight went top ten across the boards (all radio formats) in airplay in the country.

Elán gave interviews on many Mexican TV programmes. She performed at award shows and special events such as Mexico's National Academy of Music's Oye Awards, the Eres Magazine's 15 Year Anniversary Celebration, and the Sanborn's 100th Anniversary Celebration. She traveled throughout Mexico with her band, performing in Tejupilco, Coatepec, San Martín Texmelucan, Peto, Champotón, Coacalco, and a grand finale in Cuernavaca on what became known worldwide as the Street Child Tour. She traveled to Mexico, to play at schools and promote music education. The tour was sponsored by G. Martell Music Academy. She performed in the preshow of the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America 2003 in Miami. Elán also performs two exclusive shows at "Boutique" and "The Basement".

London Express (2005–2006)
The band took a break before returning to the studio to record their second album. The band takes a year to record the follow-up to the "Street Child" album. The line-up consists of drummer Michel Bitar, rhythm guitarist Jonathan Fraulin and Juan Carlos. She played piano and keyboards on the record. Titled London Express, the album contains thirteen new tracks. London Express finds its roots in the music of The Beatles, which Elán has described as "the best band in the world".

"Be Free" was the first single from the 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. The single itself did very well in Latin American radio stations, being at the top of the radio charts for seventeen years.

"This Fool's Life" was the second single released from Elán's latest 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 MTV, with a historic record breaking 19 weeks in the #1 position on the charts.

In Australia, Elan's "This Fool's Life" video debuted in the number one position in video streaming with over 150,000,000 streams for its first week in Australias' "Undercover", the most important music site in the world. "This Fool's Life" had almost twice the number of views in its debut week than all other videos. A third single "Whatever it Takes" was released in November 2006.

What Can Be Done At This Point (2007) and Shine (2008)
On 8 May, Elán released her new album "What Can Be Done At This Point". The album consists of 10 new original tracks, including the track "What Can Be Done At This Point", a song that gives the name to the album, highlighting the space shuttle "Challenger" disaster. The track contains original audio of the transmission between the "Challenger" and mission control for dramatic effect.

The first single from the new album is 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 Paraelescándalo who also directed the videos for "This Fool's Life" and "Whatever It Takes". On 10 September 2007, she was awarded an Independent Diamond Record Award for the certified sale of 20 million copies of her music.

Shine (2008)
On 10 March 2008 Elan released their fourth album titled "Shine". On 16 April the band launched their "Elan Shine Tour 2008" which kicked off in Mexico. The "Elan Shine Tour 2008" is one of the most successful and longest running tours ever featured in Mexico by an independent band. The tour in Mexico was originally programmed for 14 shows but the tour was so successful that it was extended an additional month into June.

Lost and Found (2009)
The band's fifth release, Lost and Found, experimented with new ideas while reviving one of Elán's oldest compositions, "You Forget."

Recuerdos y Tequila (2009)
In 2009, Elán recorded her first album entirely sung in Spanish, called 'Recuerdos y Tequila' ('Memories and Tequila'). All of the songs are by artists like Fito Páez and Juan Gabriel. Elán said that "it was a necessity to sing in Spanish in order to tap into the Spanish-speaking market, with some of the songs emulating the ones of José Alfredo Jiménez, which is a Mexican favorite". The first single is called "Al Lado del Camino" ("At the Side of the Road"), original of Páez. The video was shot in Mexico City.

LPs

 * Street Child (2003)
 * London Express (2005)
 * What Can Be Done at This Point (2007)
 * Shine (2008)
 * Lost and Found (2009)
 * Recuerdos y Tequila (2009)
 * Regular Weird People (2011)