Leire Martínez, the former lead singer of Spanish pop band La Oreja de Van Gogh, has defended her right to keep performing the group's songs at her own concerts following her unexpected and highly publicized departure from the band.
The singer, who is from San Sebastian, said she would never give up her career, addressing any doubts about the legal boundaries of her upcoming solo career.
Speaking on the podcast "Vaya Vaina," Martinez said her connection to the band was never purely as a performer. She noted that she is a co-author of several songs released during her 17 years fronting the group, which she said gives her inalienable moral and financial rights over those works, some of which she has continued performing this summer.
A legal and emotional legacy
Martinez also explained the legal distinction underpinning her plans. She said that while releasing new recordings of songs requires specific permission from the rights holders, current law allows any artist to perform other people's songs live as long as royalties are processed through SGAE, Spain's copyright collection society.
That legal protection, she said, allows her to build her return to the stage around the repertoire that made her famous, confirming her wish to reconnect with audiences through songs that are already part of the country's collective memory.
Continuing a legacy she calls her own
With this approach, Martinez is aiming to ensure her career does not suffer a traumatic break or have to start from scratch, but instead continues as a natural extension of a legacy she considers her own, built through years of effort and legal right.
La Oreja de Van Gogh is a pop band formed in San Sebastian in 1996 that became one of Spain's best-selling acts, with Martinez serving as its vocalist for 17 years after joining to replace founding singer Amaia Montero.
Martinez is approaching this new chapter of her career without reservations following Montero's return to the band, reaffirming an artistic identity forged in major stadiums and festivals as she looks for a new place in the current music scene.
