Rock en Ingles: Alejandro Sanz

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IT'S NO SURPRISE that Spanish-born heartthrob Alejandro Sanz has flamenco music running through his veins.

But youthful indiscretions die hard, too, and the man who sang alongside Shakira in her 2005 single "La Torutura" (and starred in the song's steamy video) was also a fan of Iron Maiden.

"I'm older now," Sanz said with a laugh. "But there are groups that influenced my sound — AC/DC for example. Rock groups that were influential — though not influences that are very well-known or evident."

Popular with the ladies at the beginning of his career because of his sensitive, romantic ballads, Sanz has become more of a mainstream cat during the past 10 years. His 1995 move to Miami opened up a new arena of influences for Sanz to choose from, too — though he's not covering "Back in Black" just yet.

"When you are thrown into a different culture, when you become familiar with other musical styles, all those styles form a part of your [sound]," Sanz said. "I've always been influenced by flamenco, but now also Cuban music and rock that is more American."

Sanz's adopted culture has also changed how he interacts with American audiences on tour.

"Here, I feel a little more at home because, in fact, I know a little more of the culture," he said. "When I give a concert now in Miami, it's like playing at home. It's a feeling that I like and, truthfully, for me, it's like playing in Madrid or another Spanish city."

Yet, while he has toured the globe and won a number of awards (14 Latin Grammys and one regular, if you're counting), Sanz remains unfamiliar to many Americans who speak only English. Unlike albums by crossover champs Shakira or Enrique Iglesias, Sanz's discs are always sung entirely in Spanish.

But he said the dearth of English songs is not for lack of interest on his part — just time.

Sanz said he has been working with a collaborator on an English album and that the album is going to be different from his other releases in more than just language. "We have to make more progress on it, but he and I want it to take on a style that's more 'underground.' It's not a disc that's going to have all the normal promotion stops — it's something much more intimate."

He went onto explain why he wanted to record an album in a foreign tongue. "I believe that the sonority of English is much more musical than the sonority of Spanish," he explained. "English music has a way of pronouncing vowels, a way of forming sentences — the melodic phrases behave very differently in English and it's just much more musical."

Even "Back in Black."

» D.A.R. Constitution Hall , 1776 D St. NW; Wed., 8 p.m., $51.50-$76.50; 800-551-7328.

Written by Express contributor Katherine Silkaitis

Photos courtesy DBaron Media Relations Inc.