Concert Club: Gina Chavez

This show is a part of Concert Club! Find out more about the Long Center’s series of Texas-based artists in our Rollins Studio Theatre and how to snag one of those swanky cabaret tables.

In an industry that looks to define artists, Gina Chavez refuses to fit into a box. From her Mexican and Swiss-German raices, to her life as a queer, married Catholic in Texas, to her bilingual music, the Latin Grammy nominee is unapologetically herself. And people are taking notice. Gina is a 13-time Austin Music Award winner, including 2019 Best Female Vocals, 2015 Austin Musician of the Year and seven-time winner for Best Latin. Her first all-Spanish language album, La Que Manda, was nominated for a 2020 Latin Grammy in Best Pop/ Rock, making her the third Latin born in the continental U.S. to ever be nominated in the category.

Her NPR Tiny Desk concert has more than 1.3 million views and she is featured on Brené Brown’s hit podcast, Unlocking Us, for which she co-wrote the theme song. Gina’s music is featured in a national Target ad and she is the face of LIFEWTR’s commercial for #LifeUnseen, a campaign to uplift artists who are too often unrecognized in the creative fields. Her custom LIFEWTR bottle is available in stores nationwide. Gina’s music is deeply personal. Her passionate collection of bilingual songs takes audiences on a journey to discover her Latine roots through music as she shares her story of life in Texas as a married, queer Catholic.

Gina has completed 12 tours as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Argentina and Japan. Gina is known for dynamic live performance. Her band headlined the BMI stage at ACL 2021, performed at the first-ever NPR Family Hour during SXSW, and are consistently featured as Official SXSW artists each year. She has shared the stage with Grace Potter as well as Grammy® and Latin Grammy® winners Natalia Lafourcade, Carla Morrison, Gaby Moreno, La Santa Cecilia, and Ozomatli. Off stage, Gina runs Niñas Arriba, a college fund she co-founded with her wife for young women in gang-dominated El Salvador. She is featured alongside Oprah, Beyonce, Mahalia Jackson, Dolly Parton and many more in Southern Living’s book celebrating “100 extraordinary women who have left their indelible mark on the South and beyond.” Her forthcoming TED Talk drops this year.