Greg Gonzalez

Born on September 28, 1982 in El Paso, Texas,^[1] Gonzalez began his interest in music at the age of 10, when he bought his first guitar and immediately started writing songs, leading to his first-written song, "The Ocean", which was an instrumental.^[2] At the same age, he first introduced himself to heavy metal music, which he learned to play the guitar from and later joined a metal band.^[3] Attempting to find his musical style, he would then experiment with jazz and dance music styles.^[4] Growing up, Gonzalez was heavily inspired by French singer Françoise Hardy and her album La question (1971),^[5] along with other artists such as Marvin Gaye, the Everly Brothers and Chet Baker.^[6]

Wanting to be part of a "huge" band, Gonzalez would form Cigarettes After Sex in his hometown in 2008.^[7] Four years after their formation, they released their debut EP I., which was recorded in a four-floor stairway at the University of Texas at El Paso.^[5] The band released their self-titled debut studio album in 2017.

Cigarettes After Sex's second album Cry was released in 2019.^[8]

In 2022, Gonzalez released Charm of Pleasure, a collaborative EP with Italian composer Daniele Luppi, which was supported by two singles; "You Never Loved" and "The Rose You Kept." along with three more songs into the album 'Charm Of Pleasure.'^[9][10][11]

Gonzalez and Cigarettes After Sex released their third album X's in 2024.