José Francisco Córdoba, known as El Chivi, was born on January 13, 1977, in Madrid, Spain. Influenced by prominent songwriters of the time, he began composing his first songs in 1993. Córdoba studied law at the Complutense University of Madrid and gained attention with his humorous and satirical lyrics under the musical persona "Chivi." His breakthrough came with the self-produced album Radikal (1997), featuring the track "Soy como soy", which he recorded at home. His early recordings, including the maqueta Grandes fracasos (1996) and the album De cantautor a pornoautor (1999), featured strong social commentary but suffered from poor sound quality as they were recorded with his own means. In 2005, El Chivi released Spanish Psycho, marking a shift towards more refined, less offensive lyrics and collaborations with musicians like Despistaos. Córdoba took a break from the "Chivi" persona in 2008 to focus on his solo work as José Córdoba, releasing the album Estado natural. He returned to the "Chivi" character in 2014 with the album 15 sombras de Chivi.
