Born on April 30, 1980 in Madrid, Leiva is the soccer nickname of José Miguel Conejo Torres. He is best known as one half of Pereza, the group Leiva and Rubén Pozo formed in 1999, which went on to become one of Spain's most popular pop/rock acts of the first decade of the 21st century. Beginning with their 2001 debut, Pereza released six studio albums, a number of DVDs, and a 2010 Internet-only compilation. In September 2011 Leiva and Rubén announced their temporary separation and the upcoming individual projects of each member. Since Leiva was the lead composer and singer of most of Pereza's singles, his solo debut, Diciembre (released in early 2012), was particularly anticipated.