Cuco (musician)
Cuco, born Omar Banos on June 26, 1998, in Inglewood, California, is an American singer-songwriter from Hawthorne. His music blends bedroom pop, indie pop, synth-pop, and lo-fi, with flavors of bossa nova and psychedelia. He taught himself to make music and released his first EP Wannabewithu in 2016, which included early viral songs like “Lover is a Day” and “Amor de Siempre.” He followed with the mixtape Songs4u in 2017 and kept building his career as he started performing in Southern California clubs. His 2017 single “Lo Que Siento” went viral, helping him leave college to focus on music.
In 2019 Cuco signed with Interscope Records and released his debut album Para Mi, which includes songs like “Hydrocodone” and “Bossa No Sé.” The album touches on personal experiences, including a tour-bus accident, and it reached the US Billboard 200. His second album, Fantasy Gateway, arrived in 2022 and was created with producers Manuel Lara and Andres Rebellon, featuring guests such as Kacey Musgraves, Adriel Favela, Bratty, and DannyLux. He put out the Hitchhiker EP in November 2023. His third studio album, Ridin’, was released on May 9, 2025; it’s described as Chicano soul inspired by norteño and lowrider culture and was mixed by Tom Elmhirst.
Cuco’s music often blends English and Spanish lyrics, dreamy melodies with heavy use of synths and 808s. Critics describe his work as psychedelic, intimate love songs with a nostalgic feel and strong Latin influences. He cites a wide range of inspirations, from Barbara Lewis and Smokey Robinson to Tame Impala and Ariel Pink.
His parents are Mexican immigrants; his mother Irma is from Puebla and his father Adolfo is from Mexico City. He grew up in Hawthorne, started making music around age eight, and played many instruments, including trumpet, guitar, keyboard, drums, bass, mellophone, and French horn. He attended Hawthorne High School and played in marching and jazz bands. A slide guitar cover of Sleep Walk on YouTube helped him gain attention, and he began releasing music on Bandcamp and SoundCloud under the name Heavy Trip before adopting Cuco, a nickname given by his mother. By 18 he self-produced Wannabewithu (2016) and Songs4u (2017) while performing at local venues.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:10 (CET).