Enrique Morente Cotelo was born in Granada in 1942, although he has lived in Madrid from an early age. His first encounters as a flamenco singer were influenced by his experiences with friends like Pepe de la Matrona and Manolo de Huelva, which included performances at conferences by José Blas Vega in the early sixties. In 1964, after accompanying the dancers Gloria y Camborio, he travelled to New York and Washington with the ballet de Mairena. The following year, he was awarded a Medal of Honour by the Cátedra de Flamencología for his participation in the Concurso Internacional de Arte Flamenco in Jerez, which commemorated the 100-year anniversary of D. Antonio Chacón. He also took part in the IV Semana de Estudios Flamencos, in Malaga.

From 1966 he went on several tours, which lead him across Europe and Japan with different dance companies. In 1967 he received important awards in Cartagena and Madrid after which he began a three-year period performing in La Zambra flamenco show alongside artists such as Pericón de Cádiz and Juan Varea. His singing career began in 1968 with his first recording, which lead to bookings with the most prestigious flamenco festivals. In 1970 he became the first flamenco singer to perform at the Ateneo de Madrid, accompanied by Manolo Sanlúcar, at a conference given by Manuel Ríos Ruiz, entitled En torno al cante Flamenco. He sang at the universities of Granada and Madrid, transforming poems by Miguel Hernández into part of his repertoire. He also travelled to Brussels to sing with Manzanita.

His tour of Mexico began in 1971 and culminated in a performance at the Auditorio de la Universidad de las Américas. Following his return to Spain, he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Cante at a competition organised by Cátedra de Flamencología. He subsequently gave recitals at the cultural centres of Madrid, entitled Flamenco: Nueva Era, with Manolo Sanlúcar. He later recorded an album in homage to Miguel Hernández and performed at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The year 1973 took him back to New York, where he performed concerts at the Lincoln Centre and the Spanish Institute, and later did concerts in Mexico.

On his return to Spain, he performed with different flamenco groups and at the Café de Chinitas. In 1975 he performed at the Facultad de Medicina in Granada, the Teatro Benavente and the Teatro Monumental. He sang at the Colegio Mayor San Juan Evangelista during the II Semana de Andalucía in 1977 and, the following year, received the Premio Nacional de Música Popular from the Ministerio de Cultura for his album in homage to D. Antonio Chacón.

In 1981 he premiered his show Andalucía Hoy at the Centro Musical Piaff in Granada, which was performed in different cities including Paris. The same year, he closed the Festival de Primavera at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Madrid. Three years later he performed at the III Bienal de Flamenco in Sevilla and founded a flamenco group in Oviedo, under his own name.

In 1986 he participated in the festival de Lo Ferro and in the II Cumbre Flamenca in Madrid. Alongside Juan Habichuela and the Orquesta Sinfónica in Madrid, he interpreted the Fantasía de Jondo composed by Antonio Robledo, both at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Mezquita in Córdoba in 1987. Enrqiue is considered to be the flamenco singer that is most interested in transforming his art form into a more modern genre, without abandoning its traditional characteristics. He has adapted works by Hernández, García Lorca, the Machado family and Almutamid, amongst others, to the language of flamenco. His work for the film of La Sabrina by José Luis Borau stands out amongst his own compositions.

He was highly praised for his daring collaboration with the great master of Jazz, Max Roach, in a concert that represented a fusion of different types of Flamenco singing with the avant-garde sounds of the M’Boom percussion orchestra, premiered at the VII de Arte Flamenco in Seville, in Teatro Maestranza. He is currently working on another joint project with the acclaimed American singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.

After winning the prestigious Premio Nacional de Música in 1994, he set up his own record label called ‘Discos Pobreticos’. He carried out an important joint project with Pilar Távora in the television series Cavilaciones, which discussed the development of flamenco in terms of the sociologic changes experienced in Spain. He also played an important part in the program Los Jóvenes Flamencos, produced and broadcast by Canal Plus in 1994. The filmmaker Carlos Saura paid homage to Morente, and Juan Manuel Cañizares, in the recently released film, Flamenco.

Important critics and flamenco experts coincide in their view of Enrique Morente as a daring and innovative yet loyal investigator of traditional flamenco, in tireless pursuit of the renewal of his art. They also agree that he has an amazing singing talent, and possesses an ideal balance between his head and heart.