Elis Paprika (real name Erika Elizabeth Nogues; May 8, 1980) is an independent musician, singer, songwriter, and activist from Guadalajara, Mexico, active in Mexico's Rock scene since 2004. She has performed in important music venues such as Auditorio Nacional in México City (with Julieta Venegas[1] in 2007, Belanova[2] in 2008, and Juan Gabriel in 2009.,[3] and Hidden Agenda in Hong Kong, as well as performing in international music festivals like Vive Latino in México City (2006, 2011, 2014),[4][5] Playtime in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia, Meet in Beijing in China, and Altavoz in Medellín, Colombia. Elis Paprika has also performed internationally in North and South America, South East and East Asia, and Europe. She was named "Artist of the Month" on MTV Latin America in August 2006. Musicians in her band have varied throughout the years, and her current live and recording band is called The Black Pilgrims. Elis started her career in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico.
She has released 8 records to date, Give Me Love in 2006, EP2 in 2007, Express in 2009, Maldito in 2010,[6] Animal in 2012,[7][8] Adiós in 2013, Black & White in 2016, Venganza in 2019. She also released singles like "Love Love Love" (2011),[9] and "Now Girls Rule" (2014) which were not included in any of her previous records, but became part of Black & White,[10][11] and singles like "The End Of The World", and "Todo Se Está Cayendo" (both in 2021). She was part of the tribute álbum Amo al Divo de Juarez with her versión of "Hasta Que Te Conocí" by Juan Gabriel,[12][13] as well as the tribute album Tributo A: Ana José Nacho (Mecano) with her version of "No Tienes Nada Que Perder" by Mecano.
Elis Paprika is also the founder and director of Now Girls Rule, a feminist organisation for music and art.
Elis was born Erika Elizabeth Nogues on May 8, 1980, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, being the youngest of three children. As a child, she trained as an Olympic gymnast and as a dancer. Her father died when she was 6. She moved to Texas with her family as a teenager in 1992 where she lived for one year. She and her family moved back to Guadalajara, and in 1994 Elis moved to Querétaro Mexico to her aunt's. She shortened her name to Elis, inspired by Elis Regina.
After moving to Querétaro, her aunt and uncle started her in music lessons, as all of her cousins studied music. Elis has been known to say that what she really wanted was to continue with her dancing in the hopes of becoming a professional dancer. She learned to play the Saxophone and music in general.Still, by a twist of fate some of her friends signed her up (unbeknownst to her) for a singing contest at school in Querétaro, where she ended up in second place. It was there she realized that she wanted a career as a singer. Elis then moved back to Guadalajara where, a year later, she started singing for the local band La Verdad No Importa, from where she was later fired because she "didn’t sing that good". After that rejection she took singing and guitar lessons in order to start writing her own songs. In 2000, after being in a couple of more local bands, she started formal music studies at CEDART for a couple of years. While studying there, she held a job doing press and PR for different concert promoters in Guadalajara.