| Elle Cordova | |
| Birth Name: | Rachelle Cordova |
| Alias: | Reina del Cid |
| Birth Date: | 8 March 1988 |
| Birth Place: | Fargo, North Dakota, U.S. |
| Origin: | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Years Active: | 2008–present |
Rachelle Cordova (born March 8, 1988) known professionally as Elle Cordova and formerly as Reina del Cid,[1] is an American singer-songwriter and lead of the folk/rock band Reina del Cid formerly based in Minneapolis, now based in Los Angeles.
Cordova was born in Fargo, North Dakota, on March 8, 1988, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Minnesota in 2010. After graduating from college, Cordova worked as an editorial assistant for University of Minnesota Press.
Cordova adopted the stage name "Reina del Cid" in 2007 for her YouTube channel as a reference to Spanish heroic literature: having nicknamed a guitar "El Cid" after the Castilian nobleman of the same name, she added the name "Reina" ("queen" in Spanish) to become "queen of my guitar."[2] [3]
Alongside creative partner and lead guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Toni Lindgren, Cordova has released five studio albums as Reina del Cid: blueprints, plans (credited to "Reina del Cid & the Cidizens") 2012; The Cooling, 2015; Rerun City, 2017; Morse Code, 2019; and Candy Apple Red, 2022. The Cooling and Rerun City were recorded at Pachyderm Studios.[4] [5] [6] Songs from the second album were featured on NPR[7] and Baeble Music.[8] Paste magazine featured her subsequent single release, "Death Cap", and its filmed-in-Iceland music video.[9]
She released her fourth full-length album, Morse Code, on October 4, 2019, with a concert at The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.[10]
Cordova and Lindgren moved to Los Angeles in early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. Their fifth studio album, Candy Apple Red, was released on April 28, 2022, with a concert at the Turf Club in St. Paul.[11]
In July 2023, Reina del Cid "reintroduced" herself as Elle Cordova to reflect new "songs and poems that feel more personal...than ever before."[12] As a self-professed "English major nerd with a penchant for sci-fi tv shows,"[13] the artist has released poems, skits, and songs on science, space, sci-fi and literary themes, some set to hip-hop beats. A YouTube channel was then launched under the new name. The Reina del Cid channel was renamed, first to "Sunday Mornings HQ" and then to "Elle & Toni", where Cordova and Lindgren continue to post weekly covers and originals. The band's new album will be an Elle Cordova release; previous material will retain the Reina del Cid moniker.[14] [15]
As of February 2024, their YouTube channel has more than 406,000 subscribers; their 350-plus videos have a combined 131 million views.[16] They regularly release original and cover songs in their YouTube video series, Sunday Mornings, and frequently tour with singer-songwriters Joshua Lee Turner and Carson McKee.