As a teenager, Juanes was greatly influenced by rock and metal acts such as The Beatles and Metallica. He started the rock band Ekhymosis in 1988, and it released its debut album, Niño Gigante, that same month. The band released seven studio albums during its career and shared the stage with acts including Alejandro Sanz, Aterciopelados, and Ricky Martin; however in Juanes’ words, the band “couldn’t get out of Colombia” and remained “very local and confined to the Colombian market.” Juanes disbanded the group in 1998 so that he could pursue a solo career.

In 2000, Juanes released his solo debut Fíjate Bien (Take a Good Look), produced by Gustavo Santaolalla. The album fared well in Colombia, spending ten weeks at the number one position, but was unsuccessful in other countries. The album earned him three Latin Grammys for Best New Artist, Best Rock Solo Vocal Album, and Best Rock Song, and Juanes performed at the award show. Later that night, Juanes brought demos for over forty new songs to Santaolalla’s studio, ready to begin work on another album.

The follow-up, Un Día Normal (A Normal Day), also produced by Gustavo Santaolalla who signed him with his first solo album, was released in 2002 and was highly successful in Latin America. The album was certified gold in Colombia during its first day of sales and was certified platinum and multi-platinum in countries including Colombia, Mexico, and Spain. The album spent 92 weeks in the top ten of Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, setting a new record, and spent a total of two years on the chart. The album was released after the eligibility deadlines for the 2002 Latin Grammy Awards, but the advance airdate for the lead single, “A Dios le Pido” (“To God I Pray”), allowed it to be nominated for three awards and win Best Rock Song.

Mi Sangre (My Blood), was released in September 2004 and debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums. The album produced three consecutive number one singles, which held the top chart position for a combined 6 months. The album’s third single, “La Camisa Negra” (“The Black Shirt”), was used in Italy in support of neo-fascism by relating it to the uniform used under the regime of Benito Mussolini. In response, left-wing media network Indymedia called for a boycott of the song. Juanes later stated that “‘La Camisa Negra’ has got nothing to do with fascism or Mussolini… People can interpret music in all kinds of ways I guess.”

Juanes met model/actress Karen Martínez during the filming of his video “Podemos Hacernos Daño”. On August 6, 2004, they were married. The couple separated in May 2007, after three years of marriage due to unresolved differences, but reconciled four months later. They have three children together, two daughters: Luna Aristizábal Martínez (born September 6, 2003), Paloma Aristizábal Martínez (born June 2, 2005), and one son, Dante Aristizábal Martínez (born September 12, 2009).

At the 2005 Latin Grammy Awards, Juanes won three additional awards to his nine previous Grammy awards. He took the award for Best Rock Song for “Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor” (“I am Worthless Without Your Love”), Best Rock Solo Album for Mi Sangre and Best Music Video for “Volverte a Ver” (“To See You Again”). On December 9, 2005, Juanes performed “La camisa negra” at an international gala in Germany celebrating the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final Draw evening. In 2006, he recorded a duet of “The Shadow of Your Smile” with Tony Bennett for Bennett’s Duets: an American Classic.

Juanes is outspoken in both his music and the media about violence and inequality in Colombia. Addressing the topic of victims of the Colombian civil war, Juanes stated: “these are your people, young people, people with families, and four or five of them are dying every day.” Juanes established the Mi Sangre Foundation to help victims of anti-personnel mines In 2005, he was named by Time as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. On November 15, 2005, he was honored at the annual benefit gala for Sir Paul McCartney’s Adopt-A-Minefield for his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for United for Colombia, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about the impact of land mines within Colombia.

In June 2006, Juanes began a year-long sabbatical to spend time with his wife, model Karen Martínez, and their daughters Luna and Paloma. He was working on an album that was released on October 23, 2007. When asked about the possibility of recording an album in English, Juanes responded, “singing in Spanish is very important because it’s the language in which I think and feel. I respect people that sing in English, but for now I’ll keep my Spanish.” Juanes planned to launch his own music label, named 4J, in October 2007, to be distributed by the Universal Music Group. He was also working on a new album, titled La Vida… Es Un Ratico (Life is a Little Moment).

On April 19, 2006, Juanes performed before the European Parliament, as part of a campaign to increase awareness against the use of landmines around the world, including in his native Colombia. He was first singer to perform in the hemicycle where the European Parliament holds its plenary sessions. The Parliament gave a symbolic gift of €2.5 million to demine Colombia and to rehabilitate victims of the landmines. In honor of his work and his music, he was given an escopetarra (a decommissioned AK-47 converted into a guitar) by peace activist César López; he later sold it at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills for US$17,000. Juanes held a benefit concert on May 24, 2006 in conjunction with KLVE and Univision which raised roughly US$350,000 to care for injured children and provide prosthetics, wheelchairs, and land rehabilitation.

On July 19, 2006, French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres awarded Juanes with the highest cultural honor given by France, L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, declaring him “Knight in the order of Arts and Letters” for his work in social activism. In December 2006, work began on a recreational park for the rehabilitation of the handicapped named “Parque Juanes de la Paz” in Medellín. The 68,000-square-meter facility will cost COL$10.6 billion, financed in part by the government of Medellín, and is to be completed by May 2007.

La Vida… Es Un Ratico was released on October 23, 2007 with the first single being “Me Enamora” (I fall in love). The second single was “Gotas de Agua Dulce” (drops of sweet water), and the third single became the vallenato fusion of “Tres” (three).

On December 11, 2007, Juanes performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with a variety of artists, which was broadcast live to over 100 countries.

On November 24, 2008, Juanes re-released the album as “La vida… es un ratico (en vivo)” [Deluxe Edition][2 CD/DVD Combo]” The album aside the 14 original songs, contains two previously unreleased songs: “Falsas Palabras” (false words) and “Odio Por Amor” (hate for love) which is also the current single. This new re-edition also includes seven live versions of songs played during his U.S. La Vida Tour. As another bonus added, Juanes also included a duet of his song “Hoy Me Voy” (today I leave) with singer Colbie Caillat. The DVD contains the music videos of the four singles of the cd as well as a few live video recordings of the US tour.

On August 5, 2009, it was announced that Juanes would hold his second “Peace Without Borders” concert in Havana’s storied Plaza de la Revolución on September 20, 2009.

On August 20, 2009, Juanes announced that he had considered canceling the peace concert citing “fears for his safety as well as his family”, who reside with him in Miami on Key Biscayne. Juanes closed it along with 15 other Cuban and international artists and with more than one million people attending the concert.”

In 2010, Juanes performed in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Kickoff Concert, as well as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. In addition, he released his album P.A.R.C.E. which featured the #1 Billboard hit Yerbatero and the top-ten hit Y No Regresas. February 17, Juanes performed live on the third single from their fifth studio album Regalito in the delivery of the Premios Lo Nuestro. The album has sold 1 million copies worldwide. In February 2012, the Colombian singer Juanes took the stage at Juanes MTV Unplugged to record a live album at the direction of Juan Luis Guerra. On March 6, Juanes will release “La Señal” as an unreleased song from his Unplugged.

In June 2013, Juanes appeared in a Spanish-language public service announcement for the HIV/AIDS non-profit organization Lifebeat in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and MTV. In the video, the singer encouraged HIV testing and cited a statistic stating that there are a thousand new cases of HIV per month among people 13 to 24 years of age. Guillermo Chacon, president of The Latino Commission on AIDS, commented that “Celebrities like Juanes are crucial to raising awareness, which is one of the most important ways for people to understand that HIV infection can be prevented.”

On March 11, 2014 Juanes released his sixth studio album by Universal Music Latino Loco de amor. It is his first studio album since P.A.R.C.E. (2010). At the Latin Grammy Awards of 2014, the album won the Best Pop/Rock Album. Loco de Amor was nominated for Lo Nuestro Award for Pop Album of the Year. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in 2015.

Juanes contributed to the 2017 animated film Ferdinand. In that production, he both wrote the original score “Lay Your Head On Me” and played the voice of Juan (Nina’s father). On May 12, 2017, Juanes released Mis planes son amarte. The album was accompanied by a space-themed visual album. The visual component was filmed in Colombia and Mexico and represents a spiritual journey through challenges and victories. Juanes explained that the album alludes to “the connection between our most ancestral, indigenous roots and the universe and its planets. Those points are even more closely tied than we can imagine.” It also explores the daily life and spirituality of the Kogi people, an indigenous group that resides in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia. Mis planes son amarte won Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop/Rock Album at the 18th Annual Latin Grammy Awards. The album is also Juanes’s first to feature a song in English, “Goodbye for Now”. In June 2017, Juanes collaborated with Chilean singer Mon Laferte on the cumbia-influenced single “Amárrame”. On May 23, 2018, Juanes performed with Mon Laferte as part of National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Concerts series.

Romantic love is a common theme in Juanes’ music. His album Mis planes son amarte was described as a collection of “gleaming, tuneful, good-natured songs about love”. Though his songs are primarily in Spanish, he has performed songs in Italian, Portuguese, German, and English. On recording in other languages, Juanes noted in 2017, “It’s hard when you have to change the way your muscles work,” he said. “I don’t want to go full crossover — that’s not my plan — but I just wanted to do it someday.”

In December 2019, Juanes released the album Más Futuro Que Pasado. The album features Colombian musicians Sebastián Yatra, Crudo Means Raw, and Lalo Ebratt as well as regional Mexican singer Christian Nodal, Dominican-American MC Fuego, and Canadian singer Alessia Cara, who sings in Spanish for the first time on the song “Querer Mejor”. The album was inspired Juanes’ optimism for the future of Colombia and highlights the diversity of the country, featuring a variety of traditional musical genres such as vallenato and cumbia combined with modern musical styles. Juanes explained that “it gives me a lot of hope. Esperanza, you know — Más Futuro Que Pasado is about having the drive to keep experimenting. I want to keep writing music, I want to live more. This is the point of my life when I want to live so much. But before I do anything, I start from the roots. And from there I build my vision.”

A Latin Grammy Award is an accolade by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. Juanes has received twenty awards and twenty-eight nominations. In 2019, he will be honored as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.