Colombian rock star Juanes can tug at your heart, soul and mind all at once. He looks like a young Antonio Banderas and sings like Bruce Springsteen, evoking the common man's experience.

Last year, he was among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, drawing comparisons to Bono for social consciousness.

"Music can be the most powerful weapon about peace," Juanes says by phone. "You can use music to send messages. It doesn't mean that people have to take all the messages, or that music is the cure for all the problems, but music can make people feel better."

Singing soulful folk ballads with a reggae-rock lick, the 12-time Latin Grammy winner expresses political and romantic themes. Two of his big hits, for example, are "Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor" ("I'm Worthless Without Your Love") and "A Dios le Pido" ("I Ask God"), a peace anthem.

"All inspiration comes from life itself," says Juanes, a 33-year-old father of two. "Everything that is between life and death is just inspiration to me -- my family, my daughters, my country, also relationships and the situation with the war now. ... I believe in love and I believe in family, but I'm also a man of dreams.

"I live in music all the time," he says. "For me, it's like a religion. I use music to express my feelings, to get connected to the universe -- that's why I put my heart and soul in music all the time, because I can't live without music."

Juanes has been steadily increasing in popularity around the world. While his 2000 debut album, "Fíjate Bien" ("Listen Closely"), sold only 72,000 records, his sophomore album, "Un Día Normal" ("A Normal Day"), which included a duet with Nelly Furtado, sold more than 2 million worldwide.

"I feel really happy, because it's an opportunity to exchange cultures and educate people," says Juanes about his success. "It's about music -- and music is a universal language."

His latest album, "Mi Sangre" ("My Blood"), made its debut at No. 1 in the Spanish-speaking world and has sold more than 2.3 million worldwide. And three singles off the album ("La Camisa Negra," "Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor" and "Volverte a Ver") stayed at the top of Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart for months.

He plans to continue singing in Spanish, because it's the language he thinks and dreams in.

"What I do with my music is just follow my feelings," he says. "I have no idea about what I'm doing. I just follow my inspirations, my heart."

To preview Juanes' videos go to:

juanes.net