Tico Torres

Tico Torres

Torres in 2009
Background information
Birth name Hector Juan Samuel Torres
Also known as Tico, the Hit Man
Born (1953-10-07) October 7, 1953
New York City, New York, United States
Genres
Occupation(s) Musician, drummer, painter
Instruments
  • Drums
  • percussion
  • vocals
Years active 1969–present
Associated acts
Notable instruments
Pearl drums
DW drums and pedals
Paiste cymbals
Remo drumheads
Ahead drumsticks
LP percussion

Hector Juan Samuel "Tico" Torres (born October 7, 1953) is an American drummer and percussionist, best known as the drummer for American rock band Bon Jovi. He also has taken lead vocals on a song on the box set 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong, as well as backing vocals on a couple of the early Bon Jovi tracks, notably "Born to Be My Baby" and "Love for Sale".

Childhood

Hector Juan Samuel Torres was born on October 7, 1953, in New York, and brought up in the Colonia section of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. His parents, Emma and Héctor, immigrated from Cuba in 1948.[1] He attended John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in Iselin. He has a sister called Opi.

Music career

Tico Torres live with Bon Jovi on November 14, 2007 in Montreal.

Torres was a jazz fan as a youth and studied music with Joe Morello. In 1969 he played drums for the psychedelic rock band Six Feet Under. Before joining Bon Jovi in 1983, Torres had already played live with Joe Cerisano's R-Band aka Silver Condor in the New Jersey Rock circuit, and in the studio with Franke and the Knockouts, Pat Benatar, Chuck Berry, Cher, Alice Cooper and Stevie Nicks, recording a total of 26 albums with these artists. Tico was also one of the drummers auditioned by Kiss in 1980 after original drummer Peter Criss left the band.

Torres was the original drummer for the glam rock band T. Roth and Another Pretty Face and played on their 1980 album Face Facts.[2]

Bon Jovi

Main article: Bon Jovi

Torres met Alec John Such while playing with a band called Phantom's Opera and it was this friendship which led to him joining Bon Jovi. When Jon Bon Jovi, the lead singer of the band, approached Torres, he was put off by the fact that Jon was 9 years younger than he was. Regardless of this he said it was Jon's charismatic appearance and watching Jon perform that attracted him to join the band.

Endorsements

After a long relationship with Pearl drums since 1984. In March 2013, Torres changed from Pearl drums to DW (Drum Workshop), after DW made a custom kit out of cherry wood to Torres' specifications.[3] Along with DW he also he endorses Paiste cymbals, Remo drumheads, his signature Easton Ahead drumsticks/griptape/gloves, LP percussion and Beato drum bags. He used DW pedals for most of his career but not hardware until 2013.

Art

Known as "the Hitman," Torres discovered another talent: painting. He has exhibited his art since 1994. The successful first show was at the Ambassador Galleries in Soho, New York. Torres is a self-taught painter, who paints expressive pictures which show scenes from everyday life and his life with the band.

His painting talent was shown in one of the three videos made for the single "Who Says You Can't Go Home." There is a scene in one of the videos showing Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and David Bryan painting a wall of a house a solid color, while Tico is at the other end of the room, painting an extravagant picture of a house surrounded by a multi-colored heart on the same wall. His art can be found at http://www.walnutst.com/.

Torres also owns a fashion line for babies called Rock Star Baby (selling baby clothing, strollers, soft toys, jewelry and furniture, etc.), which is viewable at http://www.rockstarbaby.com

Personal life

Torres and his first wife divorced soon after the formation of Bon Jovi in 1983. In 1996, Torres married Czech-born model Eva Herzigová in Sea Bright, New Jersey. The ceremony was attended by their closest friends and family including Donald Trump and the members of Bon Jovi. The band serenaded Eva and her husband with the hit single "Always" during the dance. Their marriage ended two years later. Tico married Maria Alejandra in September 2001, his third marriage. They have a son, Hector Alexander, born on January 9, 2004.[4]

Discography

Bon Jovi

Main article: Bon Jovi discography

Studio albums
Compilation albums
Live albums
Box Sets

Richie Sambora

Studio albums

T. Roth and Another Pretty Face

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BON JOVI DRUMMER BEATS OUT EMOTION ON CANVAS". The Palm Beach Post. March 20, 1996.
  2. ↑ "Face Facts". AllMusic.
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSChFozahbU
  4. ↑ BBC – Beds Herts and Bucks – Entertainment – Everything changes for Take That!

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bon Jovi.
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