The inspiration of a romantic

By SANDRA VELÁZQUEZ / Vida En El Valle
(Published Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 08:50AM)

FRESNO -- In spite of his reserved personality, Tommy Torres knew how to keep the crowd excited during his special performance last weekend before an all-female audience in Fresno.

"Sometimes music is used as a resource to complement the deficiencies in our personal lives," said Torres, who other than being a very romantic singer-songwriter, he defines himself as a person who is somewhat shy.

"I am romantic, what I am not is talkative, I'm more of a reserved guy. Music serves as a communication instrument," he told Vida en el Valle during an interview minutes before performing some of his singles from his album 'Tarde o Temprano' (Sooner or Later) at Aldo's Night Club.

Before launching his singing career, Torres put his inspiration and talent as a producer and arranger to the disposal of Ricky Martin, Ricardo Arjona and Ednita Nazario among others, hence the maturity of his lyrics at this stage of his life.

'Tarde o Temprano' is the award winner musician's third album -- he has won several Grammy and Billboard awards. He says that in order to be able to write, it is necessary to have at least experienced some of what you are narrating: "you always use fantasy as a resource because that makes everything more fun, but the feelings that one writes are very hard to describe if they are not felt."

"Sometimes things are described as they have been felt on a given moment," said Torres, referring to the songs that make up his new album, but that doesn't mean they necessarily reflect the present.

"It is a singer-songwriter album," said the Puerto Rican. "It will always have an element of his personality."

Other than promoting 'Pegadito' (Closer) with great acceptance, Torres shot a video in México City to help support the diffusion of 'Tarde o Temprano,' the album's title, which is the second single.

The Puerto Rican singer is in the middle of a promotional tour but is planning to begin a concert series in the fall and give a full display of his talent.

Send e-mail to: svelazquez@vidaenelvalle.com