Miami, FL. (Top40 Charts/ UNO Entertainment) - His songs are perceptive and to the point. Already one of the most acclaimed songwriters in Latin pop, Elsten Torres is releasing his English-language debut, If You Say So, in April 2008 on UNO Entertainment.
If You Say So includes 12 pop-rock songs full of emotion, vulnerability and realism, including Heaven Help Us, mixed by the renowned producer Sebastian Krys, winner of eight Grammys. In addition to the 12 cuts, the title song is reprised as a bonus track with vocals.
Beginning on April 7, 2008, Elsten will also be promoted as a featured artist on Bebo, the No 1 social networking site in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand with over 40 million members and which is being purchased by AOL. Customers throughout the Anglosphere will be able to digitally download the full album or individual tracks.
On the track Everybody Wants to Be the Same, Elsten takes aim at conformism and apathy with a vocal delivery that pays tribute to his Elvis Costello influences. I Will Always Have this Love is a timeless, low-key ballad that conjures Hoagy Carmichael, complete with some gentle self-deprecation.
For over a decade, Elsten has been a bilingual pop-rock frontman while writing smash hits on the Latin pop and tropical charts for other artists. A quintessential singer-songwriter who's proud of his Cuban descent (even though his father was a political prisoner in Cuba) and is influenced by artists from Beny More to Elvis Costello to the Beatles, Elsten is admired by his peers for his rock-solid commitment to artistry.
In early 2008, he embarked on a new phase of his career, signing a deal with UNO Entertainment and becoming a full-fledged solo artist, recording as Elsten Torres for the first time.
As Elsten explains, recording under his real name signifies a new direction: "My band [Fulano was pretty well known in the Latin-rock world. Since I was the lead singer/songwriter, people started calling me Fulano and that became my name. Recording as Elsten Torres, I can separate a little from that past."
During the last several months he's found himself writing prolifically and bouncing ideas off his longtime collaborators, including top touring musicians Brendan Buckley and Adam Zimmon.
He's also having a productive time working in Nashville. Though the city's forever associated with country music, its official nickname, Music City USA, is really more appropriate, as it's a magnet for creative talents of all stripes.
As Elsten explains: "Nashville is an amazing place for artists and songwriters in general. It's a really pure music city in the United States. I grew up in New York, I'm based in Miami, I've been to Chicago and L.A., and Nashville really impressed me because everything is about music."
Admiringly quoting Sheryl Crow's recent Billboard interview where she noted that today's music business is like the Wild West, Elsten says he's happy to be with UNO Entertainment given its agility and breadth of knowledge, including expertise in promotion, marketing, distribution and online sales.
In 1997, Elsten's band Fulano de Tal (which means John Doe) debuted with the album Normal. Shortening its name to Fulano in 2000, the band returned with Etc.
Word of Elsten's vivid, organic songwriting gifts spread quickly, and during the 2000s he wrote hits for such artists as Obie Bermudez (the Grammy-nominated Todo el Ano that was No. 1 on the Billboard charts for 4 weeks), Luis Fonsi, and Michael Stuart.
But he's never forgotten his performing side. In fact, he believes his background as a frontman makes him a better songwriter for others: "As a performer, I understand what other artists experience."
In 2006, he released Individual as a solo artist. Individual wasn't easy to categorize but delighted audiences ready for something unpredictable and heartfelt.
Elsten's peers in the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave Individual their ultimate blessing, nominating it for a Best Latin Pop Album Grammy in 2007; it was the only indie-distributed release among the category's five nominees.
While many artists would play it safe on the heels of a Grammy nomination, Elsten and UNO Entertainment believe that change is something to be embraced. Elsten's moving forward and is excited about what's coming. Welcome to the Wild West.
Find downloads and up-to-the-minute details of Elsten Torres' musical creations at https://www.bebo.com/elstentorres and https://www.myspace.com/elstentorres.
