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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Tommy Castro| image = Tommy Castro 14Mar2008.jpg| image_size =| caption =| background = solo_singer| birth_name =| alias =| birth_date = birth date and age|1955|4|15| birth_place = San Jose, California|San Jose , California , United States | death_date =| death_place =| genre = Blues music|Blues , Soul music|soul , Southern rock , Chicago blues , rock and roll , soul-blues | occupation = Musician , songwriter | years_active = 1980s–present| label = Alligator Records|Alligator , Blind Pig Records|Blind Pig , Telarc Records|Telarc , 33rd Street Records|33rd Street , Delta Groove Productions|Delta Groove , Heart And Soul, Saloon| associated_acts = Dixie Chicks | website = http://www.tommycastro.com www.tommycastro.com| notable_instruments = Tommy Castro (born April 15, 1955, San Jose, California|San Jose , California , United States ) is an United States|American blues , Rhythm and blues|R& B and rock music|rock guitar ist and singer . He has been recording since the mid 1990s. His music has taken him from local stages to national and international touring. His popularity was marked by his winning the 2008 Blues Music Award for Entertainer Of The Year. According to The Chicago Sun-Times , Castro plays "Memphis soul-drenched R& B…top-of-the-line blues."Johnson, Jeff. The Chicago Sun Times , August 9, 2009 Blurt added, "Castro has a soulful voice, searing guitar and is an excellent songwriter and vocalist. If you close your eyes you will be convinced that you are listening to Otis Redding singing in 1967…tremendous.”Callahan, Tom. Blurt Online, http://www.blurt-online.com/reviews/view/1392 Review of Hard Believer, August 17, 2009
Biography
Castro began playing guitar at the age of 10 and was influenced and inspired by electric blues , Chicago blues , West Coast blues|west coast blues , soul music , 1960s rock and roll and Southern rock . His style has always been a hybrid of all his favorite genres. He names Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop , Eric Clapton , B.B. King , Buddy Guy , Elmore James and Freddie King as guitar influences and Ray Charles , Wilson Pickett and James Brown as vocal influences.
He began playing professionally in San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area cover-song bands in the 1970s. In the 1980s he joined the Warner Bros. Records ’ band The Dynatones. Since 1991, he has led his own bands, featuring a drummer , bass guitar player and saxophone player (Keith Crossan has held the saxophone position for many years). As of 2009, he had added trumpeter Tom Poole and keyboards to the band. He was signed to Blind Pig Records label and released Exception To The Rule in late 1996. It won the 1997 Bay Area Music Award for Outstanding Blues Album, and Castro also took the award for Outstanding Blues Musician that same year. In the mid-1990s The Tommy Castro Band served as the house band for three seasons on NBC Television’s Comedy Showcase (airing right after Saturday Night Live ), bringing him in front of millions of viewers every week.
In 2001 and 2002, B.B. King asked Castro to open his summer concert tours. Castro received an open invitation to join King on stage for the nightly finale.
Castro has released albums on the Telarc Records|Telarc , 33rd Street Records|33rd Street and Heart And Soul and most recently on the Alligator Records|Alligator label, as well as on Blind Pig Records|Blind Pig . His album Guilty of Love featured the last recording session for John Lee Hooker . In 2002 he was featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album Hey Bo Diddley - A Tribute! , performing the song "I Can Tell". In 2007 the readers of BluesWax (online magazine) voted Painkiller as BluesWax album of the year. It also won the 2008 Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year.
In 2009, Castro joined the roster of Chicago, Illinois|Chicago ’s Alligator Records with his release Hard Believer , produced by John Porter (musician)|John Porter . The album was described by Billboard (magazine)|Billboard as "irresistibly funky…it has a street-level grit and a soulful sincerity that’s impossible to ignore."Mills, Fred. Billboard Magazine|Billboard , http://www.billboard.com/album/tommy-castro/hard-believer/1270867/review#/album/tommy-castro/hard-believer/1270867/review Review of Hard Believer, August 11, 2009 Blues Revue said Hard Believer is "a fine set of roadhouse-rockin’ blues.".Nager, Larry. Blues Revue , October 2009 Blurt says, “Hard Believer might just be the best yet from this veteran Bay Area blues artist.”
In May 2010, The Blues Foundation awarded Castro multiple Blues Music Award honors for Blues Male Artist of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year, B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, and with his band, Band of the Year.
Discography
2009 Hard Believer ( Alligator Records|Alligator )
http://www.tommycastro.com Tommy Castro Band website
http://www.alligator.com/index.cfm? section=artists& artistID=162 Biography at Alligator Records
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p63212
myspace|tommycastroband
Persondata | NAME =Castro, Tommy | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = United States|American blues, R& B and rock guitarist and singer | DATE OF BIRTH =April 15, 1955 | PLACE OF BIRTH = San Jose, California , United States | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Tommy Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:American blues guitarists Category:American blues musicians Category:People from San Jose, California Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:Soul-blues musicians Category:Contemporary blues musicians
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