Timmy Torres (born September 21, 1967, in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

Bronson, Fred (2003). ''The Billboard Book of #1 Hits'', 5th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 781.), professionally known as Timmy T, is a freestyle performer and musician. Timmy T had a ''Billboard'' Hot 100 #1 single with " One More Try" in 1991.

Career

Timmy T started out in the 1980s in small rap groups in Fresno, but felt that he would rather do dance music. He purchased a Moog synthesizer and a Roland TR-808 drum machine at a pawn shop, and recorded his first single, "Time After Time", in his garage. He originally recorded the song for his girlfriend and after his girlfriend liked it he decided getting that single pressed on vinyl. He rode his motorcycle to a local Fresno radio station to ask them to play his song. After the DJ played the song, there were many calls requesting who was performing that song. The DJ recommended that Timmy T take his record to radio stations in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

for more exposure. After Los Angeles pop station

Power 106 KPWR (105.9 FM) – branded as ''Power 106'' – is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. KPWR is owned and operated by Meruelo Group and airs a Rhythmic Hot AC format. KPWR's studi ...

played the record, it received airplay from several more stations throughout the country including

Hot 97 WQHT (97.1 FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared ser ...

in New York. Timmy got a record deal with

Quality Records Quality Records was a Canadian entertainment company which released music albums in Canada on behalf of American record labels. They also released recordings by Canadian artists. The company operated between 1950 and 1985 with offices in Toron ...

, and "Time After Time" went on to peak at #40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart. Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 636. His next single " What Will I Do", made it to #96 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart. He released another single at the end of 1990, the ballad " One More Try", which proved to be much more successful than his first single, selling over a million copies and climbing to the top of the Billboard charts the following year. The success of the single drove the album, also named "Time After Time," to the #46 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart. He recorded his first album '' Time After Time'', featuring the title track (his first single), "What Will I Do", "One More Try", and " Over and Over". None of the singles from his second album, ''All For Love'', reached the charts, however his song "Over You" was featured in the motion picture ''The Raffle'' in the company of Elton John. The other singles of the second album were "Cry a Million Tears" and a cover of the song originally by

Eric Carmen Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He was first known as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries. He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Rasp ...

"Boats Against the Current". A year after the release of his second album, he distanced himself from the spotlight to focus on the birth of his son. In 2018 he appeared on Tosh.0 web redemption reunion spectacular September 18, 2018, singing "One More Try". List of Tosh.0 episodes#cite note-283 As of 2019, Timmy T was still performing along with other freestyle acts from the late 80s and early 90s.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Timmy T American freestyle musicians American male pop singers American rappers of Mexican descent Musicians from Fresno, California 1967 births Living people 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians Rappers from California Hispanic and Latino American rappers