Timmy Torres (born September 21, 1967, in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

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 The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

and a

Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patterns. ...

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 to get the 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, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

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 Alex Meruelo's Meruelo Group, through licensee KPWR Radio Ho ...

played the record, it received airplay from several more stations throughout the country including Hot 97 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 Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

. 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 (August 11, 1949 – March 2024) was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of the Raspberries, with whom he recorded the hit " Go All the Way" and four albums. He embarked on a so ...

"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 the Tosh.0 " Web Redemption Reunion Spectacular", singing "One More Try". 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