One more Time II (New and improved)

Since childhood, Adrian Blanco has always had a passion for music. He remembers going shopping with his parents and while other children were trying to get their parents to buy toys, he was sneaking cassettes or cd’s into the shopping cart. Unlike most artists or musicians, Blanco has never had any formal music instruction other than playing in his high school band. He always had the ambition to become a successful producer and would always tell his friends and family about his future plans, however, no one would ever take him seriously. Upon graduation from high school, Blanco recalls former classmates teasing him about not having produced any music or achieving his predetermined goals. At this point, Blanco enrolled in the Sound Technology Program at South Plains College in hopes of gaining some experience and knowledge in order to begin his musical journey. While his instructors doubted his commitment to the program due to distractions in his personal life, Blanco eventually quit the program, transferred to Texas Tech University and changed his major to Advertising. Blanco decided to put his musical endeavors on hold in order to concentrate on obtaining his degree. During this time, Blanco was able to expand creatively by studying the art of creative writing, learning to write jingles, commercials, and radio spots in a form that would market to a particular audience. Following members of the group NB Ridaz, Blanco was always inspired by their unique style of music. After purchasing the long-awaited NB Ridaz.com album, an offer made by MC Magic of the group sparked Blanco’s interest in purchasing custom tracks of his own. In the offer, MC Magic would re-make any of their hit songs with information supplied by the customer.  Blanco decided to take at the offer and get 2 songs customized for his mother and grandmother as a Mother’s Day gift in 2004. After receiving the 2 songs, Blanco decided to make the “release” of his 2 songs more memorable and contacted Power 106 in hopes of getting his songs on the radio for Mother’s Day. Knowing how difficult it may be to get his songs on the radio in such a short period of time, Blanco remembers writing a letter to Gilbert Esparza of Power 106. In this letter, he requested that his songs be played for this one special occasion. To his surprise, he received a call on Mother’s Day from Power 106 informing him that both of his songs would be played back-to-back on that day. Upon hearing his songs on the radio and seeing how the power of music impacted his family, including his mother and grandmother who were brought to tears, Blanco realized it was time to pursue his dream once again. Shortly after, Blanco had the idea to re-create another song, but this time for a bigger audience at a local night club. After pitching the idea to South Beach owner, Chris Gonzales, Blanco called MC Magic’s studio line, and was able to speak with Magic himself. MC Magic supported this project and requested from Blanco an example, in lyrical form, of what he wanted to be included in the song. Spending hours trying to write lyrics for this song, Blanco realized that his experiences with advertising and songwriting would help him find success with this project. Upon completion of the song, with the help of MC Magic, Blanco presented it to Gonzales, and he put the song into regular rotation at South Beach. This opened the doors for Blanco as he made many other remixes to follow. His next accomplishment came from a project for his Campaign class where Blanco wrote a song for the “Great American Smoke-Out.” This was the first time that anyone had ever written a song for this particular campaign. Once again Blanco teamed up with MC Magic and had him featured on the song. The song was presented to members of the American Cancer Society and all of Blanco’s professors in the College of Mass Communications on the last day of the semester before finals. Being one of the quietest students in the class, Blanco took everyone by surprise with this song and received a standing ovation. Blanco went on to graduate from Texas Tech in May 2005 and kept his part-time job while looking for full-time employment. Blanco found that he had a lot more time on his hands now while waiting for calls from potential employers and found interest in learning more about the talkbox. Blanco contacted MC Magic to find out more information about the talkbox but only learned that MC Magic received his talkbox as a gift from Terry “Zapp” Troutman, of Zapp and Roger. Still eager to learn more about the talkbox, Blanco researched more and found a number for the Troutman family. After making contact, Blanco was able to speak with Terry Troutman himself, and after stuttering a few words, he was able to make a deal with Troutman in purchasing a talkbox of his own. Two weeks later, Blanco received his first talkbox. Blanco spent the next few months practicing before making a trade with Charles Sanchez aka “DJ Sancho” for a recording program called “Cool Edit.” Shortly after, Blanco practiced recording music for the first time. After meeting with DJ Sancho a few times at work, Blanco offered to help him write a song. While working on the song called “Te Quiero,” Blanco was demonstrating to DJ Sancho how the song went and later found himself rapping for the first time on this track. After recording this song, Blanco decided to pursue his solo career and asked DJ Sancho to produce the song “Girl,” which was the first Latin hip-hop ballad produced by Sancho. After writing 6 songs, Blanco wrote a song called “Girl of My Dreams,” which was later sold to Upstairs Records, as a potential single for the New Ridaz. Many artists such as MC Magic and Brown Boy showed much interest in this song, but Blanco felt selling this song to Upstairs Records was the best career move at this time. Blanco went on to finish his first album, “One More Time,” in late 2006. Having little experience in marketing his music, Blanco made a short run of 200 copies of “One More Time” and decided to do an internet give away, even offering to pay shipping of the CD. Blanco saw a good response, receiving positive feedback, and listeners kept encouraging Blanco to release another album. Blanco cut-off marketing “One More Time” in order to begin working on his new album, which is to be released at a later date. While saving money and networking on MySpace, Blanco was able to set up production with various producers. Blanco recorded 6 songs for his new album and decided to take a break from music and focus on the upcoming birth of his daughter. After receiving numerous requests from family, friends, and MySpace friends, Blanco decided to re-release “One More Time.” This time Blanco decided to have the CD’s made professionally and ready to be sold. The CD’s arrived and were released on April 27, 2007, the same day his first daughter, Alanah was born. This motivated Blanco to work harder than ever to get the CD’s in the hands of people in the West Texas area. As a result, Blanco accomplished a few more of his goals such as, successfully performing at a show and making his debut on Power 106. Three years after convincing Power 106 to play his Mother's Day songs, Blanco found himself back in the Power 106 studio, this time marketing the release of his own CD, “One More Time.” Blanco spoke to the program director of Power 106, Gilbert Esparza, and after listening to a couple of tracks, he felt “On My Mind” would be a good release and placed the song into regular rotation the following week. Blanco decided to use a different form of advertising to get his name out in the West Texas area. He did this by advertising on the radio, CD giveaways, and setting up a the local flea market. With the friendly support of the staff at Power 106, La Feria, and support from listeners, Blanco’s single made the West Texas Top 20 Countdown, and is slowly climbing the charts. Blanco would like to thank everyone at Power 106 and their listeners for taking the time to listen to his music and giving him the chance no one else has given him. Blanco hopes “One More Time” will continue to gain support but in the meantime, Blanco will continue to work hard on his second album. Blanco has already worked with top producers in the Latin Hip-Hop industry such as Tony Talkbox of the New Ridaz, David “D” Elizondo, founder and producer of ATM, and has features from Latin legend, Don Cisco, Pocos Pero Locos featured artist Monteloco, and Marcus, lead singer of ATM(2007-2008). Blanco’s next album is guaranteed to have something for everyone and he will continue to put a twist on Latin Hip-Hop ballads. Blanco encourages everyone who is pursuing a career in music to never give up and understand music from the heart is something that can never be taken away and will last forever. Always follow your dreams and it never hurts to try it ONE MORE TIME.