Joseph Anthony Torres

Joseph was given his accordion at the age of 13 by his father. His father was a drummer and could play the accordion a little, so he taught his first polka "Nuevo Laredo" and a couple of other tunes. When the family moved to Houston and moved in with uncle Albert "Beto" Torres, Joseph learned more music from him and his other uncles who played with Los Technicos de Nacho Garza. Joseph would go with the band and listen to their music and learn more music and hoe to perform on stage. When one of his uncles quit the band, Joseph took over the accordion at the age of 15, but after a year of playing with the band, Joseph felt like he was being limited to what he could play. His idols were Paulino Bernal and Oscar Hernandez. He admired and tried to learn all types of music, which is why he went on his own and created his first group Joe Torres y Sus GTs, recording his first album at age 17. After 2 1/2 years the band broke up and Joe went back to school and graduated high school and persuaded a career in auto mechanic, but his dream was still music. He later started a new band named "Los Dominos de Joe Torres" and recorded his 2nd album. Later, when the singer decided to part ways, the back band broke up and Joe went back to work as a mechanic. Soon he was introduced to Joe Kino, from Victoria, and Joe would join his band for about 2 years touring Indiana, Chicago, Ohio, Michigan and surrounding cities, but then he decided to get a steady job as a mechanic. During this time, he met Ruben Laredo, from California, who was excellent accordion player, together they started a group with 2 accordion players and recorded his third album "Los Amigas de Ruben Laredo". Personal problems arose, so the band broke up, and once again Joe returned to working as a mechanic. A while later, he got together with Monic Cortez, who he had known for years and decided to join his band "Los Hermanos Cortez". Joe recorded his 4th album : The Low Rider". He played with this band for over 12 years. Joe eventually bought his own mechanic shop, but music was still his passion. He joined a younger group called "Group Kalor", which was supported by a local radio station KQQK, but once the station closed, the band broke up. After all this, Joe decided to change his life and joined a church named Kingdom Living Ambassador Center. He joined a worship team, lead by his younger son James Torres. Tis has been the most rewarding years of his life.. He loves playing music that he loves, worshipping God.