Rick Trevino

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Rick Trevino
Background information
Birth name Ricardo Treviño, Jr.
Also known as Rick Treviño
Born May 16, 1971 (1971-05-16) (age 37)
Origin Houston, Texas, USA
Genre(s) Country
Occupation(s) Singer
Instrument(s) Vocals
Rhythm guitar
Piano
Keyboards
Years active 1993-present
Label(s) Columbia Nashville
Vanguard
Warner Bros. Nashville
Website Official website

Rick Trevino (born Ricardo Treviño, Jr., May 16, 1971 in Houston, Texas) is an American country music singer-songwriter of Mexican American descent.[1] Signed to Columbia Records in 1993, Trevino began his career that year with the release of his debut single, "Just Enough Rope", the first mainstream country music single to feature separate English and Spanish-language versions. The song was included on his debut album Dos Mundos; a self-titled album followed a year later. To date, Trevino has charted a total of fourteen singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and recorded seven studio albums. His biggest hit to date, "Running Out of Reasons to Run", spent one week at Number One on the country music charts.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Trevino is the son of Ricardo Trevino, Sr., a Tejano musician, and Linda Chavez. His music career began when he started taking piano lessons at the age of five.[2] He now plays rhythm guitar as well as keyboards.

Although he was offered a baseball scholarship to Memphis State University, Trevino chose instead to study music at Texas A&M University.[3] While a student, he played his brand of country music in local clubs. In 1991, a representative of the Sony label was stranded in Austin due to flooding conditions and visited a small club where Trevino regularly played. Although Trevino was not performing that evening, the representative saw several articles on the walls which praised Trevino. Employees of the club gave him a tape of Trevino's music, which the label representative then passed onto music producer Steve Buckingham. Buckingham made a special trip to Austin just to hear Trevino perform and signed him immediately to Sony. Trevino left school to pursue his music career.[2]

[edit] Music career

At the insistence of Columbia Records, his first album, Dos Mundos was an almost entirely Spanish country album. Trevino, who is not a native Spanish speaker and needed lessons before he could record the album, was displeased with the decision. "I didn't like that a bit because I didn't want people to think I was a Tejano artist...Everybody thinks I'm a Tejano singer crossing over to the country format."[2] The album was certified gold.[3] Seven months later, in 1994, Sony released his first English album, Rick Trevino.[2] Rick Trevino was certified gold (selling over 500,000 copies) and featured two Number One hits, "She Can't Say I Didn't Cry" and "Doctor Time." His debut single, "Just Enough Rope" ("Bastante Cordón"), appeared in English on Rick Trevino and in Spanish on Dos Mundos, while a version of the song which combined the two languages was also released to radio. This became the first mainstream country single to be released in both English and Spanish.[3] The album's third single, "She Can't Say I Didn't Cry", became Trevino's first chart-topper, spending one week at the top of the Gavin Report country singles charts.[4]

The follow-up English album, Looking for the Light, was released in 1995 and included the top-ten hit "Bobbie Ann Mason." Trevino also recorded a Spanish version of the album, titled Un Rayo de Luz ("A Ray of Light").[3]

In the late 1990s he joined an all-star group of Mexican-American singers, including members of Los Lobos, Freddy Fender, Ruben Ramos, and Flaco Jimenez, to create the supergoup Los Super Seven.[2] The group won a Grammy in 1998 for Best Mexican-American Music Performance for their self-titled debut album.

Trevino's 1996 album Learning as You Go, produced his first and only Billboard Number One single in "Running Out of Reasons to Run". As with Looking for the Light, Learning As You Go also featured a separate Spanish-language version, titled Mi Vida Eres Tú ("My Life Is You").

Trevino asked to leave his contract with Sony in the hopes of moving in a different musical direction. Sony refused to release him from the contract, and Trevino cut a new album and released the single "Only Lonely Me" in 1998. Before the album could be released, Sony fired Trevino, and the album was shelved. Undaunted, Trevino continued to tour and released a Spanish-language album, Mi Son, that contained only ballads and had little hint of his country music roots. Without a new album or record deal, however, Trevino's touring schedule slowed, and most of his band quit.[2]

During this time Trevino began collaborating with Raul Malo, former frontman of country band The Mavericks. The two had met while working on the second Los Super Seven album. Their collaborations helped bring Trevino to the attention of producer Paul Worley, who helped Trevino get a contract with Warner Brothers.[2]

For his next album, In My Dreams, Trevino "wanted to do a country record that had a Latin flavor to it."[2] He wrote or cowrote every song on the album except for the final track, a cover of the Bryan Adams song "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" The title track, "In My Dreams" became a single and remained on the charts for twenty weeks, falling just shy of the Top 40 on the Billboard country charts (although it reached a peak of #34 on the Radio & Records country charts). Trevino was disappointed with the final ranking, but said the album "opened a lot of doors for me. It made people take me a little more seriously than 'Bobbie Ann Mason.'"[2]

Trevino's latest single, "Separate Ways," failed to reach the Top 40 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, and he has since been dropped by Warner Brothers.[5]

[edit] Personal life

Trevino was featured in the 2007 Down Syndrome Association of Central Texas calendar. His father accompanies him on his road trips, and his mother is the head of his fan club.

Trevino lives in Austin with his wife, Karla, and their children.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

Year Title US Country US 200 RIAA
1993 Dos MundosA
1994 Rick Trevino 23 119 Gold
1995 Looking for the Light 17 121
1996 Learning as You Go 17 117
2001 Mi SonA
2003 In My Dreams 58
2007 Whole Town Blue Unreleased

[edit] Compilation albums

Year Title
1997 Best of Rick Trevino
1999 Corazón de Rick TrevinoA
1999 Super Hits
2001 Mano a ManoA
  • ASpanish-language albums.

[edit] Singles

Year Title US Country Album
1993 "Just Enough Rope" ("Bastante Cordón") 44 Rick Trevino
1994 "Honky Tonk Crowd" 35
"She Can't Say I Didn't Cry" 3
1995 "Doctor Time" 5
"Looking for the Light" 43 Looking for the Light
"Bobbie Ann Mason" 6
"Save This One for Me" 45
1996 "Learning as You Go" 2 Learning as You Go
1997 "Running Out of Reasons to Run" 1
"I Only Get This Way with You" 7
"See Rock City" 44
1998 "Only Lonely Me" 52 single only
2003 "In My Dreams" 41 In My Dreams
2007 "Separate Ways" 59 Whole Town Blue

[edit] References

  1. ^ CMT.com : Rick Trevino : Biography
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Remz, Jeffrey B. (November 2003). Rick Trevino strives for overnight success. Country Standard Time. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
  3. ^ a b c d Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2001). Rick Trevino. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
  4. ^ Hobbs, Bill (January 1995). "Family Tradition: Rick Trevino's Perspective from the Top of the Charts". New Country 2 (1): 50–52. 
  5. ^ Country Labels Keep Rosters Full Despite Album Sales Dip

[edit] External links

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