Tommy Torres

Tommy Torres is a charting, award-winning singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. Though he works primarily in the field of Latin pop, he has written a diverse palette of songs for artists ranging from Ricky Martin and Ricardo Arjona to Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey. He has produced for Martin, Eros Ramazzotti, Alejandro Sanz, Jesse & Joy, and many others. Torres possesses a sweet, smooth, relatively high baritone singing voice. His 2001 self-titled debut offered a meld of singer/songwriter pop, hooky rock, Latin folk, and adult contemporary; his sound has evolved but remains instantly recognizable. With 2004′s Estar de Moda No Está de Moda, he netted four number one singles. 2008′s Tarde o Temprano reached the Latin Top 20 and 2012′s 12 Historias spent 17 weeks at the top of the Latin Albums chart, landing well inside the front half of the Top 200. Though he continued to perform, Torres spent most of the decade working as a producer, arranger, and songwriter. He returned to recording with 2021′s El Playlist de Anoche, a nine-song set written, recorded and produced in collaboration with Bad Bunny. It went straight to number one at streaming.
Torres was born in Puerto Rico. He learned how to play violin and keyboards at a young age and started composing while attending high school. He matriculated at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where he graduated magna cum laude with a dual major in music production and engineering as well as commercial arranging. He moved to New York and entered the music industry officially as a studio assistant at Sony Music Studios.
Desiring to be closer to the heart of the U.S. Latin music industry, he moved to Miami in 1998 and worked as a studio production assistant and arranger. In 1999, Torres got his first credits as a songwriter and producer. He penned the song “No Puedo Olvidar” for the Menudo offshoot MDO. It went straight to number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart, and as a reward, he got to produce their next single, “Groove with Me Tonight (Dame un Poco Más).” Torres also wrote the chart-topping “Llegar a Ti” for Jaci Velasquez in 1999, which received the ASCAP Song of the Year award.
2001 was a breakthrough year for Torres in all three of his vocations. He produced hits for Olga Tañón and Son by Four, co-produced Ednita Nazario’s Sin Limite album, and produced and arranged Ricky Martin’s “El Amor de Mi Vida” and “Fuego Contra Fuego.” Torres also made his debut as a recording artist with a self-titled album for Sony. He produced and wrote or co-wrote all 12 songs. Two of its singles, “Como Olvidar” and “Hoy Te Vas,” made the Latin Top 20. Torres won the best new artist at the year’s Premios Lo Nuestro awards.
A year later, he co-produced, co-wrote, and played on Nazario’s Acoustico and earned his first Latin Grammy nomination. Torres also produced Banco Popular’s Christmas special Encuentro, starring Juan Luis Guerra, Draco Rosa, and Rubén Blades. In 2003, he produced Ricky Martin’s seminal Almas del Silencio. The set’s first single, “Tal Vez,” offered arrangements by Torres and topped the Hot Latin Songs chart for 12 weeks, and it took home Song of the Year at the ASCAP Latin Awards. The outing broke SoundScan record for sales from a Spanish-language album — provided three additional number ones. Later that year, Torres returned to produce Nazario’s Por Ti album. It and Martin’s records won the best pop album awards in the male and female categories at Billboard’s 2004 Latin Music Awards, and Torres was nominated for Producer of the Year.
In October 2004, Torres released his sophomore long-player, Estar de Moda No Está de Moda; it netted four chart-topping airplay hits in Puerto Rico, while the album went Top 40 in the U.S. During the year, he split his time between his album and producing and arranging Ricardo Arjona’s massively successful Adentro. The latter went on to win Best Latin Pop Album at the Grammy Awards and Best Pop Album at the Latin Grammy Awards. Torres took some time in 2005 to tour in support of his own album before returning to arrange and produce Martin’s best-selling MTV Unplugged. The following year, he co-wrote the Top Ten single “Quien” with Arjona, and produced and arranged several cuts on Quien Dijo Ayer. Later in 2006, Torres produced the international duet hit “Ya No Estamos Solos,” by Martin and Eros Ramazzotti.
Torres returned to recording in late 2007, and he released his third album, Tarde o Temprano, in April 2008. It registered four chart-topping singles in Puerto Rico that all went Top 20 in the U.S., while the title track and “Imparable” topped the Mexican singles charts. He received a Latin Grammy nomination for best singer/songwriter album. The set was also nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award in the Latin pop album of the year category, and also for best pop album and best male artist at the Premios Lo Nuestro in 2009. Later that year, he produced Alejandro Sanz’s chart-topping Paraiso Express. Its first single, “Looking for Paradise” featuring Alicia Keys, went to number one at radio in every Latin American country but Colombia, and in Spain. It also reached the Latin Top 20 in the U.S. The album won a Grammy for Latin pop album of the year and a Latin Grammy for pop album of the year. The single “Desde Cuando,” co-written by Torres and Sanz, received a Latin Grammy nomination for song of the year. In February, Torres received the ASCAP Latin Music award for composer of the year.
In 2012, Torres delivered his fourth studio album, 12 Historias. It featured contributions from several artists he’d produced, including Martin, Nazario, and Arjona, while Nelly Furtado appeared on the track “Sin Ti.” The set debuted at number one on the Latin albums chart, where it spent a whopping 17 weeks, and landed comfortably inside the top half of the Top 200. He toured across the U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin America in support, resulting in the live offering 12 Historias (En Vivo).
Torres didn’t record again for nearly a decade. In 2013, he produced Draco Rosa’s star-studded Esto Es + Vida, and in 2015 produced Jesse & Joy’s smash Un Besito Más album. He produced Ramazzotti’s Duets album in 2017. Torres also worked as a songwriter for Ximena Sariñana, Sebastian Yatra, and Kany Garcia, whose album Contra El Viento he produced in 2019, along with Reik’s single “Aunque No Deba” — on which he made a guest appearance.
In early 2020, Torres signed to the Rimas Entertainment label. Late that year, manager Noah Assad told him Latin trap innovator Bad Bunny (another of his clients) had written a song for him. After the pair had an extended meeting over Skype, they got together at Torres’ Miami studio and co-wrote, played, and recorded nine songs. Though Bad Bunny had to leave after mixing for a tour, he and Torres stayed in touch via the Internet to finish the album’s production. El Playlist De Anoche was released in August 2021. It peaked at number two on the Latin Pop albums chart and topped the Latin Albums list at streaming. ~ Thom Jurek