TOBY GUERRERO
Reggae from Germany
Hamburg based singer/songwriter Toby Guerrero, has his roots in Ecuador/South America. He learned to play the violin at an early age, took lessons in drumming and then proceeded to teach himself to play the guitar. At the age of 15 he began writing his own compositions which he arranged and performed on stage with his friends in a number of different bands. Having finished school he packed his guitar and set off on extensive travels across Europe, South America, Africa and Asia, getting to know many different people, to become familiar with different customs, cultural traditions and world views. He brought his compositions out with him in his travel bag, ready to perform in Cuba and Ghana, India, Mexico, Spain and Israel and he returned to Germany with new impressions and new ideas.
While at university in Hamburg studying political science and sociology he made contact with local creative musicians; together they wrote new material and performed as a 11 member band at various open-air festivals and clubs in and around Hamburg. In 2000 Guerrero and his band took part in the new talents contest Act 2000/LIVE MUSIC HALL in Cologne where they came in the top five from among 5000 other participating acts. The following year he and his band won the POP MUSIC CONTEST 2001 (best new German artist) in Bonn. In the same year, one of his songs was voted via internet among the top three in a new talents contest organized by MTV.
A charismatic frontman and expressive singer
who keeps audiences spellbound, Guerrero has quickly become a familiar name among the Hamburg Reggae community, winning favour with audiences through his magnetizing performances on the microphone at different established soundsystems in Hamburg, His commitment to music was crowned in 2003 at the SUMMER JAM, Cologne, - Europe´s
biggest Reggae festival- where he gave a 45 minute performance on the Green Stage with Reggae greats like Israel Vibration, Bunny Wailer and Jimmy Cliff. Toby Guerrero is currently working on new songs which he is planning to perform at various concerts and festivals this year.
Toby Guerrero 2007