Toby Love is Toby Love. There is no one else like him. In a world where artists are created, this sensitive and experienced Latin singer-songwriter is capable of leaving his unique signature on each one of his songs- which is a great achievement in itself. 

 

As a teenager, while he dreamed of becoming a baseball player, and the girls he tried to “conquer” ignited his passion, his friends nicknamed him Toby Love. Pouring that love into his songs, and following in his parents footsteps (father was a singer and mother played some bass...) he took the next step, onto a stage as well as onto becoming a star.  

 

“I love being behind under the flood lights, behind the microphone and feeling the audience’s warmth,” he says as he is about to launch a second album, “Love is Back”; a title that reminds him of his teenage years.

 

And it is this emotion that connected Toby to R&B, his favorite music, which would in turn lead him to bachata. “This is how I feel, grounded with my parent’s roots and in search of my own identity in this country”.

 

Toby was born in the Bronx, in New York City. His parents are Puerto Rican. “For me, bachata brings together everything that is Dominican (Republic) swing. To it, we just kept adding on our own sounds”, he explains. “We gave the music the same cultural mix my parents brought with them to the U.S.”, he adds, explaining that “bachata is more than just a musical style, it’s a culture”.

 

At the age of six, as a member of the group ‘Aventura’, Love was taught to begin plotting out his own path. Here, he experienced his first studio recording and faced millions of people during the tours he participated in. “Leaving the group was a very huge leap forward for me. I started incorporating my own style in each production and I enjoyed doing it”, he says.   

 

Thanks to Toby Love, “crunckchata”, the musical fusion he brought together, has caught on with a blast. Love defines “crunckchata” as “dance club music, because its rhythms are contagious and makes it you just want to get up and dance”.

 

With “Toby Love”, his first Sony BMG Latin album, released in 2007, the bachata rhythm exploded onto the scene. The project received nominations for different international awards and, was performed on important stages the world over, both during individual Toby Love performances as well as during on stage appearances with other important industry artists.  

 

His new album, “Love is Back”, is more personal than the previous production. On it, Love worked side by side with Eddie Pérez, his musical producer. “...that made this one different, richer and gave it a very defined identity”, he says.  

 

The very first “Love is Back” single to be hit the airwaves is “Llorando Lloviendo”, a unique bachata tune with has an urban R&B base. It will go on sale in stores this summer. 

 

“It’s gonna be something new, which is where I always try to go, both when I record, and during my live performances”, he comments.

 

Although his musical influences range from R. Kelly and Brian McKnight to Héctor Lavoe, Toby acknowledges Michael Jackson as his greatest inspiration. “He was always ahead of his time. This is a virtue I would like to develop, especially being one of the new talents, whose career is just beginning”, he says.

 

At 24 years old, Toby feels more mature and his self-confidence is reflected in his album. His ambitions have born fruit. His vision is on course. And, with the release of “Love is Back”, it is his passion that continues to bloom, with greater and greater intensity at each and every turn.

 
All this because Toby Love just wants to keep on loving.

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Cuando en la adolescencia su sueño era jugar a la pelota, su pasión se encausaba en las muchachas que enamoraba. De allí que sus amigos le llamaran Toby Love. Pero no tardó en dar un paso más y en llevar ése amor a las canciones para seguir la herencia que sus padres le estaban dejando (su padre cantaba y su madre tocaba el bajo): pisar un escenario y convertirse en una estrella.

 

“Ahora me encanta estar en la tarima, sentir el calor de la gente”, dice hoy cuando está a punto de lanzar su segundo disco con un título que le recuerda a sus años adolescentes: “Love is Back”.

 

Y es que ese sentimiento fue lo que conectó a Toby con el R&B, la música que más le gusta. Y ésta lo llevaría a la bachata. “Es que así me siento, atado con las raíces de mis padres y en búsqueda de mi propia identidad en este país”.

 

Toby nació en el Bronx de Nueva York. Sus padres son de Puerto Rico. “La bachata trae para mí todo el swing de la República Dominicana y aquí le fuimos agregando nuestros propios sonidos”, explica. “Llevamos a la música la misma mezcla cultural que trajeron mis padres”, agrega explicando que “la bachata, por ejemplo, es más que un estilo musical, es una cultura”.

 

Fueron sus seis años en el grupo Aventura los que lo entrenaron para comenzar a hacer su propio camino. Con ellos, pudo vivir sus primeras experiencias en salas de grabación y se enfrentó a millones de personas en las giras que emprendían. “Al salir del grupo fue un salto muy grande, porque comencé a poner mi propio estilo a cada trabajo y a disfrutar de eso”, cuenta.

 

Con él, impone la “crunckchata”, el nombre que se gana la fusión musical que logró y que denomina como “música para discotecas, porque es contagiosa y muy bailable”.

 

Su primer disco para Sony BMG Latin, Toby Love, editado en el 2007, hizo detonar el género de la bachata consiguiendo nominaciones en diferentes premios internacionales y apariciones en importantes escenarios del mundo, tanto con conciertos privados como compartiendo con grandes figuras del espectáculo.

 

Su nuevo álbum, “Love is Back”, es más personal que el anterior porque ha trabajado codo a codo con su productor musical Eddie Pérez. “Eso lo ha hecho diferente, con más cuerpo y una personalidad bien definida”, explica.

 

“Love is Back” se comenzará a escuchar en las radios con el tema “Llorar Lloviendo”, una bachata única, siguiendo la base urbana del R&B. Este verano llegará a las tiendas.

 

“Será novedoso, eso es lo que siempre persigo tanto al grabar un disco como en las presentaciones que hago en vivo”, comenta.

 

Si bien su influencia musical va desde R. Kelly y Brian McKnight hasta Héctor Lavoe, Toby reconoce en Michael Jackson su gran inspirador. “El siempre se anticipó a los tiempos y esa es una virtud que quisiera desarrollar, especialmente para ser parte de la carrera de nuevos talentos”, comenta.

 

A sus 24 años, Toby se siente más maduro y esa seguridad se vuelca en el disco. Su ambición ya tuvo respuestas, su visión está en marcha y ahora es su pasión que sigue floreciendo cada vez más intensa y la entrega en “Love is Back”.

 

Porque, Toby Love quiere seguir amando.