Rodney Alejandro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rodney Alejandro is an American musician, composer, arranger, producer and audio engineer raised in Houston, Texas. A product of Houston's inner city neighborhoods, Alejandro grew up in the barrios and ghettos. When living on the east side, Alejandro listened to Salsa music, Tejano and Mariachi music. Attending schools in Houston's 5th ward, he was heavily influenced by soul, jazz and hip hop.
(1987–1995)
Alejandro's professional career began as a senior in high school, with the co-founding of Tejano-pop band Valentino. Valentino was led by David Flores, who departed another Houston band called La Mafia. Alejandro joined the band on keyboards, having taught himself after saving a year to buy his first keyboard, an Ensoniq ESQ-1. He quickly mastered the synthesizer and its capabilities, but his music technique was limited. Texas musician Joel Guzman gave him lessons not only on technique but playing in the Tejano style. Technology was fast becoming the norm in music and Alejandro took the opportunity to learn about MIDI, sequencing, sampling, and other digital technologies available at the time. His keyboard arsenal grew to include an E-mu Emax, Roland R-8 drum machine and a Yamaha C1 music computer, one of the first MS-DOS computers made to run music software. Valentino was known throughout the state as the most electronic band in Tejano, in a genre where traditional instruments of drums, bass, guitars, and accordions were the norm. The band would perform concert using these various technologies, midi sequencing backing tracks, triggering audio samples, and blending electronic pop sounds with the tradition Tejano arrangements. Alejandro's reputation grew as a skilled music programmer, and he continued to work on his performance technique while other artists employed his assistance in incorporating electronic instruments to their music. Valentino toured in the Tejano circuit with Little Joe y La Familia, Groupo Mazz, Selena y Los Dinos, La Sombra, and La Mafia and others. While on tour, he connected with many musicians and began to collaborate on other projects. A.B. Quintanilla III asked Rodney to come work with Selena contributing arrangement and production services on her song "Amame",[1] on the Entre Mi Mundo project. Tony Guerrero of La Sombra from Chicago asked Alejandro to sequence and program sounds for their projects and a solo project of lead singer Gavino Guerrero. Albert "Tiger" Diaz, another singer in the group, recorded a solo project and he too hired Alejandro for arranging and keyboard programing. These relationships would lead to further collaborations many years later.
Alejandro's band Valentino continued to perform while making the crossover to a more Latin American pop music market. They performed original bilingual pop songs recorded at SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston. Traveling to LA, they worked with producers Michael Sembello, and Preston Glass, on demos pursuing a record deal. In 1992, Valentino performed on Buscando Estrellas, the Latin version of the American show Star Search, and won in the band category with the Alejandro-penned song "Vamos A Bailar". During that trip to LA Alejandro met Coyote of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Rodney contributed a bi-lingual song called "Mas Dura" to their effort on the American show, Star Search. The band went on to win the season finale and signed to Capitol/EMI Latino. Their first single was "Bien Dura", a full Spanish version of the original bilingual song. Unknowingly, Alejandro became the only songwriter to win Star Search in Spanish and English. In 1992, Valentino signed a record deal with BMG International. Alejandro contributed 8 of the 10 tracks record for the album and project was released in 1993. While in the studio, Rodney met Jamie Glaser, a guitarist who mentioned the value of his Berklee education. Being self-taught in pop music got him only so far, so Rodney set his sights on Berklee College of Music. Upon returning to Houston from LA, Alejandro enrolled at a local community college to pursue his education and music professional goals.
(1995–1997)
Having completed basic requirement course at San Jac Community College, he then transferred to Berklee College of Music in June 1995. Summer semester was his first, carrying a full course load, his objective was to get in and get out. By the end of summer he took a job in the school's work study program. He was assigned to the Berklee Performance Center, where he worked as a stage hand, and later as sound engineer for college functions and various professional concerts. This allowed him to stay and complete a degree program. He chose a dual degree program in music production and engineering and contemporary writing and production. His previous experience in professional music would help him throughout the journey. With each passing semester, he garnered more scholarship funds, and was awarded the Ticketmaster Award for Excellence. 1n 1997, Rodney completed his studies, graduating summa cum laude, and received the Production Scholar of the Year from the MP&E dept. and Outstanding Excellence from the CW&P dept. See Education below for further details.
