Teen Prodigy Guitarist Ben Torres Poised For Stardom
15 Year Old Elite Musician Takes 2nd Place in National HDNet Video Contest
Young Florida guitar prodigy Ben Torres’s YouTube video cover
performance of the Rascal Flatts song ‘Banjo’, a collaboration with
rising star Camryn Wessner, was selected by Honky Tonk TV to compete in a
contest to appear on HDNet. Ben’s video came in 2nd place.
The selection by Honky Tonk TV came as a pleasant surprise to
both Ben and his collaborator, Camryn Wessner. “We really weren’t
expecting this kind of recognition from this video at all” explained
Torres. “We made it for our fans and to explore our collaboration
possibilities. We couldn’t be happier and are incredibly honored to have
been selected by Honky Tonk TV to compete in the HDNet contest”.
Ben is 15 years old and was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ben’s
interest in music began at an early age. He acquired his first guitar, a
Fender Stratocaster, when he was 9 years old. He has played with
non-stop ambition ever since.
In his young musical life, Ben has studied guitar for five years
with Sean McWilliams, Mike Walker and Ryan Phillips. He’s also had one
and a half years of vocal studies under renowned vocal coach Manny Lujan
(Linda Ronstadt, Vikki Carr, Patty Duke, Christina Aguilera, George
Lopez, Mariachi Cobre). Recently Ben has been working with Christine
Andrus (Atlantic Records, Word Records, Broadway, Disney Studios,
Universal Studios) for voice and performance coaching. For the last few
years young Torres has attended week-long Rock and Roll Camps at
Valencia College in Orlando. He has also attended the Avalon School of
Music’s Advanced Guitar Shredding classes and has had five years of
study in advanced theory, songwriting and techniques.
Torres recently completed his first EP ‘Holding On To Now’, a
collection of five original songs produced by the acclaimed producer
Billy Chapin (Don Henley, Sister Hazel, Bob Dylan, Eagles, Aretha
Franklin, John Cougar Mellencamp, Stevie Nicks).
You can hear Ben’s blazing instrumental single ‘Catch Me If You Can’ now on Twitmusic:
http://twitmusic.com/songs/i0zsl
BEN TORRES is 16 years old and was born in Indianapolis,
Indiana. Ben’s interest in music began at an early age. He acquired his
first guitar (Fender Stratocaster) when he was 9 years old and has
played with non-stop ambition ever since.
In his young musical life, he has studied guitar for 5 years with
Sean McWilliams, Mike Walker and Ryan Phillips and 1 1/2 years of vocal
studies with the world-renowned Manny Lujan. For the last few years he
has attended the week-long Rock and Roll Camps at Valencia College in
Orlando. He has attended the Avalon School of Music’s Advanced Guitar
Shredding classes and has had five years of advanced theory, songwriting
and techniques. He has also performed the role of “Rooster” in “Annie”
with the Musical Theater Club in Bridgewater Middle School and has
played numerous guitar recitals in the last few years.
One of Ben’s goals is to become a really well known musical
artist who is familiar to every household. Ben’s musical talents will
grow tremendously due to his consistent practice and love for rock. His
desire and dream to play on stage in front of thousands grows stronger
every day. His favorite artists are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John
Mayer, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Journey, Incubus, Radiohead, 311,
System Of A Down, and Green Day.
Ben is attending high school as a 10th grader this year.
