Manuel Romero

The two performance Concert highlighting Manuel Romero and the Sobrosito Jazz Band at the Dublin Valley Christian Language and Cultural Benefit in June 2005 was a smashing success. A packed house was the order for both performances greatly increasing the coffers of the Spanish Club as they prepare to travel to Spain Next summer. The two hour concert broughts comments like, "If I had only known, but just wait until next year's benefit concert with Manuel, two concerts will not be enough. Wow!" - MRF Entertainment

"At 13 years of age, the young Manuel Romero from San Jose, California could become the giant of Mexican music in the United States...."People en Espanol Edicion Especial Lo Mejor Del 2002 - Espanol Edicion Especial Lo Mejor

...... Manuel Romero plays Ritchie Valens. At 14, Manuel Romero is three years younger than the part he's playing, but the San Jose-based performer is already an accomplished singer. Romero has not just a website (manuel-romero.com) but a self-titled album on the Warner Music Latina label.

Romero was tipped off to the San Jose Stage audition by a neighbor. Unsurprisingly, a young man of his day and age was not really familiar with Holly's music when he started rehearsals. "'La Bamba,' though, is a famous song, that my whole family knew. It's still played in Mexico," he says.

This will be Romero's first time acting in the United States, though he's done plays, TV commercials and a movie in Mexico. What attracts him about the part of Valens is "his kind of personal connection with the crowd. It was very original--his movements and his style of music. Even though he didn't speak Spanish, he was trying to bring his Mexican roots out."

The most difficult part of the role is trying to master Valens' style of dancing: "I dance a lot in the show, but it's a really different kind of dance than is done today, this rock & roll." He adds, "I'm kind of like Ritchie Valens; I want to bring Mexican music out to the world." If Romero can do it, he'll not only be following Valens' lead, but Holly's as well, in blowing a little fresh air into the world.

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From the August 14-20, 2003 issue of Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper.
Copyright © Metro Publishing Inc. Metroactive is affiliated with the Boulevards Network.

- Richard von Busack

[ Stage Index | Silicon Valley | Metroactive Home | Archives ]



...... Scott Free was another Clear Lake high point, with his winsome Big Bopper, but it was 14-year-old Manuel Romero as Ritchie Valens who had the audience roaring.

The play's handling of Holly's death was rather enigmatic. In all of half a minute, with a darkened stage and Holly's lone guitar spotlighted, a radio announcement about "the late great Buddy Holly who died today along with ..." turned the fact that three famous musicians--not to mention a play's main character--had just died into a footnote. When the lights came up, out bounced Holly, Valens, and the Bopper for a resurrection encore of several songs. I know musical is all about "happy," but there has to be a better way to rewrite a tragedy--say, calling it over when the fat guy sings.


From the August 21-27, 2003 issue of Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper.
Copyright © Metro Publishing Inc. Metroactive is affiliated with the Boulevards Network.

- Metroactive Home

November 8 , 2002

Manuel Romero: Un joven pero maduro cantante de mariachi

Por Pablo De Sainz


La música de mariachi es un género donde los niños pueden desarrollarse y convertirse en iconos de la cultura popular mexicana.


El ejemplo perfecto es Pedrito Fernández, hoy conocido como Pedro Fernández, quién a muy temprana edad, entró al mundo del mariachi y causó gran sensación entre la juventud mexicana.


Comenzó grabando discos, actuando en películas y aparecer regularmente en programas de televisión. Fernández creció para convertirse en uno de los más importantes cantantes de mariachi moderno.


Hoy, otro joven está siguiendo los pasos de Fernández.

Hoy, es el turno de Manuel Romero de ponerse el sombrero y grabar su primer disco de mariachi, simplemente titulado “Manuel Romero”.


Hijo de inmigrantes mexicanos, Romero, nacido en San José, California, ha lanzado un bello disco que incluye 10 canciones que a la vez reflejan la frescura común a sus 13 años de edad, y una madurez que nos dice que toma en serio su carrera musical.


Pero no dejen que su edad los haga pensar que él es solamente otro niño jugando a ser cantante de mariachi. Al contrario, este disco es prueba que él está más preparado que otros adultos que son cantantes de mariachi.


La primera canción es “Todo para mi”, un tributo a las madres y a la maternidad. Esta canción nos dice del importante lugar que toma la madre en el carácter del mexicano:


&#xComo tú no hay nadie en el mundo/ Eres tú quien alumbra mi vida con rumbo/ Que tú eres: todo para mi, madre mia.”


&#xManuel Romero” es un disco que también incluye los temas clasicos de la música de mariachi. Uno de los más populares es, por supuesto, el hombre mexicano macho que es fuerte, orgulloso y honesto. &#x201CA que le tiran” captura la imagen del hombre brutal, valiente y borracho:


&#xSoy un hombre que no conoce la debilidad/ A mi la suerte y el destino me da igual/ mis agallas ‘tan en su lugar.”


La voz del joven Romero alcanza su alto potencial en las bellas baladas que se incluyen en el disco.


&#xVa por mi” es una balada tranquila que muestra que Romero continuará creciendo hasta convertirse en un amo del mariachi:


&#xVen dame de ti/ seguridad/ ensename un buen camino.”


Una de las canciones más logradas del disco es “Una vez más”. Es la historia de un hijo que rinde homenaje a su padre, quien ha dejado a su familia para cruzar la frontera y trabajar en los campos de Estados Unidos:


&#xTe fuiste para darnos otra suerte/ tus manos otra tierra han de labrar.”


Pero la más peculiar de todas las canciones es “Lejos de ti”, la cual tiene alusiones a varias canciones clásicas de mariachi, como “Volver, volver”, del idolo Vicente Fernández; “Piensa en mi”; y la famosa “México lindo y querido”.


&#xLejos de ti” muestra la gran tradición de mariachi que Romero carga consigo.
Y aunque apenas tiene 13 años, él tiene su experiencia.


El mayor de tres hermanos, Romero le ha cantado al Papa en la Ciudad de México y cantó el himno nacional de Estados Unidos en eventos deportivos profesionales.


Sin duda, Romero es un joven a quien su sombrero de mariachi le queda a la medida.



Return to the Frontpage
- Pablo De Sainz

A voice to take your breath away
San Jose 12-year-old poised for greatness
Annie Nakao, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, February 2, 2002

One minute, he takes a frolicking tumble down a grassy knoll. The next,

he picks up a mike and sings "Ave Maria," sending shivers down collective spines.

Just a day in the life of 12-year-old Manuel Romero of Milpitas, who besides loving social studies, skateboarding and brussels sprouts, is a singing sensation whose career is about to take off.

Miami-based Latin music giant Warner Music Latina just signed Manuel for his first album.

Ask the fresh-faced seventh-grader how he manages to make grown men and women tear up and he shyly responds, "I guess singing is just a big part of my life."

Lina Broydo of San Jose's Fairmont Hotel was less reticent.

When he sang Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" in classical Italian at the hotel on Christmas, "people forgot to breathe," she said.

The eldest of five children of Manuel and Cheri Romero, Manuel Jr. began singing at age 2 -- with perfect pitch -- when he heard his Mexican-born musician dad play the guitar.

Since then, the bilingual Manuel -- who sings equally well in Spanish and English -- has become a celebrity among Bay Area Latinos.

"He's been really big in Spanish communities," said Monica Mesones, entertainment anchor at Spanish-language Telemundo Channel 48 in San Jose.

He has been featured on other Spanish-language stations such as Univision, TV Azteca and Televisa. He's also become a fixture at San Jose's Mexican Heritage Plaza, mariachi festivals and other events.

Manuel is a native of San Jose, where his mom also was born. But he and his siblings were raised in Mexico City and the Bay Area. As a result, Manuel has become a musical ambassador of sorts.

A member of the Junior National Choir in Mexico City, Manuel helped serenade Pope John Paul II. When the Mexican National Soccer Team played Bolivia at San Jose's Spartan Stadium, he sang the Mexican national anthem.

And his fame is spreading.

Manuel has sung the national anthem and, these days, "America the Beautiful, " for the San Francisco Giants, the Oakland Raiders and A's, San Jose Sharks, the East-West Shrine Game at Pacific Bell Park and, most recently, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day festivities in San Francisco. On Feb. 17, he will perform at a Golden State Warriors game at the Coliseum.

At the Super Featherweight World Championship in San Francisco in November, where Manual sang the "Star-Spangled Banner," boxing legend George Foreman came up to him and said, "I've heard the national anthem sung many, many times,

but you made me really feel it."

Manuel even charmed a crowd of 1,000 followers of RV culture at the national convention of Bounders United with a rendition of "Shenandoah."

He also has his own Web site, www.manuel-romero.com .

At 5-foot-5, Manuel is in the throes of preadolescence. But his baby face and jumpy energy still speak of childhood.

At home one recent afternoon, he hopped on his younger brother's small bike and took a few spins in front of his ranch-style house, then sprinted inside, banging the front door behind him. Collapsing on the living room floor, he played peek-a-boo with year-old baby sister Carla.

"They're really close," said Cheri Romero. "I was in labor with her at one of his performances."

Manuel's singing went from a "cute family thing" to a serious pursuit after the Romeros took their son, then 8, to see San Jose singing teacher Tedd O'Bryan.

"I wasn't impressed until I lowered the key to one that was comfortable for him," said O'Bryan. "All of a sudden, this incredible, beautiful voice came out. I knew right away he was gifted."

On the cusp of puberty, when voices change, Manuel needs to be careful not to "overdo," O'Bryan said. "So far, he's doing pretty well."

If singing is a heavy commitment for Manuel, his parents -- who manage his career -- say they try to "balance" his life out.

"We're really honest with him, that if he doesn't want to do this, it's OK, " his mom said. "He really wants to do this."

Manuel has his own dreams.

"I want to be like Luis Miguel," said Manuel, referring to the Mexican singing superstar who in the early 1990s revived classic bolero music -- a Latin American ballad style that sings of melancholy love and romance.

Manuel's youth doesn't seem to affect his ability to interpret such adult emotions with his soaring soprano.

"A lot of people tell us that when he sings, he has an old soul," his mother said. "How else can a 12-year-old sing and make people feel so much?"

Manuel is also in awe of Mexican songwriting legend Armando Manzanero, whom he once tried to meet backstage. An aide promised to pass on the CD Manuel had recorded.

A few days later, Manzanero called. Manuel was in school, but the star left a message.

"He said he would write a song for me when I got a record deal," said Manuel, beaming.

Despite his busy schedule, life for Manuel remains fairly "normal . . . at school."

"They treat me like everybody else," he said.

His teacher did come to see him perform, though.

So does his family, at every event.

"He's a good boy, a real family person," said O'Bryan. "He has no airs or thinks he's hotsy-totsy."

Broydo called him "the nicest kid."

"I hope he's a huge success. I told him when he wins the Grammy, I want to sit in the front row. He smiled and said, 'Sure.' "

E-mail Annie Nakao at anakao@sfchronicle.com.

Page A - 13


- Annie Nakao, Chronicle Staff Writer

Interview w/ Manuel Romero
June 9, 2000 - EAT'M - Las Vegas, Nevada

By: Sounni de Fontenay
Jul 12, 2000


Listen to the Interview in RealAudio

A young Hispanic born in San Jose California, Manuel Romero, released his first CD on the 16th of September, in San Jose, California. "El Mix de Manuel Romero" is a mix of music that is a favorite of the young and old alike on both sides of the Rio Grande. The CD was made in San Antonio at Estudios G&H with Los Caporales as the mariachi band. Manuel is 10 years old and has won many singing contests in both the US and Mexico. His style of music is everything from Mariachi to Romantico, from songs in English related to youth to Ave Maria in classical Italian. He has sung on KGO, Channel 7 (CBS), in San Francisco, Channel 2 in Mexico City and on stages and state and county fairs across the US, at the El Grito in Mexico City, at the dedication of the newest Mexican Cultural Plaza in the US, the multi million dollar San Jose Mexican Cultural Plaza, and has been a repeat special guest at the Mexican Consulate in San Jose, California. Manuel has been selected twice as the Hispanic of the Week on Channel 48 in San Jose/Salinas. Manuel was a member of a select group of young singers that performed for the Pope on his latest visit to Mexico City and was personally complimented and thanked by the President of Mexico.

Listen to the Interview in RealAudio



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The CD is a mixture of seven Mexican traditional and romantic songs together with two songs sung in English and which are related to Manuel's actual age of 10. The final song is "Ave Maria," a song in classical Italian. Seven of the songs are sung in Spanish.

The CD was orchestrated and mixed in San Antonio, Texas using local mariachi talent. The art was generated in Mexico City and the CD production was accomplished in Fremont, California.

"Caminos de Michoacán"

"I Think She Like Me"

"México Lindo"

- La Ritmo

Milpitas Youth Rocks the Teatro Metropolitano in Tampico, Mexico.



Manuel Romero, a 16 year old Milpitas resident, recipient of the coveted International “TREBBY Award” and nominated for two Latin Grammy’s in 2003, performed for a quickly arranged Salvation Army orphanage benefit at the Teatro Metropolitano Tuesday evening in Tampico Mexico. Manuel brought the 350 seat house with more than 390 paying guests to their feet several times during this angelic performance. Manuel is in Tampico as the opening act for Pepe Aguilar this coming Saturday evening but when the benefit opportunity presented itself, Manuel immediately agreed to help the orphanage.

Tuesday, the opening curtain revealed Manuel dressed in a tuxedo and paying tribute to both the ethnic and religious tenets of the Salvation Army. Manuel’s polished, full chorused, resonant tenor voice was spectacular in the rousing songs of praise, ending with Manuel’s favorite, “I can Only Imagine” and “Ave Maria”. The audience jumped to their feet with tears and expressions of joy.

After a short intermission, Manuel appeared dressed in black slacks with an opened ruffled white shirt and again swept the audience off their feet with renditions of local and regional ballads together with favorite songs of the audience. Walking to stage left for a glass of water, Manuel’s signal for Pepe Aguilar’s Mariachis, who then burst through the door at the back of the audience and thrilled everyone with rousing mariachi music as they marched up to the stage with Manuel singing as the lead vocalist. Donning a borrowed regional dress jacked, Manuel continued to bring the audience to their feet time after time with regional and national Mexican songs. Finishing with the soul lifting experience of “Mexico Lindo”, Manuel was brought back to the stage for two more encores or otras, keeping the audience on their feet the entire time.

Today the talk of Tampico is Manuel Romero. His voice, his handsome expression, his stage presence, his polished, and structured manner belies his 16 years. He shares his heart with the audience and with that sharing comes emotions that are joined together throughout the room. At the end of his performance, many felt as though they had been touched by the hand of God.

Manuel will be returning to San Jose on Monday on Flight 935 at 10:35PM.






- MRF Entertainment

....We are a major league city, after all - that's the bottom line. And anyway, teenager Manuel Romero deserves a chance to sing the National Anthem at an MLB opener, as he did Monday night in Oakland, in his hometown. - San Jose Mercury

....9.17 p.m. - Can you still have someone sing "God Bless America" when a Canadian team is winning by more than a touchdown? Apparently so. A big belter named Manuel Romero does the honors and performs splendidly. Too bad Romero can't also bat cleanup. - San Jose Mercury