I am (in order of precedence!) a Lyricist, Music Producer, Songwriter and Occasional Screenwriter (and even more occasional) Voice Artist, born in 1965 to a mother from Coventry in England and a Puerto Rican father from Queens, New York City.
I am most definitely from a musical family; my late father, Bob Ortiz and my uncle, Angel Paniagua were both professional session guitarists and band members in New York in the late fifties and into the sixties (and in Angel’s case into the 70’s as well) and my mother spent a lifetime in music retail; the desire to make music is in my blood and always will be.
Most of the time I write and produce music for its own reward and for the therapeutic aspects that it brings me; Sometimes I write lyrics and produce material for other people. I am a lapsed member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors (BASCA), the UK Music Producers Guild and also of The Featured Artists Coalition. I may rejoin any or all of these organisations at some point in the future, however…
This WordPress blog is a collection of my works, both ones that are collaboratively written and ones I have written on my own. Most contain details of the back-story – how and when the track came about, what inspired it. Other posts are more typical blogposts of just streams of consciousness about things that are happening around me at the time of writing.
Somewhat out of the blue about a decade ago, I decided that instead of my lyrics and songs existing purely on other platforms (like Soundcloud, Reverbnation, etc) or being held in an A4 folder in their own individual sleeves, that they should have a life of their own; sometimes with their back-stories, or with other media; sometimes with the music that has been written to accompany them.
I’ve known for many years that deep down, I’ve had a lyrical calling in one form or another – either in the form of poetry or songwriting. This is something that was gestation for a long time but only in the last ten years has it found its natural outlet and only in that time have I learned to develop my own style and my own lyrical voice.
Like many other writers, I have been inspired by those that have gone before. The observational style of Jarvis Cocker and Chris Difford; the story-telling ability of Neil Peart and Gerry Goffin; the imagery and emotive word-play of Steve Hogarth, James Grant and Neil Finn. Among many other legendary writers who’se works have been the soundtrack to the lives of millions (Graham Gouldman, Paddy MacAloon, Jimmy Webb and countless others), I am always trying to find a way to articulate what I’m thinking in the best way that I can.
Taking part in a BASCA songwriting retreat in Monmouth, Wales in 2014 was a formative experience – being the first time that I had written collaboratively outside of the comfort zone of friends and fellow band members, especially against the clock and to a brief and with people I’d never met before. I found the experience liberating and empowering and highly productive. Watching an idea of yours grow quickly from a planted seed and take shape and through the efforts of your own hands and others, within hours not only reach a recognisable form, but one that has the capacity to make a complete stranger smile, think, cry or even just sit there in silence and absorb the message or the story, is something that I will never tire of.
While turning a latent desire to write into something with a tangible output was originally born of a need for catharsis, the intervening years have seen the perspective change. Nowadays, I find my inspiration in so many different places. It can be mis-heard words or phrases on a radio or TV broadcast, it can be from watching a film, it can be from a real world experience, it can be a contemplative narrative. It can take the most innocuous spark to start a fire of ideas or conversely, it can be an idea that just pours out in minutes, as if born fully formed. I’m sure that this is a lyrical journey that is not a unique one and that many others who have trod the same path would feel the same and continue to experience the same as I do.
This blog is a record of my journey along that road.
I have written, recorded and produced a number of albums of compositions, mostly self written but also collaboratively. All are available to listen to on this site by following the links above and are available to licence and cover, should anyone wish to do so. I hope you like it and stay a while for the journey.
I hold the copyright for all the songs and lyrics unless stated otherwise and should anyone care to cover or interpret them in their own way… reach out, lets talk. 🙂
