Coco Montoya (born Henry Montoya, October 2, 1951, Santa Monica,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afri ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and singer and former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.

Musical career

Montoya's career began in the mid-1970s when Albert Collins asked him to join his band as

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

. Collins took Montoya under his wing and taught him his "icy hot" guitar style. The two remained friends even after Montoya left Collins' band. In the early 1980s

John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...

heard Montoya playing guitar in a

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bar. Soon after Mayall asked Montoya to join the newly reformed Bluesbreakers. He remained a member of the band for 10 years. In 1995 he appeared with the Cate Brothers for the resumption of their recording career on their release, ''Radioland''. Since that same year, Montoya has recorded several solo

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s. In 2002, he featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album ''Hey Bo Diddley – A Tribute!'', performing the song "Pills." His 2019 recording, ''Coming In Hot'', was chosen as a 'Favorite Blues Album' by

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

Left-hand style

Montoya is left-handed but plays a left-handed guitar with a right-handed neck (i.e. strings upside down).

Personal life

Montoya and his longtime girlfriend Lenora married in 2009. He has two daughters; Jasmin (born 1980) and Donna (born 1988).

Discography

* 1995 ''Gotta Mind To Travel'' * 1996 ''Ya Think I'd Know Better'' * 1997 ''Just Let Go'' * 2000 ''Suspicion'' * 2002 ''Can't Look Back'' * 2007 ''Dirty Deal'' * 2009 ''The Essential Coco Montoya'' (compilation) * 2010 ''I Want It All Back'' * 2014 ''Songs From The Road'' (Live) * 2017 ''Hard Truth'' * 2019 ''Coming In Hot''

References

External links

Official website
*

Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montoya, Coco 1951 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists Contemporary blues musicians American musicians of Mexican descent Blues rock musicians John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers members Electric blues musicians Musicians from Santa Monica, California American blues singers Guitarists from California 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Hispanic and Latino American musicians