RJ Ronquillo (born 1976 in Detroit, MI) is an American session and touring

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 themselve ...

and

YouTube personality A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influen ...

. He has performed and recorded with artists such as

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his discography spanning Latin pop, pop, dance, reggaeton ...

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Schoc ...

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

Stone Sour Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Ra ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...

, and

Thompson Square Thompson Square is an American country music duo composed of husband and wife Keifer and Shawna Thompson, both of whom alternate as vocalists. They signed to Stoney Creek Records, a sister label of Broken Bow Records, in 2010. The duo has releas ...

. He is known for his YouTube channel which focuses on guitar gear demos, guitar lessons, and behind-the-scenes tour vlogs.

Early life and education

Ronquillo was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and grew up in

Grosse Pointe Grosse Pointe refers to an affluent coastal area next to Detroit, Michigan, United States, that comprises five adjacent individual cities. From southwest to northeast, they are: * Grosse Pointe Park * Grosse Pointe * Grosse Pointe Farms * Grosse ...

, an eastern suburb. He attended the

Grosse Pointe Academy The Grosse Pointe Academy is an independent day school located at 171 Lake Shore Drive in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. Originally known as the Academy of the Sacred Heart, the campus buildings were designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1 ...

from preschool through eighth grade, and

Grosse Pointe South High School Grosse Pointe South High School is a public high school of state and national historical significance serving the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe. Originally known as Grosse Pointe High School when it opened in 1928, the school adopted its curr ...

. He attended the

Frost School of Music Frost School of Music is the music school at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. From 1926 to 2003, it was known as University of Miami School of Music. Academics and programs The University of Miami's Frost School of Music was on ...

at the University of Miami in

Coral Gables Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the U ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

and graduated with a bachelor of music degree in Studio Music & Jazz for guitar.

Touring & recording career

In 2001, while living in South Florida, Ronquillo began touring and recording with Jamaican

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

band, Inner Circle. In 2002 he recorded rhythm guitars for the song, "

Why Don't You & I "Why Don't You & I" is a song by American rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. The song was written by Chad Kroeger and recorded for Santana's 2002 album ''Shaman (album), Shaman'', on the Arista Records, Arista record label. It was re-r ...

", on the Santana album ''

Shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...

.'' In 2006, he played on Ricky Martin's ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

'' album and DVD, after which he joined the touring band for Martin's 2007

Black and White Tour The Black and White Tour (Blanco y Negro Tour) was the worldwide concert tour by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, in support of his 2006 album ''MTV Unplugged''. The tour visited the Americas and Europe. About the tour The show, directed for th ...

. In January 2009, Ronquillo joined the LA based hard rock band,

The Chelsea Smiles The Chelsea Smiles are a hard rock band formed in 2004 featuring Karl Rosqvist of Danzig, Steel Prophet, Skye Vaughan-Jayne of Bullets and Octane, Johnny Martin and RJ Ronquillo. History The band was formed by guitarist Todd Youth in the aft ...

, and recorded on their 2009 self-titled album. In 2010, he toured with Latin pop singer,

Chayanne Elmer Figueroa Arce (born June 28, 1968), better known under the stage name Chayanne, is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer and actor. As a solo artist, Chayanne has released 21 albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide, making him one of ...

, for his No Hay Imposibles world tour.

YouTube

Ronquillo began his YouTube career in 2011, with a series of guitar demos for the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

guitar brand,

Eastwood Guitars Eastwood Guitars is a Canadian manufacturer of guitars. The company specializes in making vintage-style instruments including electric guitars, basses, acoustic guitars, electric mandolins, resonator guitars, lap steels, and ukuleles. Not ...

Discography

* ''

-'' Santana (2002) * ''

Better Dayz ''Better Dayz'' is the eighth studio album and fourth posthumous album by the late American rapper 2Pac, and is his last to be a double-album. It was released on November 26, 2002, debuting at number five on the US ''Billboard'' 200. This album ...

'' - 2Pac (2002) * ''After The Storm'' - Monica (2003) * ''

Grand Champ ''Grand Champ'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper DMX. It was released on September 16, 2003 by Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings. The album was produced by multiple producers, including Swizz Beatz, Dame Grease, Kanye ...

-'' DMX (2003) * ''

-'' Ricky Martin (2006) * '' Ricky Martin Live: Black and White Tour -'' Ricky Martin (2007) * ''The Chelsea Smiles -''

(2009) * ''Studio Live Session -''

Judith Hill Judith Glory Hill is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. She has provided backing vocals for such artists as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Josh Groban. In 2009, Hill was chosen as Jackson's duet partner for the song " I Jus ...

(2019) * ''Re-Imaginos -''

Albert Bouchard Albert Thomas Bouchard (; born May 24, 1947) is an American musician. He is a founding member and the original drummer of the hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult and current drummer of The Dictators. He is the brother of former Blue Öyster Cult ...

(2020) * ''Imaginos II:Bombs Over Germany (minus zero and counting) -''

(2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ronquillo, R. J. 1976 births Living people Guitarists from Detroit