Raul Antonio

Being an aspiring musician with a famous father is never easy, as Julian Lennon or Jacob Dylan might attest. But it can be doubly difficult with a famous Mexican father who is sternly determined to keep his children out of the music business. Such was the family dynamic for Raul Antonio, a 21-year-old singer/songwriter from San Jose, Calif., whose debut album, "Todo Es Posible", will be released on Suenos Entertainment.

When Raul abandoned a promising start as a professional soccer player and began secretly considering the unpredictable life of a professional musician, he knew his father would disapprove. Raul Antonio is the son of Hernan Hernandez, bassist and vocalist with the legendary Los Tigres del Norte, a band whose commercial longevity and cultural stature qualifies it as The Rolling Stones of Mexican norteno music. Hernan -- the most identifiable Tigre for his distinctive plume of silver hair – has insisted on protecting his three sons from the turmoil of the music business, in particular the long spells away from home, far from family.

So for a long time, Raul kept his aspirations close to his chest. During a year abroad in Barcelona, when his father thought he was taking business courses, Raul surreptitiously enrolled in music school. It was the year he turned 18 and he started quietly writing his first songs, jotting down ideas in a notebook he had been given by his mother to privately encourage his creativity. He worked out chord progressions on his guitar during homesick nights when he couldn’t shake the cruel memory of an old high school girlfriend who had broken his heart, inspiring what would become his first single, “Imposible.”

Upon his return in 2008, he decided it was time to break the news to his dad.

“I was really anxious about telling him,” says the artist, whose full name is Raul Antonio Hernandez Munoz. “I didn’t know what he was going to say. And I was really nervous to show him something that I had written.”

Raul invited his father to a studio to preview his new music. As the sounds of his fresh pop fusion filled the room, he watched his father’s expression transform from a stony stare to a pleasantly surprised smile. When Dad started tapping his feet and bopping his head, Raul realized he had won over one of the strongest allies he could ever hope to have.

“I was very excited and very happy,” says the elder Hernandez of the surprise audition. “I couldn’t believe it was him.”

Apparently, the authority of Mexican fathers goes only so far in trying to stop the music -- when it’s in the blood. That summer, Hernandez, a stickler for punctuality and discipline, dropped plans for a vacation cruise to help Raul develop his vocals. Father and son worked in the studio every day from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m., meticulously listening to playbacks of his lightly Latinized pop music.

Raul Antonio was born into a musical family. When his father was on tour with Los Tigres, he recalls going to listen to traditional Mexican music with his maternal grandfather, a mariachi musician. But neither norteno nor rancheras are part of his repertoire, sparing him the stress of competing in his father’s arena.

From an early age, Raul Antonio showed promise as a soccer player. At 16, he was poised to enter the big leagues in Mexico, invited to tryout in the youth ranks of the popular team, Cruz Azul, based in Mexico City. But at the last minute, the young man confesses, he got cold feet. He decided he was too young to leave his family, which had always been the center of his universe.

“I wasn’t ready yet,” the musician explains softly.

He went on to tryout and workout for half a year with the youth reserve team of Chivas USA, based in Los Angeles until he discovered his heart wasn’t in the game anymore.

Raul Antonio was starting to hear the call of music. But he heard more loudly his father’s ultimatum after he stopped playing soccer and finished high school: Go to college, or get a job.

And that’s how he wound up in Barcelona, purportedly to study management. Far from home for the first time, he started making his own decisions. He took classes in music engineering and vocals and he kept writing in that notebook his mother had given him. (“I don’t think you chose the music,” Mrs. Hernandez would say to her boy. “The music chose you.”) Living at the edge of the Mediterranean, he picked up on musical currents, from electronica to flamenco.

He also saw firsthand what his father had warned about: Music can be a difficult career.

“I hung out with a lot of the musicians from the city, people in the music scene, so I learned a lot from them and from their situations,” he recalls. “You see a lot of people who are really talented and still struggling over there.”

The experience was a turning point.

“It made me more mature and it made me appreciate things a lot more,” he says. “It made me want to try harder.”

Upon his return from Barcelona, the budding artist found an experienced mentor in talent manager Paul Orozco, a music exec who was a longtime family friend. Orozco put his protege together with his San Jose-based hit making production team, The Iklectix, whose marketing slogan set the bar: “Making Music, Making History.”

“From the first song it was evident he was a really good writer and had a lot of talent,” says Orozco, whose Dream Client Associates now manages the singer. “He struck me as he could be the next generation of Latino Pop.”

Both the artist and his manager say the time is right for a young Latin artist to bring something new to Latin pop. Many current stars are well into their prime and it’s time for a new generation to take Latin pop beyond where current pop stars left off. “I wanted to come up with a new sound for Latin pop,” says Raul. “The Latin music industry is afraid to try something different, so they stay with one thing. But pop doesn’t have to be that way.”

Orozco says his client “always looked like a pop star,” citing his handsome appearance. With his new album, he now sounds like a pop star too.

Raul Antonio’s artistic strength lies in his ability to blend the diverse styles he grew up with, from Top 40 to hip-hop and R&B. His carefully crafted collection varies from heartfelt ballads (“Mujer Adios,” or “Goodbye Woman”) to rap-tinged numbers that display a rare emotional honesty and the hard-won wisdom of a man betrayed by fickle love (“Mujer Superestrella,” or “Superstar Woman”). In another sexy, up-tempo number from the new album, “Tequila Pop,” the songwriter has created a rhythmic groove that skillfully meshes such disparate strains as classic Latin/rock, European electronica and even a touch of the soulful Eastside Sound associated with the offspring of Mexican immigrants.

Raul Antonio’s performance is deep and multi dimensional. His vocals are low-key and understated but reveal a depth, power and tenderness that surprise and envelop the careful listener. In the first single, “Imposible,” the artist showcases both his songwriting skills and vocal styling, with a melody and delivery that seem tailor-made for Top 40 but also tug at the heart with the ache and yearning of the truly broken-hearted. He shows a soulful, decidedly darker side on “Perdoname” (Forgive Me), about the loneliness and regrets of a lover who has been unfaithful.

Although his sound and style is so different from Los Tigres, the emerging artist allows himself to dream about a possible studio collaboration between him and his father, some day.

“Yes, that would be great,” he says in his understated tone. “I can’t wait for that day.”


Raul Antonio, the new latin pop star, is here to stay. This 21 year old young man, born in San Jose, California, has managed to establish as one of the most promising stars of the current musical scene.

With the musical guide of his father, Hernan Hernandez, bassist and vocalist of the well known mexican band Los Tigres del Norte, Raul Antonio has released, on January 19th, 2010, his first single called “Imposible”, in digital format, what foretells a career full of successes and hits, based on his skils as a composer and singer, and in the depth and tenderness of his lyrics.

His music will undoubtelly renew de latin pop scene, with an unique stile in which he melts, with exquisite talent, all his musical influences: Hip-Hop, R&B, Rap, Soul and, of course, a wide repertoire of sentimental ballads that will delight thousends of women.

The results are outstanding, creating a new sound that will set the path to new pop generations. “I wanted to create a new sound for the latin pop” said Raul, who doesn’t have fear of taking the risk and give latin music the change it needed.

His debut album, called “Todo es Posible” will be released this year, on march, and it’s a fact that it will make its debut at the top of the most important latin music charts.

Find out everything about Raul Antonio in his website

http://www.raulantonio.com

And follow him day by day on his social networks

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/raulantoniomusic

Twitter: http://twitter.com/raulantonio_h

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/raulantoniomusic

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