Real Name: Julio Fernandez
Born: August 29, 1954
Julio Fernandez is a guitarist born on August 29, 1954 in Havana, Cuba.
Julio Fernandez is currently working with the band “Spyro Gyra”.
Julio Fernandez started playing guitar at the age of nine. He learnt guitar from his father, who was a musician and very much into jazz and big band sounds. Fernandez got influenced by rock and roll music when he saw “The Beatles” for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show and started learning.
Julio Fernandez started playing with local bands when he was studying in high school and was also involved in school music programs. In 1972, he completed his graduation and joined “Montclair State College” for higher studies in music. Fernandez learnt jazz from the music school, “The Sound of Joy” in Manhattan in the mid 1970s. He joined the School of Visual Arts and took songwriting class with Lou Stallman. Lou Stallman was a well known music publisher and songwriter in New York. This was the time where he met Spyro Gyra’s percussionist Gerardo Velvez. Julio Fernandez and Gerardo both became good friends and started performing in various projects.
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion/smooth jazz band formed in the mid 1970s in New York. The group is commercially successful and has released over 25 albums. The band was looking for a new guitarist in 1984 and this is when Gerardo got Julio Fernandez into the audition with the band. Julio Fernandez got selected in the audition and replaced guitarist Chet Catallo. The band recorded “Alternating Currents” in 1985.
JULIO FERNANDEZ DISCOGRAPHY:
- Alternating Currents in 1985
- Breakout in 1986
- Stories Without Words in 1987
- Rites Of Summer in 1988
- Point Of View in 1989
- Fast Forward in 1990
- Three Wishes in 1992
- Dreams Beyond Control in 1993
- Love And Other Obsessions in 1994
- Heart Of The Night in 1996
- 20/20 in 1997
- Road Scholars in 1998
- Got The Magic in 1999
- In Modern Times in 2001
- Original Cinema in 2003
- The Deep End in 2004
- Wrapped in a Dream in 2006
- Good to Go-Go in 2007