Vince Moreno
Vince Moreno was born and raised in a small ranching and farming community, located in Southeast Arizona. Willcox is also known as the hometown of one of the last silver screen cowboys, Rex Allen. “There was always music playing in our home. Ma would have a small radio in the kitchen playing Traditional Country throughout the day, when that wasn’t on, she would play a record from her vast collection, ranging from Neil Diamond, Herb Alpert, Elvis to Hank Williams. Then on Sundays after church, Daddy would play his Mariachi and Norteno records for hours, so I grew up with a love for every genre of music there was. I had a drum set next the old player piano in our living room, a guitar and bass guitar, and I would play along for hours”.
At the age of 10, Vince started playing guitar in the church mariachi choir that his mother sang in. Not long after, the band leader asked if Vince could join their Tejano band. This propelled him into learning different instruments and playing with various local Country And Rock bands. For most of his early years, his parents, Louis and Frances, would drive Vince to rehearsals and gigs every weekend because he was a minor and had to have a parent at the bars. “My parents had it good, they got to go dancing almost every weekend for many years!”, Vince reminisces with a smile. Once he was old enough to drive and be at the venues on his own, he started singing and fronting band he was in at the urging of local well know musician, Frank Bracamonte. “Frank played a big part in building my confidence as a singer, and multi instrumentalist. He encouraged me every day to be better.”