VINCE ESQUIRE was born May 18, 1985 in Oakland, California and moved with his family to Maui, Hawaii at the age of four. His father, a professional saxophonist, exposed Vince to music at an early age. As a youngster Vince showed exceptional ability on drums and at six years old was performing in his dad's band. In elementary school Vince played the trumpet and trombone and at eleven began playing and excelled on the ukulele. At thirteen, he formed a contemporary Hawaiian music trio that performed at local restaurants and coffee houses. At fifteen, mesmerized by a TV biography of Stevie Ray Vaughan, he chose to devote himself to the guitar. Shortly, his phenomenal talent emerged.
At age sixteen, while attending a summer program at the Berkeley Jazz School, he caught the attention of Ronnie Stewart, President of the Bay Area Blues Society, who recognized Vince's extraordinary ability and featured him at the Oakland/Russell City and Dunsmuir Blues Festivals. At the Dunsmuir festival he played with the legendary Sonny Rhodes and was noticed by Sammi Barber, President of the Shasta Blues Society, who invited him to play at the Shasta/Redding Blues Festival where he was featured with Coco Montoya and Tommy Castro.
Back on Maui, Vince was a popular guest with many of the Maui's best bands and was featured at the Annual Rhythm & Blues concert headlined by guitar greats, Eric Johnson and Chris Duarte.
At seventeen, Vince formed his own band, The Vince Esquire Band, and found success playing the island's top venues. Later that year, Vince and his band toured Hawaii with the Derek Trucks Band and Little Feat and was featured at the annual Willie Nelson Montessori festivals on Maui where he met and performed with Los Lonely Boys. Also that year, Vince released his debut album, First Offense, produced by Johnny Winter and Joe Bonamassa bassist Mark Epstein.
In 2004, while living in Austin, Texas, Vince was honored with a personal invitation by Willie Nelson to perform at his annual 4th of July Festival in Fort Worth Texas, where he appeared before a crowd of 50,000 enthusiastic fans. In 2005 and through 2006 Vince has continued to amaze crowds throughout the Hawaiian Islands and The West Coast, playing Los Angeles, San Diego and the Bay Area. His performances have featured both his electric guitar skills as well as his incredible gift playing the ukulele. His shows with Maui band Kanekoa, where he plays lead electric ukulele, and Hawaiian performances with Na Hoku award winner and Grammy Nominee Raiatea Helm have been unforgettable for all in attendance. Past 2006 Vince Esquire Band shows included the Redding Blues Festival on September 16th, The Mint in Los Angeles on September 21st, and 710 Beach Club in San Diego on September 22th.
Vince has recently completed recording his second record, "Songs In The Key of E", with multi-instrumentalist/producer Dave Cochrane, who has worked with artists such as The Commodores, Lionel Ritchie, Paula Abdul, LL Cool J and Public Enemy, and drummer Josh Greenbaum who has performed with the likes of River Pheonix and Lenny Kravitz. The album will be released under D.R.I.V.E entertainment in the near future.
In 2007 Vince was granted a personal invite from blues/rock icon Gregg Allman to join the legendary Allman Brothers at their prestigious annual run of shows at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Gregg was so impressed with Vince's ability and professionalisim, that he extended a further invitation to join the Gregg Allman Band as the opening act for several dates of their southern tour, thus leading Vince to embark on his first national statside tour with a national act. Vince received tremendously positive responses at the House Of Blues in both New Orleans and Dallas, as well as the Meridian in Houston and the legendary Alabama Theater in Birmingham. Vince will again be joining the Gregg Allman Band for more dates in the near future.
In addition to the guitar, Vince's ability of adapting what he's learned on the guitar and applying it to the traditional Hawaiian ukulele has been a heavy influence in his work with the Hawaiian-Fusion-JamBand Kanekoa. In 2007, the unique group had achieved national distribution through Universal/Fontana (making them one of the very few groups in history with Hawaiian roots to succeed in that task) and was also featured in a cameo in the Farrelly Brothers/Ben Stiller movie "The Heartbreak Kid" where they performed their chosen single "Way Down" as the wedding reception band! You can visit Kanekoa's myspace by going to www.myspace.com/kanekoamusic and also purchase thier music on iTunes.
In Vince's brief but impressive career, he has been featured with and/or opened for such music luminaries as Willie Nelson, the Gregg Allman band, The Allman Brothers, Los Lonely Boys, Legendary funk trombonist Fred Wesley, Derek Trucks, Little Feat, The Little Memphis Blues Orchestra (formally American Idol winner Taylor Hicks' Band), Coco Montoya, Tommy Castro, Jimmy Thackery, Chris Duarte, Eric Johnson and The Doobie Brother's co-founder and guitarist Pat Simmons. Vince's future goals are to secure a recording contract, go on a world tour, and someday "play on Austin City Limits".
For bookings, please contact Jo-ann Freda by visiting Jo-ann Freda Promotions (more contact info available there) or emailing joann@joannfredaagency.com
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