Born into an Ecuadorian-Guatemalan family, Southern California’s Trish Toledo first began signing cumbias and ballads before falling head-over-heels for the timeless pop, R&B and soul recordings from the ’60s and ’70s.
“The lyrics were so simple and the performances so raw and clean,” Toledo is quoted as saying on her website, trishtoledomusic.com.
Toldeo’s appreciation for the artists who voiced those soulful songs — Aretha Franklin, Barbara Mason, Mavis Staples, The Ronettes, Brenton Wood, The Supremes, etc. — would never leave her.
And now she’s passing her love for ’60s/’70s-style soul, pop and R&B on to others via her own recordings, which mine a rich catalog of classic material in equally authentic and awe-inspiring ways.
Check out what she does with the fabled blues standard “I’d Rather Go Blind” — which Etta James originally poured herself into back in 1967 like very few other vocalists have accomplished with a song before or since — and you’ll hear what we mean.
Out of the treasure trove of worthy options out there, Toledo picks the songs she wants to record and perform based on how well the themes mirror her own live experiences — ”what I have gone through, or am going through,” she says.
The strategy is paying off, with an increasing number of listeners latching onto Toledo’s great versions of these soul/pop/R&B classics.
“People are so happy that I’m reviving this music,” she says. “Bringing it back – so that a new generation gets to hear this.”
Toledo performs March 19 at The Chapel in San Francisco. Los Tranquilos open the concert. Showtime is 8 p.m. and tickets are $39.59, thechapelsf.com.