Mel Banez, Lead Vocals
Biography
Mel Banez, the youngest of 8 children, was born in Manila, Philippines. He came to the US when he was four years old, and has since resided in Berkeley, CA, a small town rich in all its diversity - home to many famous entertainers such as Tupac Shakur, Mike Marshall of the Timex Social Club, and jazz musician Peter Apfelbaum. Unsurprisingly, Mel became drawn to the music industry and has yet become another talented treasure to emerge from the San Francisco Bay Area and has since been performing for over 30 years now.
His musical career was launched by the influence of his oldest brother, who was also highly involved in many of his own musical endeavors. At the age of nine, Mel began taking trumpet lessons. His true talent emerged and he began touring with his school jazz band to other cities. This led to his television debut, where he was highlighted as being one of the Bay Area’s many talented youth musicians.
Towards the end of his Berkeley High School years, in 1979 he formed the band All As One. The band toured internationally to Japan. A few of the band members are now playing with Prince, EWF, Sheila E, just to name a few. Becoming a known vocalist in the Bay Area, Mel began working with many of the best musicians also from the Bay Area, such as The Escovedo Family, ConFunkshun, and Tower of Power.
Mel is musically inspired by artists such as Earth, Wind and Fire (whom he personally met with becoming one of the memorable moments in his life as a musician), Prince, Al Jarreau, Michael Jackson, Larry Graham, Barry White, and Chicago.
In 1988, he partnered with locally known keyboardist Pelagio “P-Dogg” Valdez and established All As One Production Company. In this collaboration, the two became recognized BMI songwriters with a few records to their name. Aside from the trumpet, he also plays the drums, bass, percussion, and keyboards.
Throughout the years, he has performed as lead and guest vocalist with many well-known Bay Area bands such as: Game Plan, Big City Revue, Pulse, Black Orchid, Rendezvous, Masterpiece, Mystic Vision, Rojas Brothers, D’ Groove, Live Performance, The Allstars, Mixxed Company, Xecutive Sweet, Universal Language, Stellar, Banez Brothers and Touch of Class. For over 25 years, he has performed annually for popular events such as the Nihomachi, Cherry Blossom, Oakland Chinatown, and Juneteenth festivals. Partial venue list includes Cache Creek, The Little Fox Theatre, The Muppet Theatre in LA, Pete Escovedo's Latin Jazz Club, Coyote Valley Shodakai Casino, and other venues across California and the US. Presently, he is in negotiations in performing with Purple Reign, a Prince tribute in Las Vegas, NV.
Rendezvous Members:
