Elsten Torres shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Elsten , we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
I’m a relatively early riser. I’m usually up around 7/730am. Not bad for a musician! My first ten minutes awake, I do a guided mediation to start my day. It helps me balance my mood and focus. Mediating also sets me up for a full day of feeling gratitude and awareness. I then take out my floor mat and do about 15 to 20 minutes of yoga stretches and some strength exercises using my own body weight. Right after that, I’ll drink about 24 ounces of water with lemon juice. Brush my teeth, do whatever necessities I need to do and head out either to the gym or the park across the street from my house for my hour daily workout.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Elsten Torres — a singer, songwriter, performer, producer, and traveler with over 30 years of living the life of a musician in the music biz. I was born in Havana, Cuba, raised in New York City, and have been living in Miami, Florida since the mid-1990s.
In Miami, I began my professional career as a recording artist. In 1995, I signed with Radio Vox, a local indie label that later helped me secure a record deal with BMG/Sony for my Latin rock band Fulano. The band lasted about five years, during which we toured throughout the United States and several Latin American countries.
In 2000, two members of Fulano joined Shakira’s band, and I decided to pursue a solo career as a performer and songwriter. Over the years, I’ve written hit songs for international artists and recorded 14 full-length albums of my own — the latest being Vice Versa, released in 2025.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was always a creative shy kid. I loved music from early on in my life. I was always surrounded by beautiful songs and melodies. My uncle Listoriel Torres, had been a singer/songwriter himself in Cuba and when we were all settled in NYC he’d come by often to our house with his guitar. I loved hearing him sing. He had such a powerful beautiful voice and an artistic spirit. I knew that I had that in me as well. But I was very shy and to myself. Yet, I also saw the artist in me waiting to flourish and show the world what was festering and growing inside of me. By the time junior high school came around, I was already a full fledged music nerd. Spending hours a day after school learning the guitar, playing Elvis and Beatles songs by ear and starting to sing. I was very bashful about singing and I didn’t originally want to be a singer. I just wanted to play guitar but as circumstances had it, one day the singer of the band I was in at the time missed the rehearsal and I took over the vocal duties for that day and well after that I was anointed by the rest of the band to be the lead singer. Everything pretty much changed for me after that.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Life arrives naturally with it’s share of happiness and pain. It’s the balance of this journey that we all must face. We will never experience full happiness or full sadness. Once you learn to understand that and accept it, you move through life with a bit more awareness. Also realizing that all of this is a temporary existence. I’ve had much happiness in my life but also an equal amount of pain. Losing my mother a few years ago was probably the biggest sorrow I have felt ever. Mima, as us Cuban boys refer to our mothers, was my rock. She was the one person who saved my brother and I from a life that was going to be challenging to put it mildly if we had remained in Cuba. I always saw my mother as my hero. A strong willed beautiful lady who took every challenge life presented her with courage and grit.
My divorce in 2011 was emotionally draining as well. We parted ways as friends but it was still very sorrowful regardless of the friendship that remained. Also I had another separation more recently that really hit me hard. A great deal of heartache. I remain emotionally connected to this person but have had to learn to let go.
Throughout all these moments of pain and sorrow my savior has been music. I always say to anyone that asks that I am lucky to have a job that not only entertains but also heals. When I write my songs, they come from a real place and a lot of it is self therapy. We all experience similar feelings in life so a song can help sooth those moments of loss with melodic clarity and empathy.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
I’m always who I am. I don’t really try to mask myself in front of an audience or during an interview. We’re all human and having to pretend to be someone else in the public eye really doesn’t make sense to me. I hope that my audience sees that the person they enjoy listening to is also the real person that lives and breathes this path each day. I wouldn’t have it any other way. “Be yourself, everyone else is taken”. Oscar Wilde
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
That’s a difficult one. Since I won’t be around I should say, “I really don’t care” but since you asked. I hope that my story is told in truth and not sugar coated or altered in anyway. I am a man, human being with flaws and gifts like everyone else on this planet. I was given the gift of music. I hope that is how I am remembered. Someone who left a little grain of musical happiness in his lifetime. I hope some of my songs will be shared and sung by others. But I leave that to time and fate. I have no control over that. I only have control over the decisions I make here, now and the love I share while I’m alive.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elsten.info
- Instagram: @elstentorres
- Linkedin: @elstentorres
- Twitter: @elstentorres
- Facebook: @elstentorres
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/elstentorresmusic
- Soundcloud: @elstentorres
Image Credits
Daniel Barrocas
David Narbeki
