Tolagero

Tolagero: De Bajan Phenom

What do you get when you fuse passion with alluring Caribbean vibes, power vocals and a striking image? You get a unique blend or artistry known as Tolagero (pronounced: “TOE – LAH – JEH – ROW”). Conjointly, Tolagero represents an amalgamation of cultures, he possesses a strong West Indian core and vocal ability that is impossible to duplicate making what he has to render to the world pleasantly distinct. Born in Barbados’ capital; Bridgetown, Saint Michael in the early 90s to a Barbadian mother and Swiss father of St. Lucian descent, Torian Smith popularly known by his previous stage name “Torian” and now by his new moniker “Tolagero” is the epitome of the term exotic and consequently his artistry emphatically reflects this.

Initially discovering his musical gift at age three, he only became acquainted with this gift when his mother bought him a guitar at age six, which triggered his love and passion for music. Ever since then, Tolagero has been “drawn to music” and has been heavily influenced by the sounds of D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Usher, Alicia Keys, Chris Brown, John Legend, Rihanna and Jackie Opel among others. Moreover, despite his early musical enthusiasm, it wasn’t until age seven that Tolagero officially started performing and at the aforementioned age he entered a local talent competition where he got his first experience singing live on stage. Subsequently, he continued performing throughout his younger years; even joining the National Boys Choir of Barbados but he began a serious career as an artiste at age fifteen while he was a student of The Combermere School and since then his smooth tone, solid tenor voice, dynamic stage presence and emotionally riveting performances have earned him high praises from his peers, locally successful entertainers not to mention American Grammy nominated singer/songwriter Elle Varner who applauded his vocal ability stating that he has “a great voice”.

Furthermore, during his time at the “University of Waterford” (The Combermere School), Tolagero went on to win numerous titles and achieve various accolades which lead to him being named “Mr. Picture Perfect 2010” and then in 2012 he won “The Mr. and Miss Combermere Pageant”. In more recent times, he amalgamated his musical talents with those of his two music mates and this harmonious blend gave birth to the group “iBRID”. Currently, Tolagero has been performing at countless shows and gracing many stages across Barbados some of which include: “Tin Pan Alley”, “Mahalia’s Corner”, “De Vibe Open Mic & Lounge”, “The Crop Over Fashion Code”, “Love, Poetry & Song” (where he was a headlining performer on two occasions; 2016 & 2017 respectively), The CSOSA (Combermere School Old Scholars Association) Grand Reunion and he also got the opportunity to be the featured performer at The Hilton Hotel's Open Mic night in 2015 and 2016.

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