With a decidedly organic vocal sound lending substance to his signature style, Frank Ortega navigates his way through the Music City machine very thoughtfully in order not to sterilize his charisma, energy and raw emotion. “I think when you look at some of the great country heroes—Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Buck Owens—none of those guys got with the program and there is something very interesting to me about that.” Like them, Frank’s forging his own path.
That path began in Arizona. Born in Tempe and raised in Phoenix, Frank is one of five children. He grew up in a middle class home, the third son of Joe and Jessie Ortega. Frank’s mother came to the states from Mexico to pick cotton when she was only 13 years old. She became a legal citizen, later married Tempe native Joe Ortega, and started a family in Phoenix. The Ortega name runs deep in Tempe, Arizona. There are Ortega family artifacts in the city’s museum, as the Ortegas were one of the first families established in Tempe, something Frank is very proud of. Growing up in the Ortega household, the sounds of Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash commingled with traditional mariachi music, wild weekend parties, and lots of laughter, love, and life.
Frank’s story is all-American, and he’s lived the American dream to its fullest. Frank owned and operated a fiber-optics company, which took him from digging ditches to running a multi-million dollar company with 150 employees and contractors. “I’ve seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in life,” Frank says. “I talk to the ditch-digger the same way I talk to the CEO, because I’ve been both. “
Frank divorced in 2003, and all the luxuries and money soon faded as well… After losing it all, Frank holds onto the one thing that no one can take from him– his music. He began playing trumpet in the fifth grade, at 15 he started teaching himself to play the piano, and by sixteen he began writing songs. At the age of 20, Frank started recording his songs at local studios in Phoenix, and within a year Frank’s songs were being played on local radio stations. Thus began Frank’s love affair with recording music.
Today Frank has a strong sense of himself as an artist. He remarried in 2008 and has remained in the South for over 15 years, and continues to call the Nashville area his home. He records for indie label Villa One Records. Together with Grammy-nominated songwriter James House, Frank wrote and released the single “Hot Women, Cold Beer,” which reached #1 on the Indie Country Charts in 2009.
Frank aims to be defined by the more introspective, personal songs that explore the nature of a man and his place in this world with his own contemporary take on traditional country music. “I like everything about country music, I like the traditional vibe when it comes to country music. “ This Latin tattooed American country singer knows exactly where he wants to be in life and is truly all about the travel, not his destination. “I am not a cowboy, most men you see wearing cowboys hats are not either but we share our belief in what the American cowboy stands for… independence.” Frank will continue to carve his own path as he always has, and will continue to believe that things are always said best through a country song.
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