Enrique Calderon was born in Chicago and raised in Harvey, IL.  The call to music started at the age of nine when a trumpet was first placed in his hands. Due to great teachers, such as John Weber and Mike McGrath, Enrique experienced and learned classical and jazz music from elementary school throughout high school. At age 17, an interest in singing started to emerge but was never explored in front of an audience.

 

Fast forward to the mid-90s when he was introduced to salsa music being played all around Chicago nightclubs like Intas, Excalibur and Tropicana D’Cache to name a few.  An opportunity arose in 1998 and Enrique started singing backup with Jesus Enriquez for over 2 years. He also traveled up and down the Midwest singing backup for other salsa legends such as Lalo Rodriguez, Cano Estremera, and Marvin Santiago among others. In 2000, Enrique along with his close friends started their own band La Unica, further immersing themselves in the salsa scene.  La Unica included singers such as Ricky Luis (formerly of N’Klabe) and Alex Torres (Rica Obsesion) and together they performed throughout Chicago. 

 

In 2004, Enrique took a break from singing and performing. He returned to the scene in 2012. He began performing again first with Dennis Calito’s Rica Obsesion and later with Nabori from Milwaukee and Angel Rodrigues’s Humboldt Park Orchestra. He has performed as a backup vocalist with a new generation of Salsa singers as well as salsa legends such as Willito Otero, Kayvan Vega, NG2, Carlos Nevares, Maelo Ruiz, Charlie Aponte & Luisito Carrion.

 

Enrique started his own band in July 2016 and continues to perform throughout Chicago.  He also started diving into his creative side and began writing and recording.  In February of 2017, Enrique began working with Ricky Luis and Joe Mende (Afincao) on producing new original music.  He recorded his first single “Mas Tiempo" which was released on September 4, 2017.  As  of November 2020,  he has released 4 more singles with a total of 5 singles.  He began working with Gerardo Rivas & Norberto Velez also know as NG2 recording 2 singles in Puerto Rico,  Amarte Sin Descanos (5/2018) & No Te Contaron Mal feat NG2 (9/2019).  He also recordered an acoustic version of Amarte Sin Descano.  All 5 singles are available on all digital platforms.  In 2019, Enrique was the opening act at the 2019 Chicago International Salsa Congress where he opened up for the world renowned Don Perignon y La Puertorriquena. He also opened up for International Salsa star La India.  You can find Enrique performing at various locations in Chicago such as  The Cubby Bear in Wrigleyville, Alhambra Palace, PL Lounge to name a few. If you want to book Enrique Calderon y su Orquesta please go to the contact page and be on the look out for new music coming soon!

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