Todd La Torre

[4] His mother would take him to jazz and R&B concerts of David Sanborn, Spyro Gyra, Lee Ritenour, George Benson and Al Jarreau, while his father introduced him to music of Earl Klugh, Steely Dan and Billy Joel.

[8] After graduation, La Torre made his living in the early 90s as a full-time musician as drummer for several bands in the Tampa Bay club circuit,[1][4] including in the towns of Bradenton and Sarasota.

[5] La Torre was the lead singer for Florida metal band Crimson Glory from late 2010 to early 2013.

"[15] Despite his frustrations, La Torre does consider Crimson Glory to be "the catalyst that exposed me to the world as an undiscovered vocalist.

I told them Crimson doesn't tour much and I wanted to finish the record that we started to make, and I wanna do that.

"[16]La Torre and Queensrÿche guitarist Michael Wilton met at the buffet of a Seymour Duncan private dinner party[17] during the NAMM Show in January 2012, where La Torre first mistook Wilton for Eric Peterson from the band Testament, complimenting him for a show that Peterson had played the night before at the Grove.

[18] They ended up talking for a good hour at dinner,[17] found out they had mutual interests in styles of music,[19] and discussed the possibility of recording vocals on previously unreleased songs by Wilton[19][20] for a TV sports reel[16] and soundtracks.

[19] Wilton said of the rehearsals with La Torre: "we blasted through 18 to 20 songs and everybody was amazed from the professionality, the musicianship and tone of Todd's voice.

"[19] As La Torre was not very familiar with the songs on Promised Land and they had only limited time to prepare for the shows, the band focused on the material from the Queensrÿche EP to Empire,[19] which are generally considered the band's heaviest releases, and according to La Torre: "are the songs and the time period that most represented the core sound of what Queensryche material was about".

[27] The judge ruled in a preliminary injunction that both sides may use the name Queensrÿche until a verdict or settlement decided which party would ultimately be given the rights,[28] after which Tate started his own band.

"[31] La Torre was actively involved with the songwriting for the self-titled album released in 2013 by writing the majority of the lyrics, several melodies, and some drum and guitar parts.

(...) I still have complete respect for Geoff [Tate] as a vocalist [and] he's got wonderful musicians that have accompanied him, but to call it Queensrÿche I think is a bit unfair.

[16] La Torre saw the cover art of Tate's version's album Frequency Unknown, which shows a fist and the abbreviation "F.U.

"[16] Conversely, he finds that the self-titled album his version released "is completely indicative and representative that the guys in the band that I play in are in fact Queensrÿche, because it sounds like it.

Besides suggesting him to Crimson Glory, LaPorte also introduced La Torre to Jon Oliva (Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), who invited La Torre to sing backing vocals and play the hammered dulcimer on the 2010 Jon Oliva's Pain album Festival.

La Torre contributed to the track "Do It For You", which also features Mark Slaughter on backing vocals and Bruce Kulick on guitar.

[36][37] In 2016, La Torre reunited with his former Crimson Glory bandmate Jeff Lords on the latter's current project Dark Matter, singing guest vocals on their sophomore release, Encipher.

[39] Later that year, La Torre collaborated with Metal Church on a new version of their song "Fake Healer" (originally from Blessing in Disguise).

[42] In 2020, Rat Pak Records announced the completion of La Torre's first solo album, Rejoice in the Suffering, with a scheduled release date of February 5, 2021.

He was a huge inspiration, and I try to represent [Queensrÿche] to the best of my ability, but I also, you know, do put [in] a little bit of my flavor, which is a little edgier and a little grittier at times.

[31] He names Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio, Geoff Tate, Bruce Dickinson and Jeff Scott Soto as the greatest examples of tenor vocalists,[5] while he also likes to do growls and heavier singing in the style of Chuck Billy and Phil Anselmo.

La Torre performing at the Surf Ballroom with Queensrÿche in 2014