Friday, Oct. 03, 2008

Grapevine Resident, Former FBI Agent Records First CD

By Rita Cook

Contributing Writer

For 35 years, Grapevine resident Fernando Candelario dedicated his life to law enforcement — with 30 years of service to the FBI and five years with the Federal Air Marshal Service. He loved his work.

But during those years, and even before, Candelario had another love: music.

Throughout his stays as an agent in Puerto Rico, Miami, Washington, D.C., and even the American Embassy in the Republic of Panama, music became an increasing influence on his life.

"Over the years music became therapy for me during my time as a law enforcement officer," he said.

And now that he has retired, Candelario has been able to fulfill a lifelong dream by releasing his first CD. It’s appropriately titled Finally.

"After serving with the federal government as a law enforcement officer for so many years, I finally had the time, the money and the equipment in my home studio to produce a CD," he said.

Primarily playing the guitar, Candelario said he also dabbles with the keyboard as well as percussion type instruments.

"I have been playing guitar now for 43 years," he explained. "My father gave me a guitar for my 13th birthday. I taught my brother to play with that guitar. We would practice everyday. Until we could actually play the guitar, we would pretend playing toy guitars while listening to Beatles records."

Perhaps that’s why Candelario’s music has a bit of that Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel influence to it

"Besides those, I’m a big fan of Santana, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix , John Mayer, Kenny Chesney, Jose Feliciano and many more," he said. "I can’t really put a genre on my music, because I like to play such variety."

Candelario he has been playing at "open mic nights" and private parties since he’s been in Grapevine. However, even before these gigs he was still used to "playing out," explaining that he and his brother played in many bands during high school and beyond.

"My brother and I played as a duo in Puerto Rico," he recalled. "We called ourselves Fire River. It’s kind of a take on our last name, Candelario. We played in hotels and on television during that time of our lives. We had the opportunity to continue pursuing our musical dream, but instead I chose to complete my college and become an FBI agent."

Candelario said that putting out his first CD has been a project in the works for years, something he and his brother had dreamed of doing.

"The sad part is that I did it without my brother," he said. "Pedro passed away in 1999 at the age of 47. Actually, Pedro not being around motivated me even more to complete this project."

Candelario is motivated by people, places and situations. As an example he explains, "The song I wrote in my brother’s honor, after he passed away is called We Will Sing No More. I used a verse from a song he wrote many years ago titled There Are Many Joys."

Candelario recorded all the guitar parts on Finally including rhythm guitar, lead guitar and bass guitar and he also recorded all the vocal parts as well. For drums, he used pre-recorded digital drum tracks and digital recording software like that used in many big studios today.

"My family thinks it’s pretty cool," Candelario said. "I have a CD on the market on iTunes, cdbaby.com, Amazon.com, Rhapsody.com, Digstation.com and many other online sites. My family has put up with me playing guitar and singing all of their lives. My wife’s hobby is photography, [and] she took the picture for my CD cover." Candelario’s CD costs between $9.99 and $14, depending on the site you use.