[rocknation]

Tico Debuts RockStar Baby in Germany

Bon Jovi drummer To Show Adult Fashion Collection: How Rockstar!
(Translated from German to Google to English LOL)

Munich, Germany Tico Torres is known as a drummer from Bon Jovi, but he is also a clothes designer for Rockstar. For the first time he now also designing fashion for adults.

Behind his red glasses, his eyes light up. On his lips sits a sly smile. This is the famous drummer and clothes designer Tico Torres. We meet him on the roof terrace of the Bayerischer Hotel. It's only half past nine -- no time for real rockers like Tico, who is since 1984 has been the drummer Jon Bon Jovi. But he is in Munich to present his new collection, and though he is happy to be "onstage" a little earlier, he says he's a bit sleepy.

The young couple at the next table are whispering about who he could be. He just does not look like the typical Munich-er and adheres to its color credo: black jeans, dark gray striped shirt, leather bracelets and gray-black sneakers from Vans.

For 16 years, he designed clothes - so far only for babies and children, but from now on, in cooperation with Lupaco Munich, also for adults who want to feel like a little bit like a rock star. But "Not too much color," the drummer laughs and takes a big swig of coffee, looks into the distance at the still-snowy peaks of the Alps, then admits: "Here I always feel at home. I have been to this hotel countless times."

For him everything has to be fast and be functional -- "I have no beauty ritual. Showers, shaving, finished. I do not dye my hair." That's why his new jacket is lightweight, water repellent and fitted with reflective stars. The highlight is on the back: "Who the f*ck is Tico Torres?" The slogan is printed only on request, and with irony, because touring with Bon Jovi's band through the world has made Tico's face familiar.

Previously he had had his little son Hector on tour. "It was a great time. We had finished a show in Rome where he fell asleep on the tour bus. The next morning, we were on the beach in Greece where he woke up and said, 'How did I get here?'" remembers the proud Papa who lives in Miami. Now twelve years old, Hector travels along less – however, he exercises a say and criticism over dad's designs. In the end, he wears the Rockstar skull shirts, as do the children of Madonna and Michael Douglas.

"I've always felt that there are too many baby and children's things in blue and pink," said Tico Torres as he became the designer for children's clothes. "I have nothing against them, but I wanted to make clothes for children, they also contribute." They're decorated with funny sayings -- one bodysuit says Drink All Day, Screamin' All Night.

"Today it has become calmer," he says. The next big tour begins in September next year. "Don't say that I will soon retire, because musicians stay for a lifetime -- there's no expiration date." Then he again flashes the mischievous smile of someone forever young at heart.

(Reader Comment)
Tico Torres is a true legend and I think it's great that he operates art and design in addition to the music.

Not a peep about wife Maria -- I guess they really are apart.

[bjcrazycpa]

I sooo want that jacket!!

[rolo_tomachi]

Tico is great, his merchandising has a more rock attitude that Bon Jovi. Why is so cheesy the merchandising of Bon Jovi?

[rocknation]

(Translated from Spanish)

"I'm Tico Torres. I want to say hello to everyone. Life is great. And thanks for your support."

We find Tico Torres at Starnberg Lake on the outskirts of Munich, Germany. For more than 30 years he's been the heartbeat of Bon Jovi and the battery that supplies the power their albums which have sold more than 150 million copies.

Tico is visiting Germany to present his new collection of the children's clothing brand he founded 17 years ago in New York. His talent for fashion design runs in the family.

"Most of the clothes from Bon Jovi's early days onstage were made by my grandmother, who helped me with my designs. Later, when all my friends became parents, we could not find anything cool that was not in pink or blue...so I decided to do it myself."

When Tico Torres and his third wife, Maria Alejandra, became parents, they wisely prepared for it in a big "fashion." His son Hector is 12 years old now, and he and Tico are soulmates. "My son is a very important consultant -- he tells me what is right and what is not."

Tico, who is also a painter, has always had good friends in the fashion world. One of them was Gianni Versace. Supermodel Eva Herzigova was his second wife in the 90's.

He was born in New York City to Cuban immigrants, and had to promise this mother something when to get her permission to be become a musician. "She said 'Do not get tattoos.' I promised and I've kept my promise. But she said nothing about fashion!"

The rock star enjoys his time in Starnberg. He keeps up the stamina you need for Bon Jovi concerts by cycling. The next album comes in autumn, and shortly thereafter, a new tour where Tico will mark his rhythms with what he collects from nature. "I hear the sound of the rustle of wind that hits a tree which knocks on a wall and a rhythm is born that inspires me and my beats."

When not traveling extensively around the world with Bon Jovi, Tico, at age 62, prefers to stay home with his family in Miami and plays football with his son -- to him, Tico is just a normal father.

He says, "I try to show that we are normal people. What led me to becoming a musician was making music, not being famous."

We're making progress -- this interview DOES mention Maria, though it identifies her as his "third," rather than "current" wife, or just as "his wife"...

[rocknation]

Couldn't resist making screen captures of Tico missing that boat, LOL

And here he is twirling his salad spoon drumsticks: