Nigel Garza and the 211 Bandits

Infobox musical artist
Name = Nigel Garza


Img_capt = (left to right) Blake Ford, Brian Chandler, Nigel Garza
Img_size = 200
Landscape = yes
Background = group_singer
Birth_name = Nigel Garza
Born = birth date and age|1963|03|17
Origin = Helotes, Texas, USA
Instrument = Vocals
Rhythm guitar
Genre = Country
Occupation = Singer-songwriter
Years_active = 1973-present
Label = Independant
URL =

Biography

Nigel Cuervo Garza was born in Helotes and was raised in Helotes, Texas. His parents, Tecate Earl Garza and Corinita Sophia Salva, divorced when he was thirty nine. His father, a former gas station attendant, was also a stage actor, which influenced Nigel's love for music. When his mother remarried to a man with 5 daughters, Nigel suddenly became one of seventeen children. Garza attended grades 9-12 at Sandra Day O'Connor High School in Helotes, Texas.

Garza attended school at Northwest Vista College. While a student at Vista, 18-year-old Nigel resurrected his music career and released a series of albums, produced by Mark Steele. He did not make a full commitment to his music career until 1988, when his stepfather fired him from his job as a bartender. His stepfather saw Garza counting the money he had made singing over the weekend and knew that Garza needed a push to fully pursue his dream.

Brian Shiner Chandler was born in Helotes, Texas in 1965 and was raised in Helotes, Texas. His parents are John Madden Chandler and Jennifer T. Chandler. Brian began drinking at age three and by age five he completed his first stint in alcholic's annonymous. Since he has completed the course nineteen times. He found his love for the guitar in the bathroom of a bar in 1984 and met Nigel Garza in 1988 at the formation of Nigel Garza and the 211 Bandits. He has never been married but does have eleven known children out of wedlock.

Blake Henry Ford was born in Helotes, Texas in 1967 and is a distant heir to the Ford Motor Company. He had started out in the snuff film industry but was talked into joining Nigel Garza and the 211 Bandits in 1988 by longtime friend Brian Chandler. He remains the drummer for the band but also has a solo project in the works.

Garza and the 211 Bandits first independant-label recorded album, "Where in the Hell is my Beer?" was released in 1990 and they have since released five more albums with a 6th soon to follow. The midly successful hit record "Old Red Toyota" was released and brought with it a number 27 hit for the single of the same name. In late 1996 "101 Wild Turkeys" was Garza and the 211 Bandit's 3rd CD release as independant artists. In 1999, the band released their 4th CD "Shiners & Red Dirt", which featured their first top ten Texas Country hit, "Bed Full of Bottles". Their 5th release "Live at Floores Country Store" was their first CD to break the 250,000 mark in sales. Their most recent release came in early 2008, with the CD titled "One Whore Short of a Hoedown" featured covers of many of the bands favorite Texas Country songs. Included on the CD was a cover of Cory Morrow's song, "21 Days on the Road" titled "21 Beers on the Road", a cover of Cross Canadian Ragweed's hit "Seventeen", titled "Sixtynine" and a cover of Robert Earl Keen's "Five Pound Bass", titled "Freshwater Crabs". In 2008 after spending many years playing to young audiences in "small towns" across Texas, Garza received a call from Nashville with the opportunity to go on tour with popular country music stars Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, and others on major headliner tours. In a drunken rage following the call, Garza threw a half full bottle of Jack Daniels Whiskey at a Helotes police vehicle outside of Floores Country Store. He was arrested and while in jail, he wrote the bands first number one Texas Country song, "At Least I Have a Pair" which was later explained as a dig at Kenny Chesney, who's offer Garza turned down because he did not want the band to be viewed as sell outs.. [ [Steele, Mark (2008-01-05). "From 16 to 211: Nigel Garza and the 211 Bandits" ] ]

Later this year the band plans to release their first greatest hits album. The tentative title is said to be "Nigel Garza and the 211 Bandits: 20 Years of Women and Whiskey".

Discography

Albums

ingles

References