ARTIST: Mario Vazquez
TITLE: Mario Vazquez
LABEL: Arista
GENRE: R&B
BITRATE: 206kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 50min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-09-26
RIP DATE: 2006-09-20

Track List

01. Gallery                         3:43
02. I Bet                           3:35
03. Cohiba (Feat. Fat Joe & Knox)   3:40
04. One Shot                        4:24
05. We Gon' Last                    3:40
06. Don't Lie                       3:27
07. Just A Friend                   4:26
08. Fired Up                        3:26
09. 4 The 1                         3:44
10. Everytime I...                  4:01
11. How We Do It                    3:36
12. She Got Me                      2:37
13. Like It Or Not                  3:06
14. We Supposed To Be               3:25

Release Notes:

So apparently quitting American Idol can be right up there with
winning. Sometimes.

Mario Vazquez, the Bronx-born fan favorite who abruptly voted
himself off of the fourth season of Idol after making it into the
top 12, will be releasing his self-titled debut album Sept. 26.

Though rumors arose (and were denied) that Vazquez ditched the
competition so he wouldn't have to be tied down to an
Idol-specific recording contract, the singer ended up with
Idol-friendly Arista Records, home to Taylor Hicks' upcoming
debut.

Arista operates under Sony BMG's RCA Records Group, which has
also worked with Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Ruben
Studdard, Fantasia Barrino and Kelly Clarkson.

Even though thousands of young hopefuls would have probably done
some pretty bad stuff in order to be in Vazquez's top-12 shoes,
the aspiring pop star says he has no regrets about dropping out
of the running.

"It wasn't right for me," Vazquez, in Chicago last month to
promote his new tunes, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "I wanted to
go in a grittier, edgier direction, but that's not what they
wanted."

Maybe McPhee wasn't the first contestant whom Simon Cowell
deemed a perfect match for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

The first single off of Vazquez's album is the R&B-flavored
"Gallery," an appeal to a woman to leave her cheating boyfriend.
Vazquez showed up on Total Request Live recently to introduce
the video and reconnect with his tweenage audience.

"It's challenging," Vazquez told the San Antonio weekly Conexión
last month. "You have to promote and sell yourself, and it's a
lot of getting accustomed to the traveling because you travel
for hours and you only have 20 minutes on stage."

Pre-Idol, Vazquez worked professionally as a backup singer and
lent vocals to Michael Jackson's 2001 album Invincible. He just
wrapped up a headlining stint on Teen People's Rock 'N Shop Mall
Tour and is preparing to tour in support of Mario Vazquez, the
album.

"I definitely feel that I've accomplished something great," the
29-year-old told Texas' Brownsville Herald. "As long as I'm
happy, I'm good. I think it's a great album."