Born and raised in uptown Manhattan, Brother Tito Deler is the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic with a natural gift for music. Brother Tito plays a steel body National Resonator guitar. Writing and performing songs of his own he combines sounds from his Harlem upbringing with the style of pre-war Mississippi Delta blues and gospel. He released his first record, The Original Harlem Slim in 2012 followed by a series of singles and his latest LP, It’s A Beautiful Thing.
Drawn to the Mississippi Delta blues of Willie Brown, Son House, Skip James and others, Brother Tito has played with various Mississippi bluesfolk over the years such as R.L. Boyce, Little Joe Ayers, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes and Leo "Bud" Welch who have mentored and embraced him as one of their own. He has played in various Jukes and Festivals in the South including the Bentonia Blues Festival, Jonesboro Roots Music Festival, Baton Rouge Blues Festival among others and toured the East and West coasts of the United States and Canada where he performed at the Vancouver Folk Festival. Taking his brand of the blues overseas to Japan and Amsterdam where he performed at the 2018 Ted Talks. Brother Tito has been a brand ambassador for various companies such as PF Flyers and Digna Classics (Japan) with music licensed accordingly for campaigns. Photographed by Martha Cooper, Janette Beckman, Nick Clements and others he has been featured in various publications such as: Jocks & Nerds (London) and Clutch Magazine (Japan) on the 10th year anniversary cover of Mens File Magazine.
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Photo by: R.D. Cane
Bluesman: Brother Tito Deler - The Original Harlem Slim