Felipe R Cano

Born in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Felipe R Cano discovered his interest in music and entertainment at the age of 5 when he was asked to play the lead part in a children's musical. Following that play, he performed every year, singing and dancing in musicals.
At age 13, Felipe won a singing competition at his school along with two of his best friends after which they began to receive numerous invites to perform around Tampico. When Felipe turned 15, he joined a theater group all while still playing and writing numerous musical compositions for which he won first place honors in various local competitions.
At the age of 17, Felipe began his college studies at U.A.T. Facultad de Musica, where he would eventually obtain a degree in music education. While in college he played with numerous bands made up of the best musicians in Tampico. Felipe also starred in 3 college musicals, taking the lead role in two of them.
During this time, Felipe joined one of Tampico’s most well-known bands, Cuarto Doble. Felipe played an integral part of the group, recording two albums with them of which he wrote a lot of material. Cuarto Doble’s success is clear from having packed shows in some of the most important venues in Mexico, and from having opened concerts for artists as big as Mana.
Additionally, Felipe has played for artists like Gualberto Castro, Fato, Magdalena Zarate, and Ilse from the 80’s pop band Flans. He also participated as a musician in more than dozen musicals in Tampico, and Monterrey, Mexico.
In 2001 Felipe was invited to act as Pedro in the biographic musical, Los Rumbaleros in St. Paul, Minesota. During his time in MN he also studied film and Screenwriting at the IFP School of Film, and the Loft, as well as finding time to study acting at the John Casablanca’s School.
During his acting studies in MN, Felipe’s love for stage and film grew, enticing him to get more involved and begin auditioning for student and independent films. One of the results of this gave him the opportunity to take part in the movie Joe Somebody staring Tim Allen, and Hayden Panettiere.
As his desire to learn increased, Felipe made the big decision to move to NYC in 2003 to take the 3 year program on acting and directing at Utah Hagen’s esteemed acting school, HB Studio. During his studies at HB Studio, he met Adam Piotrowski, with whom he would soon form the band West 8 five.
In 2004 the band started working on their first album titled Life is Good, produced by Leo Mallace and Steve Catizone. During the recording of the album, Felipe was fortunate enough to work the likes of with Carl Napa (Extreme, N’Sync, Nelly, Christina Aguilera) as well as Glen Marhevka and Karl Hunter from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
In 2006, the band released the album to an overcapacity crowd at Coda in NYC. They were also invited to open for Grammy-award winners Ozomatli at the annual Breckenridge Spring Massive Festival. In November, 2006 the band was featured in Spin magazine and in March, 2007, Stuff magazine featured the band’s single “On & On” at number three in their Top 10 Songs to download section.
West 8 Five has recently relocated to the city of Los Angeles where their following continues to grow rapidly. Felipe is currently writing songs for their next album and some other projects, as well as working on the script of his first independent movie, expected to be done by 2009.